Some observations on college recruitment from CBS College Sports Network
recruiting expert Tom Lemming on National Signing Day

With February 4th having been National Signing Day for many of the nation’s senior (and some junior) high school football players, we at NATS felt it worthwhile to provide visitors to our site with a few observations from Tom Lemming, college recruiting expert for CBS College Sports Network (as provided by the Los Angeles Times), on the state of college football recruiting in 2009 and the trends that will come define this year’s class. Among those things Lemming found interesting:

• The fact that many SEC and ACC schools are signing larger recruiting classes, as opposed to smaller classes by schools out West, like USC; this, notes Lemming, gives a major advantage to schools in the South, as programs with larger classes can be more selective with the recruits they actually provide scholarships to.
• Many players continue to decide on committing to schools without having a complete understanding of the academics required of them to become eligible to play according to the standards set by the NCAA. A large number of athletes, says Lemming, believe that the programs recruiting them will somehow pull strings to get them into school and cleared by the NCAA, but, all said and done, actually end up being sent back to junior college or prep school in order boost their grades. This, notes Lemming, tends to only benefit the original school committed to, as universities need only allow such student-athletes back on campus if a) academic performance has improved to an acceptable level and b) a scholarship remains which warrants rewarding the level of maturation a player is likely to encounter while playing at the JC / prep level.
• Though it may seems like more high school players (Terrell Pryor last year, Bryce Brown this year) are waiting to commit to a school until after National Signing Day, Lemming believes that such a move is not the start of a growing trend. Instead, he sees the action as one of “an elite player . . . [who] can do whatever he wants” -- something the average student-athlete will never have the opportunity to do.
• Few players will have an immediate impact upon a team in their first year with the program they choose. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. Among those that Lemming feels could meet that requirement in fall 2009? Byrce Brown, the nation’s highest-rated tailback (debating between Oregon and Miami, Florida), Matt Barkley (committed to USC), and Devon Kennard (committed to USC as well).
• Lemming believes this year’s best talent will come out of the state of California.