Tomorrow is National Signing Day for all of you already-football-starved folks out there. We have finally reached a time where football is so popular that people will latch on to something that is about as irrelevant as my top 25 most played list on my IPOD just because it's about football. ESPN.com has an entire page dedicated to tomorrow's college football "event". Don't be fooled folks, this is not an event.
We all (especially Arkansas fans like myself) remember the circus a month and a half ago surrounding Mitch Mustain's mother, along with two other highly touted freshmen's parents questioning the role of their children to Arkansas A.D. Frank Broyles. Why was this a story you ask. Tomorrow is the reason. We give stardom away to college kids, even high school kids now because we are so determined to find the "next one". Without this hype, Mustain and the others would be seen for what they are, spoiled, overhyped brats who are nothing more than a backup QB, blocking TE, and fast, no hands WR. We can't enjoy the greatness that is Peyton Manning for one week without digging out Tom Lugginbill's rankings of the incoming freshman prospects to find out who will steal Manning's throne in 2015. Let me tell you something folks, HE DOESN'T KNOW who will be great at the college level. Even more, you don't know either! You won't know until these kids play the game.
I'm so sick of hearing about these recruiting classes. How many years did we hear about Texas's incoming class? We heard all about it until they got beat by 50 in the Red River Shootout from about 1998-2004 (give or take a year or two). Can we please give it a rest? Can we please reserve news for. . . well. . .NEWS? These are glorified children that are about to start playing a young man's game. Some will be great, others will never be heard from again.
If you are interested in what happens tomorrow, I challenge you to do one thing. Print off your little ESPN top 150 list and save it. Four years from now, when you watch the NFL Draft (and you will because anyone who cares about signing day would absolutely treat the NFL Draft like Christmas morning) take out your list and see how it stacks up. See how many people go in the first round. See how many get drafted at all. I guarentee that you will look at the list and say, "Boy, I really wasted a lot of time worrying about which school Noel Devine was going to attend." You're right. You did. I'm trying to help you save that time. You'd be much better off taking Martin Lawrence's advice and having a Coke and a smile. It will last a lot longer.
West Virginia has the possibilty of having the fastest backfield i the history of college football. How is anyone going to stop Slayton, White, and now Noel Devine. That backfield is going to be sick.
Maybe becuase you have Peyton in it? Or Fox is stupid? I tend to think it was the latter.
I agree with your Arkansas assessment...I blogged about it...a real soap opera. Is Mustain still there? or did he transfer with that nightmare mommy Becks Campbell?
Santini - Thanks for stopping by. It will be interesting to see how long Slaton stays in school. He's the same age as Darren McFadden, Ray Rice, and a few other good backs, so I don't know what his draft status will be when he comes out. Should be interesting.
Lisa - Thanks for the read. The last I heard was the Mustain reenrolled at school this semester, but has no intention of rejoining the football program. He's not drawing much interest on the transfer front. I think he'll end up at Tulsa, but we'll see.
Mitch Mustain went from 1st or 2nd round pick to "we also have this in leather". They could have made a real impact next year. Looks like eight in the box all year for Felix and Run DMC.
Good point ed, but I can't fool myself into thinking its important. What signing day taught us is that USC and Florida will be good. Thanks for the breaking news!
Also, the NFL draft really has nothing to do with colleges recruiting. There are plenty of players that help out in college, but won't matter come draft time. Colleges could care less if they have no NFL Draft first rounders if they are winning championships.
Proud NGS II finalist. My run to the sweet 16 was short but. . . (from the department of redundancy department) sweet.
I love all sports. The Seattle Seahawks are my main passion. I've loved them since I can remember. My teams of choice in other sports are the New York Yankees and Rangers, and the Arkansas Razorbacks. As far as the NBA, I'm just a drifter. However, I do love this game!
