Tomorrow Decides Your Team’s Dismal Future

This catch earned his momma a house

Tomorrow is national signing day for high school football players across America.  It’s also the day when hope springs anew for fans of schools like Baylor, Stanford and Indiana.  It’s also the day when schools like Texas, Oklahoma, USC and Florida reload with a fresh batch of blue chip dream killers. 

While you watch your school sign waves of kids who, according to message boards, “will finally get us over the hump”, here are a few things to remember. 

Names matter- The past few Heisman winners have been Tim Tebow, Troy Smith, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart.  There’s no Abdul Muskawi in there.  First round draft picks are named Ryan, Long, McFadden and Stewart.  Sure you’ll find some Mathias Kiwanukas and Troy Polamalus out there, but why take risks.  If your school has signed a full class of guys with easily pronounceable names, you’ve got a shot at a title.  Assuming of course they’re not all over-privileged white kids. 

The athlete won’t pan out- Every year your school signs a project.  He’ll most likely be listed as an athlete, which means he doesn’t have a position on a football field, but he out-ran the coaches rental car on the recruiting visit.  Fans will flood the message boards talking about this kid’s potential and guessing where he’ll make an impact.  Don’t be fooled.  This guy will not help the program.  You’ll hear glowing stories about his off-season workouts.  You may even be floored by his performance in the spring game.  But coaches will redshirt him because he’s too raw, and you’ll never hear from him again.  An off the field incident, an injury or an inability to grasp the game will lead to this kid’s downfall.  This year, pick out the 5-star running back your team signed and follow his career.  It will be far less disappointing.

Your recruiting class isn’t that good- There are 50 or so fanbases who are looking at their potential recruits and thinking, “This year I think we’ve made up ground on the nation’s elite.”  Those being USC, Ohio State, Florida, etc.  Guess what… if you don’t cheer for one of those schools, your recruiting class doesn’t compare.  You signed 6 players ranked in the top ten for their position?  They each signed 15.  You have a player that runs a 4.12 40?  They all signed players who break 4 seconds.  You have a guy who benches 700 pounds?  They signed the Hulk, the Thing, and Superman, respectively.  No matter how good this year’s recruiting class is, prepare to be shocked when you don’t finish higher than the perennial powers.  Of course, if you cheer for one of those powers, keep an eye on Superman.  He’s going to be a player.

Everyone cheated- Undoubtedly, you’ll come across a comment or an article saying there’s no way some coach at some school could have pulled in a certain blue chipper without giving him improper benefits.  And this will be true.  You’ll also read a story about how your coach at your school dropped a recruit for improper behavior on his official visit, or because the kid asked for a car or because another school had offered him money.  This will be false.  Your coach at your school just didn’t have enough left in the budget to reel this kid in, so he leaked the story about dropping him to make his program appear clean and maybe put a rival school under investigation.  Don’t kid yourself.  If your team won 12 games or lost 12 games last year, your coaching staff is still committing NCAA infractions like Jerry Tarkanian in his heyday.  Don’t believe me?  Go sit in the parking lot at the end of football practice this spring and watch how many players roll out in a BMW, Mercedes or Cadillac.  Jobs at burger joints in Dallas must be paying an awful lot these days.

Tags: Baylor, Connecticut, Florida, football, Mathias Kiwanuka, Matt Leinart, NCAA, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Reggie Bush, Stanford, Texas, Tim Tebow, Troy Polamalu, Troy Smith, USC