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Early commitments: Good or Bad?

Re: Early commitments: Celebration or concern?

From what I understand and I may be wrong, our number of scholarships is low compared to most other schools so regardless of how many 3,4, or 5 stars we eventually sign our ranking will not be ranked as high as last year or the year before that. It is a long time between now and signing day and as someone said a lot can happen. How this team performs in the W-L column could have a major impact on the recruits we actually sign in February. IMO we will sign a good but not a great class but hopeully the coaching staff knows what they are doing in evaluating talent.
 
Re: Early commitments: Celebration or concern?

Since it seems the majority of the early committments are from camp attendees, I'll take the coaches hands on review of these players over the recruiting rating services which in some cases do have motive to rate players in such a way as to generate the most revenue for themselves.

Don't worry about the 5 star guys, we will still go for and hopefully sign some, and it will all work out in the end. remember we have academic losses and greyshirting to account for as well.
 
I was just wondering if all of these early commitments are a good thing and if they are normal for NCAA programs to reel em in so early.
Maybe its just CMS, maybe kids really like Bama again. Your thoughts and comments please.
 
Apparently most of the major D-1 programs are loading up with early signees. I not sure how long this has been going on 5 years maybe? As for Coach Shula, I think he has made a major (and that maybe an understatement) impact on Alabama's image as a major player. His perception appears to be a very likable, approachable and knowledgable young man, a straight shooter with a great deal of integrity. If you put things into perspective you will see how much Coach Shula has had to accomplish in his 3 years. He has been charged with bringing an entire football program from the Bryant/Stallings era into the 21st century of college football and add on top of that having to clean up a pile of _________left behind by dubose,franchione and price. Tall order.
 
It's been mentioned that a lot of our commits attended camps. CMS and staff has seen them first hand, live and in color. Rather than on a video tape or in a newspaper clipping. Being able to evaluate a kid first hand is priceless because you learn more than just physical talent but personality, demeanor and get a feel of the players "coachability"......which in today's age is VERY IMPORTANT.

When it comes to recruiting I have ZERO and I mean ZERO doubts or concerns about CMS. To me he's become one of the best in the SEC at recruiting.
 
I think Bama may be getting so many early commitments this year in large part because they have so few scholarships to offer this year. The prospects are made aware of that. McClain even commented on that. He said that he wanted to make sure he had a spot.

If you haven't already read this article it provides a good perspective on the early commiments.

Early commitments a sign of confidence
 
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I don't think there is much of a choice about early signing. Look around, the top sec teams have signed as many as Alabama and in some cases mostly four and five stars. If you wait too long many recruits wont' be available unless they have a change of heart. Texas, as always under Mack Brown, has completed it's recruiting and they are doing pretty good lately. I expect when Urban gets his wheels fully under him he'll be doing the same thing in the Southeast. When we win the SECCG this year we'll be greatly helped.:)
 
I don't think the discussion can be framed in terms of "good" or "bad," but rather "avoidable" or "inevitable."

Starting in the mid-90s, when the Internet came along and focused greater attention on recruiting than it ever had before, everything started getting progressively earlier -- earlier scouting, earlier interviewing, earlier media attention, earlier committing. I remember one summer when Penn State had 12 commitments out of a class of 25 and thinking that Joe Paterno had lost his marbles for signing kids before their senior year.

There are two sides to both strategies. If you offer kids early, you get your hooks in them before rival schools have had a chance to do it -- and some kids are going to develop into prospects as juniors anyway, so waiting does you no good.

The flip side is that some kids don't develop until their senior year, and some who looked like gangbusters when younger actually plateau and don't ever get much better. Xavier Carroll is an example from last year; at one point, some people were talking about him as a top-five prospect and he ended up not getting an offer from an SEC school.

The problem is, it's riskier now to wait than it is to offer early and risk a misevaluation or a senior year injury. The only big-time school that regularly takes a lot of prospects late is Florida State, but it's believed FSU simply asks prospects to hold off on public commitments until late so as to give them a media boost in the final rankings (i.e., teams that "close" well tend to get a push from writers). UA, as well as most other schools, don't really care about that.
 
