NDinL.A.
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So I see there are a lot of mewbies who have said that this is their first foray into following the insane world of recruiting, and since I am officially done with work I thought I'd give a small glimpse into what goes on in recruiting (from my limited experience in talking to coaches), more specifically why recruits commit and decommit.
Why do recruits commit so early?
** There's 3 major reasons:
#1) Dream offer from a dream school, and there's no need to wait (ex: Daniel Smith when he got his ND offer after their Junior Day, committed on the spot).
#2) Reserve a spot. This typically happens to lesser prospects who haven't 'blown up' yet. They have MAC-level offers, and then they get their Syracuse or Connecticut or Oregon State offer, and when no other offers come in, they jump on their best offer so they have a scholarship to play college football in a major(ish) conference.
#3) To get the media and coaches off their backs. This is a major problem, and usually a red flag that a decommitment might be coming, when a recruit says as one of his first reasons that "I just wanted to get the process over with - it was getting hectic and I just wanted to focus on football."
Here's the thing with these recruits, and I've said this in the past: It is INSANE how often these guys get bothered by coaches, reporters, fans, stupid fans (grubl and another member of this site that shall go unnamed), friends, family members, leeches, etc. I talked to a couple of high school coaches with big-time players on their squad, and they both told me the same thing - they HATED when their guys got recruited by ND (btw, both these guys were on the lazy side). Why? Because of the constant deluge of calls they would get from reporters. Think about it: they're getting calls from not only Coach Denbrock and Coach Kelly, but they're getting calls from reporters from ISD, Rivals, Scout, 24/7, MaxPreps and Tom Lemming, Eric Hansen at the SBT, Chicago Tribune, the Bleacher Report, and maybe even others that I'm forgetting. Think about that...that's just from ONE school! Now throw in reporters from Alabama, UCLA, Florida, etc etc etc.
Now, think about being a stud player - you add all of that above and combine it with coaches from 20+ schools texting you and calling you and facebooking you, and fans tweeting at you and trying to call you, and friends and families all wanting to know where you're going so they can be the first to put it on Irish Envy or whatever site they belong to, ON TOP of all those damn reporters texting and calling you at all hours of the day/night, and you see why big-time players commit earlier and earlier.
Why do committed recruits decommit?
** There are some obvious reasons, such as a coach (head coach or assistant) getting fired, a team losing too much, a scandal rocks the school, etc. But here's a couple reasons that a lot of people ignore:
#1) They miss the attention. At first, these guys crave reporters calling them because it means they are becoming big-time, and they LOVE the recruiting process. Then it gets old and annoying and VERY tiresome, so they commit early. They enjoy the quiet for a couple of months, but then they see guys that aren't as good as them getting articles written about them, they see their star ranking drop a little bit, and they start to miss the attention. Suddenly, getting called by reporters ain't so bad. Being 'loved' ain't so bad. Having 20 different coaches calling and texting them ain't so bad. And they want it back. They want the glory, they want the attention, they want the adoration. Remember...many of these guys come from disadvantaged backgrounds where they've never had a strong family to show them what true love is, what good attention is, and so they gravitate to the WRONG things in life, and the wrong types of attention/affection. And so they decommit because they want coaches to show them love again, and they want fans to beg them to come to their school again. This happens much more than you may think.
#2) This goes hand in hand with #1. And it's quite simple - guys see their buddies going on official visits, and they see how much fun they're having, and they want in too! Think about it...you're 18 years old, a top 50 recruit with a healthy ego. And a 3 star buddy of yours just came back from a trip to FSU, and tells you all about the parties and the game and the women (not girls Gilbert, women), and then you read the article they wrote about this 'scrub', and you want in. And so you go an official visit, and within a week you decommit.
#3) This is pretty unique to ND - the local school gets to see the kid so much (the school is so close that the coaches go to his school all the time, which is a HUGE advantage), and the family wants the kid to stay local, and he just gets overwhelmed and he decommits from ND and commits to the local school (see: Prestwood, Jordan).
SILENT VERBALS
One more thing people always have questions about, and that's silent verbals. Why are kids ever silent verbals? 3 reasons that I can think of for sure:
1. If you are a commit to a school that isn't your local state school, you're never gonna hear the end of it. Imagine you're Justin Tuck, and you have an Alabama offer, but you commit to ND early. Some communities just can't handle that, and you'll be ripped apart for not picking their beloved Tide. So guys hold off announcing for awhile to keep people off their backs.
2. Coaches ASK the kids to hold off, so they can make a big splash at a certain time. Lame Kiffen did this before at Tennessee. Let's say you have a big weekend planned, and you want to kick it off right, then you might have a kid (or kids) announce at that time. This used to happen more often.
3. If studs hold off on committing, that means more coaches will go visit your school, and that means more of your teammates will be seen by Division 1 coaches. Sometimes there are kids with good hearts who want their teammates to get exposure, and they use their success to foster more exposure for them.
