College football fans have several days they circle on their calendar every year: the first days of spring and fall practice, the first game of the season and conference championship games.
But one of the biggest days in a college football fan’s year, and one of the biggest days for college football, period, is National Signing Day.
Every year on Feb. 2, high school players around the country get their first chance to submit binding commitments to college programs that will dictate where they play football for the next three or four years. Some players quietly announce their decisions without much of a ceremony, opting to forgo the flood of text messages, phone calls and media attention that come with being a big-time high school football recruit. But a growing number of players are taking announcing their college decisions to absurd new heights.
This latest Signing Day saw some of the most outrageous acts of immaturity to date from young men who are, in their defense, still not out of high school yet.
Isaiah Crowell of George Washington Carver High School decided to bring a bulldog puppy to announce that he would be signing with the University of Georgia. His high school teammate, defensive tackle Gabe Wright, decided to sign with the Auburn Tigers and donned a hat that read on the back, “Nick Who?” The hat was aimed at former Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley, who may be taken first overall in the NFL draft this year.
There is nothing wrong with aiming to continue the legacy of some of the great players in a program for which you’ve signed on to play, but when you begin to disregard those who came before you, there’s a problem.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said it best when he talked about the players who were taking their signing day ceremonies to new levels. He emphasized that they needed to focus on coming in and buying into a team concept before they start to have visions of fame and the NFL.
I agree with Herbstreit. The media have made high school football players national superstars, giving them more attention and praise at the ages of 17 and 18 than they have ever experienced in their lives. Some are able to handle the hype with humility and poise, but others use the day an excuse to build suspense when it’s not needed, disrespect schools they decline to go to and behave like they’ve already made the Pro Bowl.
This isn’t just about athletes being coddled by the media, with people laughing off their antics because the players can run fast and hit hard. This behavior is a problem. The attention that these athletes receive builds them up as conquerors in their minds when they have yet to fight the battles.
It’s all right to enjoy the limelight, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere.