The days leading up to Signing Day are stressful

Because recruiting is a game and college coaches have to have backup options, if you are an undecided prospects, things will really heat up right before Signing Day. There could be so much going on that you could get multiple calls from a variety of different schools. These schools may have never ever sent you a letter but may be wanting to offer you a scholarship.

Things get so crazy at that time is because these coaches have to have backup options. If a school has gone through their three top targets without a commitment, they will be scrambling to find anyone with the ability to play at their level. Here are a few quotes from the drama that a prospect went through right before Signing Day 2008.

Tyler committed to (A Division I-AA school) last Monday. A Big Ten school called last Tuesday telling us to send a senior tape because they suffered 2 decommits at defensive back. Ty actually drove it out there himself Saturday after the storm. No offer ever came, and the coaches haven’t returned calls since.

Today was crazy. A Big Ten, a Pac 10, and a Big East school all invited Ty to be a preferred walk-on. All three were coaches he had great relationships with. One of the schools was his top choice all along. However, none of the schools could offer a grayshirt or guarantee a scholarship down the road. Even Ty understood he couldn’t pass up a full ride to walk-on, no matter how tempting.

Then about 9pm a Mountain West school calls to say they had a decommit, only to call back 30 minutes later and say never mind. Not to mention playing phone tag with 2 MAC schools too.

He is completely happy with (The Division I-AA school) He has several friends attending school there and he’ll play with a former teammate. I think any player headed to D1-AA would have listened to the big schools that were calling.

I’m sure many other recruits had similar experiences Monday and Tuesday. I expected a little action, but not to the extent we saw. It made for a long night, with some good debates between Ty and me. He seems to trust my opinion.

This just shows that by committing, you may think the recruiting process is over with. That obviously is not the case. The prospect committed on Monday, received a call from a Big 10 school that wanted video, three walk on offers, and calls from Mountain West and MAC schools.

Signing Day 2009 may be a long time away but for those juniors who are being recruited heavily, don’t expect things to go quietly the week before.