Me? I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I think it’s a cool day as student-athletes get recognition for their outstanding achievements and are rewarded with scholarships to colleges.
Yet on the other hand, I hate how the big media types (ESPN) have put so much hype into this. All the ranking of top classes, players and such is, to me, a waste of time. These kids haven’t played a down of college ball, yet we’re already predicting what they’re going to do in terms of impact on the college level.
There’s also no need for these kids to have press conferences to announce where they are signing.
Like I said, it’s a great achievement for the kids, but it’s become way overblown.
It’s a circular system. Players are rated 4- and 5-star mainly because big schools offer them scholarships, and then the big schools finish with highly ranked recruiting classes because they signed a bunch of 4- and 5-star kids.
Yet I’m supposed to care that Florida, Ohio State, Texas, OU, and USC all finished with “Top 10 classes” for the Nth straight year?
Gee, imagine that.
Further, it’s a near-crapshoot as to which kids end up being great in college and which can’t hack it.
I agree about the media attention. Pat the kids on the back for earning a scholarship, but that’s it. Beyond that, they haven’t done shit yet, so let’s not go ga-ga over them.
Some of these 18 y.o. boys have heads big enough to block out the Sun.
I agree, I think it’s overhyped. Just because a kid is a stud HS athlete doesn’t necessarily translate into a stud college athlete. You have 5-star athletes that will suck in college, and 2-star athletes that will be college studs and play in the NFL.
It’s a huge decision for an 18-year old kid to make that could possibly affect the rest of his life.
No matter how good a school’s class is, you’ll have close to half of those players that will not get much playing time, aren’t as good as expected, transfer, etc. The only way to measure a class is after all the members of that class have exhausted their eligibility, go to the NFL early, or leave the school in some sort of fashion, and see how they did after their playing days are done.
I think it’s funny how they take hotshot kids, many of which have never put in real weightroom work, and assume that their strength coach is gonna make them into monsters. If you look at all the top DE’s, for instance, they’re probably roughly 6’6, and 215 pounds. The ‘strength coach’ at his highschool has never taught them to squat or deadlift correctly. They assume that their godsend conditioning coach is gonna make this kid 270 pounds in the next 4 years, but it’s just not gonna happen.
I found it interesting that the number 1 recruit said he hated all the attention but then delayed his announcement until today (Thur) at a press conference he is holding. That shouldn’t draw too much attention to him.
I think as sports fans are becoming dissatisfied with all the spectacle and hype around pro-sports, and starting to pay more attention to the college level, it’s only natural that the spectacle and hype will follow.
[quote]74 wrote:
I found it interesting that the number 1 recruit said he hated all the attention but then delayed his announcement until today (Thur) at a press conference he is holding. That shouldn’t draw too much attention to him.[/quote]
Pryor really doesn’t like all the attention, but he knows that this is how the game is played.
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
74 wrote:
I found it interesting that the number 1 recruit said he hated all the attention but then delayed his announcement until today (Thur) at a press conference he is holding. That shouldn’t draw too much attention to him.
Pryor really doesn’t like all the attention, but he knows that this is how the game is played.[/quote]
I don’t buy it. If he doesn’t like the attention, why not just sign your sheet and send it in? There’s no requirement to have a press conference.
I liked it a lot better before all of the press conferences and circus acts.
What about that Hart kid? He faked an entire recruiting story, press conference, and all that. it’s really sad.
while I don’t have a problem with ranking recruiting classes (it’s much like ranking NFL Draft classes…Brady as a 6th round pick anyone?), the hype behind it all is so stupid. these people are 17 and 18 years old (I’m not much older, but still) and they’re already in the spotlight.
when I got accepted into college (not to play ball though), my mom took me out to dinner. no national headlines, no press conference, just some salmon and delicious rolls at red lobster.