While South Carolina football initially looked to have an all-star recruiting class this year, the Gamecocks have been losing ground and come limping into Wednesday's signing day.
Once ranked No. 2 nationally, this recruiting class has had the most players change their minds of any team in the country. All together, nine players have announced their intent to play for South Carolina only to change their mind.
Some blame a lackluster 2014 season for the lost recruits. Others blame head coach Steve Spurrier for saying that he would likely retire before this class graduates, only to then backpedal as players jumped ship.
We believe the main source of the problem for South Carolina is the process itself.
A perfect example is Arden Key, who spurned the Gamecocks twice before giving us one more chance. He announced his decision on TV, telling a national audience he chose his school out of a hat. We didn’t make the cut in Key’s sorting hat, and while we wish him well at LSU, the whole spectacle of his recruitment shows how ridiculous the process has become.
Athletes are increasingly pressured to verbally commit long before they play. Then they are vilified when they go back on their commitments. Schools are also culpable, with many making headlines this year for pulling scholarships out from under players. Many have also hired coaches who haven't been invested in programs for the long term.
All of this has led to an environment where players don’t trust the schools and schools don’t trust the players.
If we want to end the television broadcasts of trying on hats, the shady midnight deals and the last minute betrayals that make signing day a shameful circus, we need to restore honor to the process of recruiting. We feel that a commitment should be just that — a commitment on both sides to be honest and forge a relationship of education and athletics. It shouldn’t be about pilfering players, dishonesty and vacillation.
Signing day can be a new beginning — it doesn’t always have to be a bitter end.