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Today's newsletter is all about recruiting, and Sam Carn Jr. joins us to break down one coach's iconic recruiting strategy.
Signing day shakeup
Early signing date brought forward
College football's national signing day is changing again.
On Wednesday, Division I commissioners voted to move the December contract period from the middle of this month to the Wednesday before the FBS conference championship game. Depending on the year, high school seniors may be able to sign contracts as early as late November.
The calendar for 2024 will look like this:
- December 4th: Early Signing Day
- December 7: Conference Championship Game
- December 8: Final CFP rankings announced
- December 9: Winter transfer portal window opens
- December 20-21: CFP 1st round
The early signing period was introduced in 2017 and quickly gained attention as the original National Signing Day was the first Wednesday in February (which remains the same after this week's change).
Signing in December allows players to take advantage of early registration and participate in spring practice, but CFB's increasingly chaotic December schedule (bowl season, coaching changes, transfer portal opening, (starting this year), the early timing has come under criticism. , expanded College Football Playoff).
The solution to this madness is unclear, but one player personnel manager said: The AthleticGrace Rayner and Sam Cahn Jr., the problem may lie in the signing day itself.
“My question is, I don't have an answer to this, but it's worth discussing… What is Signing Day?” the Director of Player Personnel asked. “What the hell are you doing? You can redirect as many times as you want. So you're locking yourself away for a year, that's what I'm told. That's my question.”
Perhaps that's a valid point.
Mack Brown was Texas' head coach from 1998 to 2013. (Cooper Neal/Getty Images)
Texas recruiting phenomenon
Mack Brown's infamous junior days
Sam Olson and Max Olson detailed Brown's storied (and risky) early recruiting strategy at Texas in yesterday's article.
The Longhorns were known as the best players in the class as juniors long before the early recruiting strategy was implemented nationally. Brown was given the nickname “Mr. He was credited with getting recruits sworn in early, and the Longhorns had an 88-29 record from the 2005 graduating class, when he first attended Junior Day at Texas, to the end of the Brown era.
Today I brought Sam in to answer some questions about his report.
Why was Brown's time as a Texas junior so unique?
It was a combination of Texas' success at the time, the program's fame, Brown's charisma, and the exclusive nature of the invitation and Texas offer. Other programs had juniors at the time, but none were as successful at getting commitments from their programs as Texas.
Thanks in large part to their success as juniors, the Longhorns often had 90 percent of the class engaged and established by late spring.
What is the most interesting anecdote you heard from a player or coach from your junior days?
My favorite did not appear in the story! Russell Shepard, who played at LSU and was a receiver in the NFL, was a five-star recruit and the No. 1 two-way quarterback recruit in the 2009 class. He wanted to play as a QB, but Texas didn't guarantee that. Former Texas defensive line coach Oscar Giles, who scouted him, said that on the day of his junior year, Shepherd told Brown in his office, “Coach, tell me I can play quarterback at the University of Texas. I'm going to commit right now.'' '' he said.
Brown didn't commit to it, but Shepard visited LSU a few weeks later and committed to contributing to the Tigers. Of course, Shepard only played as a QB as a freshman at LSU and ended up playing as a receiver his final three seasons.
You mention in your story that Texas didn't offer Andrew Luck. Were there other big players the Longhorns missed out on due to their early evaluation strategy?
Most fans will remember Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel, big-time players who went on to win the Heisman Trophy. Griffin received an offer from Texas as an athlete, but he wanted to be a quarterback. Manziel never received an offer from Texas. But I always thought Brown was unfairly stacked up for that because there were plenty of other schools that didn't offer Griffin as a QB or didn't offer Manziel.
There's no question the early commitment strategy backfired at times, and even Brown admits it caused Texas to miss out on late bloomers. But not taking advantage of their luck is probably one of the Longhorns' regrets in hindsight, as Texas was all-in on Garrett Gilbert in the next recruiting class.
Adoption of big board
Storyline from an unconfirmed 2025 outlook
Let's take a look at the current hiring situation. Below are the names I'm most interested in from Ari Wasserman's list of Most Influential 2025 Prospects and why their hires intrigue me.
- 5-Star S Anquon Fegans: The Nick Saban Effect. Alabama's No. 2 player has not yet committed, but the state's No. 1 player, Naeem Offord, has committed to Ohio State. Is this what we can expect post-Saban? This recruiting cycle will start to show us what life will be like for the Tide without Saban.
- 4-star QB Antwon Hill: QB shortage. The top seven QBs in this class are committed, making Hill one of two QBs remaining in the top 100. Additionally, Ali said there is already a serious QB shortage this cycle. Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Duke and UNC are potential suitors for Hill.
- 4-Star TE Rincon Cure: Welcome to Kansas. Kansas has only had two top-100 players in the same cycle twice. And now the state has two of his top-50 players, Cure and his T Andrew Babalola (26th overall).
quick snap
Speaking of that KansasMax Olson has a great story today about how the Jayhawks head coach worked. Lance Leipold He established himself as one of the greatest program builders in college football.
former Purdue RB Tyrone Tracy After five seasons in which he did not reach his potential as a receiver, he accepted a position change. It worked, and his reward could come in the NFL Draft.
Some fans wonder why they have to pay for the players when money is flowing into the school.Seth Emerson considers NIL and donor fatigue.
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(Top photo of Jaheim Meriweather: Brianna Paciorka / USA Today)
