Early Signing Period Red Flags

No idea - only one year into this new system.

That's a good question..............I'd tend to say stop wasting energy, but you never know what they will decide. Unless they sign during the early period, might be best to gauge their interest, and if they are lukewarm, walk and look down the road.............really hard to say which is the correct way to do it. The posts I am reading about people calling and saying they are coming then choosing another team is confusing as well

Coaching departures and the second half of signing day were a perfect storm of hectic proportions for us this year. That , and a couple of recruits who backtracked today. I think next year with a stable staff and newly energized recruiting staff will give us a much better picture for us.

This was as new to the recruits as it was to the coaches. I would bet next year there will not be nearly as many early signers -- or more. Who knows. The 'cruits probably learned as much as the coaches.

-He reevaluated prospects so many times... often changing the priority throughout the process... and it continued all the way to NSD. So part of the problem was the staff and their ability to recruit. He fixed the issues. Brought in younger and fresher guys.

-He slow played lot of guys on different positions. To fix that, I would think he's going to start offering scholarships little earlier and lock down top 50 guys they want to focus on and have plan A, A1, A2, B, B1, B2, etc.

-I think He probably want to have a target goal of getting class of 2019 signed in December and try to get scholarships out to people to give them a chance to consider Alabama little earlier. My guess is that he probably would want to lock down 80 percent of the class in December.

-Those that doesn't sign in December, He would have at least other options and can quickly move on from them. He probably need to tell them that if they don't sign in December, there's a good chance that they may not sign with Bama, due to how Ross and Brown played Alabama and he's determined to not to let that happen again.

Also, Set a deadline for them to make a decision, so that if they don't want to come to alabama, they can move on and find someone else.

-We had unusually amount of players who flipped to another schools so we need to be sure of who we want and not have to flip back and forth deciding whether we want them or not. ( Langham is the perfect example.)

-Saban probably will have to get little involved in recuiting this fall to make sure the staff don't get complacent again. After what happened this season regarding Tua and Jalen... He knows that what he put on the field can affect the future.

Last but not the least:
-Educate Freshmen on how to host potential teammates and teach them not to say wrong thing that could discourage them from coming to Alabama... I think Some of the freshmen influenced the recuiting process... and I don't think Saban will let that happen again.

Redwood Forrest said:

This was as new to the recruits as it was to the coaches. I would bet next year there will not be nearly as many early signers -- or more. Who knows. The 'cruits probably learned as much as the coaches.

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I actually think there will be more signee in December because coaches are seeing what happened to Alabama today could happen to them as well. I expect Kirby to struggle this December.

Redwood Forrest said:

This was as new to the recruits as it was to the coaches. I would bet next year there will not be nearly as many early signers -- or more. Who knows. The 'cruits probably learned as much as the coaches.

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I agree I think more recruits will go back to wanting last minute attention and spotlight, I think we'll see more recruits at the later signing day compared to the first we saw this year

While we only have done this one year, I have total confidence in CNS to get the plan straightened out and running smoothly. I understand that these are kids and some are gullible to any recruiting pitch. What I don't get are the two that totally led everyone to believe they were all Bama as late as last night and then flipped. That's just not the way to do people, leaving them no time to correct.
We will win with or without them.

I think it will be more of the same honestly. The true primadonnas will drag it out to NSD and it will be just as dramatic. Before with everyone signing at same time there is a little more leverage with programs being able to demonstrate scarcity so kids would only be able to play for so long and risk not having a spot. Now with the early period, everyone has to show their cards early. Other programs and kids who didn’t, now know how many spots you have and what your needs still are. So then it just became a free for all. I am willing to bet everyone of the signees who signed late basically held out to see who was offering the earliest playing time offer. With the fewer recruits to work, the negative recruiting and the promises made just exploded exponentially.

Key lessons I take away 1) Not just for Bama but for all programs the risk of not fulfilling all your available scholarships just went way up, 2) you better get your absolute must get prospects to sign early while you have still have coaching stability in place, 3) you can’t recruit to one system and then play another system on the field, and 4) JUCO and graduate transfer prospects just became more of hot commodity in January.


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If Pruitt didn't leave, they probably all sign early, and the beat goes on; still a great recruiting class, but hard to hold on to people losing top assistants. Never the less, I can see CS pushing for more to sign early.

sanjosecrimson said:

Lessons from the 2018 recruiting class and Early Signing Period:

I'm hoping one thing CNS has learned from this cycle is to get the top guys on board as soon as possible. IMO, if the verbal commits don’t sign during the first period they are most likely not signing during NSD ( Brown, Walker. Jackson) .

My question is: Should Alabama stop wasting energy and effort on recruiting them and pursue other targets or stay patient and see it through till NSD?? I realize there are no definitive answers because it all depends on the needs at certain positions and importance of the said recruit. I wanted to know your thoughts.

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I get your point but I don't think, in most cases, they should stop pursuing players who don't sign early. That's the student's right to wait, and they can have legitimate reasons, such as coaching departures, parent's pressure, etc. I don't know how the "you shop, we shop" game will be played out with two signing days, but I feel like the integrity requires a coach not to simply leverage the player. Also it could backfire.

JTBama said:

Coaching departures and the second half of signing day were a perfect storm of hectic proportions

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for the second year in a row

I think it was VaTech that signed their whole class in December, and I think that's the way the future is going to play out. My assumption is that if you are not signed by Christmas you are not committed and are fair game for anyone.

rtr

LA4Bama said:

I get your point but I don't think, in most cases, they should stop pursuing players who don't sign early. That's the student's right to wait, and they can have legitimate reasons, such as coaching departures, parent's pressure, etc. I don't know how the "you shop, we shop" game will be played out with two signing days, but I feel like the integrity requires a coach not to simply leverage the player. Also it could backfire.

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That's not very fair to the kids. Why have a late signing date at all?

JustNeedMe81 said:

Last but not the least:
-Educate Freshmen on how to host potential teammates and teach them not to say wrong thing that could discourage them from coming to Alabama... I think Some of the freshmen influenced the recuiting process... and I don't think Saban will let that happen again.

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This is not being mentioned much as compared to staff changes, smaller class, etc. but it was a factor with offensive recruits. The way the Jalen/Tua situation played out hurt us on that side of the ball. If that's totally solved then I don't think we have the issue with freshmen (or any other positional groups) negatively influencing others.