JessN said:
The flip side is that some kids don't develop until their senior year, and some who looked like gangbusters when younger actually plateau and don't ever get much better. Xavier Carroll is an example from last year; at one point, some people were talking about him as a top-five prospect and he ended up not getting an offer from an SEC school.
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There were a lot of names thrown around early last year that turned out not to receive major offers......Eugene Sowell, the runningback from Etowah, the safety from Prattville, the list goes on. certainly an inexact science
 
JessN said:
The flip side is that some kids don't develop until their senior year, and some who looked like gangbusters when younger actually plateau and don't ever get much better. Xavier Carroll is an example from last year; at one point, some people were talking about him as a top-five prospect and he ended up not getting an offer from an SEC school.
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Xavier Carroll is a good little player, the problem is the little part. Anyone talking about him as a top-5 must have been counting on him growing about 5-6 inches and putting on another 20-30 pounds his SR year. Not many 5'5" 150 pound athletes get SEC offers. Also the reason the "safety out of Prattville" didn't get his offers is because he couldn't get in school unfortunately.

But I agree about the risks, but it mainly comes when you are trying to project kids especially ones like Lorenzo Washington who because of their birthdays are still really young going into thier SR years. It is really hard to gauge how they are going to grow especially for lineman and such.
 
The thought with Carroll was that he was going to develop into a Prothro-style player, or perhaps a somewhat lesser version of David Palmer. It also wasn't as well known what his height and weight were exactly until he got measured and started making visits.

Also, when I say "top five on some lists" doesn't mean mine. I had him towards the back end of my top 20 and that was being generous.
 
I have given it some thought and really do not like the idea of early commitments. What if there is a serious injury to the player their senior year. I know we could withdraw the scholarship, but it just doesnt feel right. Kinda Friday Night Lightsish.
 
The question is can you afford NOT to take early commitments. I believe in this day and age, the answer is "no."
 
JessN said:
The question is can you afford NOT to take early commitments. I believe in this day and age, the answer is "no."
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Right! The "Early bird gets the worm", at least in most cases! If not that bird is either blind or crazy! And it won't survive long gaurenteed!:wink:

Whats wrong with early commits from sophmores and even freshmen in highschool if they have the talent? Our coaches had better be able to judge talent in advance, cause its going to get earlier and earlier!

Allready has!
 
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crmsnrevelation said:
I have given it some thought and really do not like the idea of early commitments. What if there is a serious injury to the player their senior year. I know we could withdraw the scholarship, but it just doesnt feel right. Kinda Friday Night Lightsish.
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Actually, I beleive we could stiil give him a scholarship if his injury was so serious he couldn't play football anymore. As long as he's not on the 85 man roster, he wouldn't come under NCAA restictions. We "retire" scholarshiped athletes because of career-ending injury or medical condition all the time.

Besides, the kid could tear up a knee playing baseball, running track or even water-skiing after signing day. I say if they're good and they want to committ, let's take'em. We've already committed by giving an official offer.
 
wastedmason said:
Right! The "Early bird gets the worm", at least in most cases! If not that bird is either blind or crazy! And it won't survive long gaurenteed!:wink:

Whats wrong with early commits from sophmores and even freshmen in highschool if they have the talent? Our coaches had better be able to judge talent in advance, cause its going to get earlier and earlier!

Allready has!
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When Chris Leak's older brother signed with Wake Forest, Chris was offered a scholarship also. He was in the eighth grade at the time.
By the way, the older brother stayed a year or so at Wake Forest then transferred to Tennessee. Hasn't been heard from since. I think we all know what happened to Chris.
 
For better or worse, it's the trend now to offer early

the better prospects and if you don't, trust me, rival coaches will. These kids are impressed by that stuff and in their minds, image and appearance are everything. I don't think the staff is actually offering slots to everyone. Remember, some of these kids claim to have offers when in reality, all they have is a letter from the staff indicating interest. My guess is that given the relatively few slots available (17?), CMS and the staff are being extremely selective who gets an actual offer.
 
Bamabuzzard said:
It's been mentioned that a lot of our commits attended camps. CMS and staff has seen them first hand, live and in color. Rather than on a video tape or in a newspaper clipping. Being able to evaluate a kid first hand is priceless because you learn more than just physical talent but personality, demeanor and get a feel of the players "coachability"......which in today's age is VERY IMPORTANT.

When it comes to recruiting I have ZERO and I mean ZERO doubts or concerns about CMS. To me he's become one of the best in the SEC at recruiting.
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good post !
 
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