Alright...kinda long, and I have no time to edit it right now, so sorry for the errors. Hope this answered some questions for some newbies! Go Irish!
Why do recruits commit so early?
** There's 3 major reasons:
#1) Dream offer from a dream school, and there's no need to wait (ex: Daniel Smith when he got his ND offer after their Junior Day, committed on the spot).
#2) Reserve a spot. This typically happens to lesser prospects who haven't 'blown up' yet. They have MAC-level offers, and then they get their Syracuse or Connecticut or Oregon State offer, and when no other offers come in, they jump on their best offer so they have a scholarship to play college football in a major(ish) conference.
#3) To get the media and coaches off their backs. This is a major problem, and usually a red flag that a decommitment might be coming, when a recruit says as one of his first reasons that "I just wanted to get the process over with - it was getting hectic and I just wanted to focus on football."
Here's the thing with these recruits, and I've said this in the past: It is INSANE how often these guys get bothered by coaches, reporters, fans, stupid fans (grubl and another member of this site that shall go unnamed), friends, family members, leeches, etc. I talked to a couple of high school coaches with big-time players on their squad, and they both told me the same thing - they HATED when their guys got recruited by ND (btw, both these guys were on the lazy side). Why? Because of the constant deluge of calls they would get from reporters. Think about it: they're getting calls from not only Coach Denbrock and Coach Kelly, but they're getting calls from reporters from ISD, Rivals, Scout, 24/7, MaxPreps and Tom Lemming, Eric Hansen at the SBT, Chicago Tribune, the Bleacher Report, and maybe even others that I'm forgetting. Think about that...that's just from ONE school! Now throw in reporters from Alabama, UCLA, Florida, etc etc etc.
Now, think about being a stud player - you add all of that above and combine it with coaches from 20+ schools texting you and calling you and facebooking you, and fans tweeting at you and trying to call you, and friends and families all wanting to know where you're going so they can be the first to put it on Irish Envy or whatever site they belong to, ON TOP of all those damn reporters texting and calling you at all hours of the day/night, and you see why big-time players commit earlier and earlier.
Why do committed recruits decommit?
** There are some obvious reasons, such as a coach (head coach or assistant) getting fired, a team losing too much, a scandal rocks the school, etc. But here's a couple reasons that a lot of people ignore:
#1) They miss the attention. At first, these guys crave reporters calling them because it means they are becoming big-time, and they LOVE the recruiting process. Then it gets old and annoying and VERY tiresome, so they commit early. They enjoy the quiet for a couple of months, but then they see guys that aren't as good as them getting articles written about them, they see their star ranking drop a little bit, and they start to miss the attention. Suddenly, getting called by reporters ain't so bad. Being 'loved' ain't so bad. Having 20 different coaches calling and texting them ain't so bad. And they want it back. They want the glory, they want the attention, they want the adoration. Remember...many of these guys come from disadvantaged backgrounds where they've never had a strong family to show them what true love is, what good attention is, and so they gravitate to the WRONG things in life, and the wrong types of attention/affection. And so they decommit because they want coaches to show them love again, and they want fans to beg them to come to their school again. This happens much more than you may think.
#2) This goes hand in hand with #1. And it's quite simple - guys see their buddies going on official visits, and they see how much fun they're having, and they want in too! Think about it...you're 18 years old, a top 50 recruit with a healthy ego. And a 3 star buddy of yours just came back from a trip to FSU, and tells you all about the parties and the game and the women (not girls Gilbert, women), and then you read the article they wrote about this 'scrub', and you want in. And so you go an official visit, and within a week you decommit.
#3) This is pretty unique to ND - the local school gets to see the kid so much (the school is so close that the coaches go to his school all the time, which is a HUGE advantage), and the family wants the kid to stay local, and he just gets overwhelmed and he decommits from ND and commits to the local school (see: Prestwood, Jordan).
SILENT VERBALS
One more thing people always have questions about, and that's silent verbals. Why are kids ever silent verbals? 3 reasons that I can think of for sure:
1. If you are a commit to a school that isn't your local state school, you're never gonna hear the end of it. Imagine you're Justin Tuck, and you have an Alabama offer, but you commit to ND early. Some communities just can't handle that, and you'll be ripped apart for not picking their beloved Tide. So guys hold off announcing for awhile to keep people off their backs.
2. Coaches ASK the kids to hold off, so they can make a big splash at a certain time. Lame Kiffen did this before at Tennessee. Let's say you have a big weekend planned, and you want to kick it off right, then you might have a kid (or kids) announce at that time. This used to happen more often.
3. If studs hold off on committing, that means more coaches will go visit your school, and that means more of your teammates will be seen by Division 1 coaches. Sometimes there are kids with good hearts who want their teammates to get exposure, and they use their success to foster more exposure for them.
Alright...kinda long, and I have no time to edit it right now, so sorry for the errors. Hope this answered some questions for some newbies! Go Irish!
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