Jefferson High School seniors Chavez Pownell, left, and Deiondre Porter, right, laugh during NCAA col- lege football National Signing Day activities in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday. Pownell signed a letter of intent to play at Wyoming and Porter is headed to Florida.
Wednesday was a big day for sports media outlets across the nation. There was no big game or blockbuster trade that brought about this buzz, however. It was simply the fact that a bunch of high school seniors sat down and decided where they would be attending college in the fall.
College football signing day has become a veritable media explosion, with ESPN cameras flooding high schools across the country to tell fans about who won the “recruiting battle” going into next season.
This endless flood of coverage benefits a myriad of people, namely the fans and the media outlets. Sadly, this comes at the detriment of the student athletes.
Every college student can remember the time and stress that went into choosing a school, and this is sharply intensified when you have thousands of fans on social media clamoring to beg you to come to their school, not to mention cameras following your every move.
The saddest part is that it changes the way student-athletes value their education before they even set foot in their new college.
No one in their post-signing press conference is asking them what classes they plan on taking in the fall, or what is going into their choice of major. They’re climbing all over each other to talk about sports. Subsequently, that becomes the priority.
As fans, we jump at the chance to criticize someone like Johnny Manziel for clearly putting his sport and partying over his academics, but we were the ones encouraging the cameras in his face on signing day before he had even graduated high school.
Fans should also understand that salivating over recruits and flooding them with hype hinders their development as athletes.
If a player knows they are a top recruit, they’re more likely to be complacent in their training.
In 1995 Bobby Sabelhaus was referred to as the top recruit of his class. He was even called “a future All-American” by The Tampa Tribune.
By the time Sabelhaus arrived at Florida to begin his college career, he could barely throw a spiral anymore. His coach, Steve Spurrier could do little to help his development. He never learned the playbook.
It’s hard for a coach to mold a young athlete that gets treated like a celebrity.
Sadly the culture around signing day may never change, and as fans we should accept that the consequences of such a culture—recruiting busts, athletes with poor character—will continue to crop up.
