Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer came out strongly against an early signing period during his weekly press gathering this week, citing that the annoyance of dealing with decommitments does not outweigh the time players need to make an informed decision.
"I hear the reasoning is because there's so many decommitments. What the hell does that mean? So because 17-year-olds are decommitting, let's give them a legal document so they can't decommit. That's not very smart. Young people have a right to choose where they want to go to school. Period. Let them decommit 100 times. They're 17 years old. That's why they're called 17-year-olds. I don't understand whether it's lazy (on the part of college coaches in favor of an early signing period). I don't understand why there's this big push.
"Now they want to have official visits in their junior year. There are some kids that don't even have ACT scores. Their bodies are gaining 12 pounds. Why not move it up to their sophomore year? It's bizarre. You're going to see more transfers and more mistakes made in recruiting than ever if they keep pushing this thing up."
Urban's comments make sense, but they do warrant the caveat that the current system helps the Ohio States and the Alabamas more than the rest of college football. If Ohio State misses on a recruit late, the Buckeyes know they can swipe a hidden gem from Mid-Tier U's class up to practically the moment before the player faxes in his letter of intent. Mid Tier U doesn't have that luxury.
But even that example begs the question: is it really in the players best interest if he were to, for example, sign with Mid Tier U on Sept. 1 knowing in the back of his mind he would jump to Ohio State if given the chance?
And round and 'round we go.
To an outsider's view, recruiting has devolved to the state it's in today because both sides of the table -- coaches and recruits -- have taken advantage of the offer/verbal commitment system to the point where both mean next to nothing. Adding a level of accountability to both sides would eliminate much of the cat-and-mouse game we see today.
But that's just one man's opinion, and Urban's matters a lot more than mine.