Signing Day 2008 is here

Today is the day that many of the top football players in the Class of 2008 have been waiting for. These athletes have been stressed out by the recruiting process and will now be able to officially sign with their future school. 7:00 AM this morning was the earliest that National Letters of Intent could be signed and they are now in the process of being faxed.

While football may get all of the attention, it is far from the only sport signing their NLI’s today. Other sports include field hockey, soccer, water polo, and cross country/track. I can’t say for sure how many people visit this site that are worried about those sports but these athletes deserve attention as well. If anything, they get the short end of the stick when it comes to coverage because football gets 95% (And maybe more) of the attention.

As I have talked about in a previous article, prospective athletes will be sending or faxing back their Letters of Intent (CLICK HERE FOR THAT ARTICLE). This makes your commitment official and although it is possible, it will be a tough road to get out of your NLI if you decide to change your mind. There is one thing about committing and decommitting from schools. But to decommit from an NLI is going to be a long, difficult process.

There are going to be a few things to keep an eye on with regards to Signing Day. The first is for college football fans who want to see who wins the team recruiting rankings battle. While this is by no means a sure fire way to a national championship, the schools with the top recruiting classes normally finish among the best teams in the country (CLICK HERE FOR THE RIVALS.COM TEAM RANKINGS).

As of today, Rivals.com has seen Florida move to #1, and then get trumped by Notre Dame and Alabama. The darkhorse in this race is definitely USC. The Trojans have only 17 commitments and are used to finishing strong. They are in the top few schools with a lot of the nation’s undecided talent. Currently rated at #11, expect them to make a serious push towards the top.

Some of the interesting individual players that have yet to make their decisions include Terrelle Pryor, Julio Jones, and Darrell Scott. There are a number of others but these three are rated among the top six in the recent Rivals100. A player like Jones could really help the Crimson Tide of Alabama make that run at the recruiting national title. That would be a big accomplishment in Nick Saban’s first full year of recruiting.

Another story, as talked about yesterday, is the nightmare commitment of Kevin Hart (CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE). Basically he committed to Cal but didn’t have an offer. Either was he was played during the entire recruiting process or he was making it all up. I don’t expect to see this completed by today but don’t be surprised if new news comes out regarding it. It is is an unfortunate situation no matter what.

With teams finally finishing up their Class of 2008, look for them to quickly switch their focus over to the Class of 2009. Recruiting really has turned into a year round job so expect it to heat up even more for the current juniors. Some schools have sent out letters to junior prospect and will have them call to say that they are among their top prospects. Other schools will be lining up Junior Days and bringing in a lot of top athletes (CLICK HERE FOR A PREVIOUS ARTICLE ON JUNIOR DAYS).

If you are a junior or even a sophomore, now is the time to start going through the five steps to a scholarship offer (CLICK HERE FOR THAT ARTICLE). Coaches will not take much time off to switch over to 2009 so it is important to make them aware of your abilities. The more information they have on you, the better if you want to get recruited by them.

Also start looking into what camps you want to attend this summer. Try to speak with the coaches to get a real feel of what schools are seriously interested. Not all camp invites mean the school is actually looking at you (CLICK HERE FOR THAT OLDER ARTICLE). While the camps do help in recruiting, they are more about supplementing income for the coaches. And this happens at all levels, from Division I to Division III.