Has signing day become anticlimactic?
Early commitments take away some of the thrills
Almost all of the recruiting drama for Arizona high school football seniors happened during a two-day signing window in December.
First, Gilbert Perry quarterback Chubba Purdy flipped his commitment from Louisville to Florida State on Dec. 18.
Two days later, Mesa Desert Ridge defensive end/outside linebacker Joquarri Price suddenly found a scholarship open at UCLA after San Diego State backed off of him, and he signed his college letter of intent.
Meanwhile, Scottsdale Saguaro cornerback Kelee Ringo and Gilbert Higley defensive end Jason Harris secretly signed their college letters of intent, but waited until January high school AllAmerican games to announce it on national television -- Ringo with Georgia and Harris with Colorado.
The state's very elite players were signed before Christmas.
That leaves little if any intrigue left for Wednesday's traditional National Signing Day among Arizona's 2020 high school class with the best of the best already signed.
Chandler linebacker Tate Romney announced Tuesday he will be playing at BYU after first going on a two-year LDS mission. Phoenix Pinnacle wide receiver Marcus Libman announced he'll be playing at Columbia.
It's still an unknown what Peoria Centennial safety Jaydin Young will be doing. And Surprise Willow Canyon running back Darvon Hubbard will announce and sign on Wednesday morning.
"Everybody is going to look at how it played out for Brock Purdy and how he blew up after the first signing day, but I think that is the exception, not the norm," said Phoenix Brophy Prep coach
Jason Jewell, who ran a recruiting site before taking over the Brophy program last year. "The early signing day has sped up recruiting, so a kid's junior film is even more important than it used to be.
"It makes it tougher for those sleepers that developed during their senior year to get noticed, because often times, schools are now full and done recruiting."
There hasn't been another Brock Purdy situation since the quarterback set 6A passing records his senior season in 2017. He didn't pick up a Power 5 offer until after the December signing period.
Then, a couple of weeks before the February signing day, things blew up for him. He ended up announcing on Signing Day he was going to Iowa State, and it didn't take long for him to entrench himself in Ames, Iowa, as the quarterback for the Big 12 school.
Those kinds of Cinderella stories are hard to come by year in and year out.
"I feel like a kid that knows where he wants to go, signing early takes the pressure off of them," Jewell said. "But there are some cons to that, too. Coaches
can get fired and you end up playing for a staff that didn't recruit you.
"That is why my advice to kids is to pick a school you want to be at, not for the coach because the odds are that your position coach, coordinator or head coach will change in your five years there."
About a month after Chandler running back Dae Dae Hunter signed with Hawaii on Dec. 18, the Rainbows needed to find a new coach to replace Nick Rolovich, who took the Washington State head coaching job.
Enter former Arizona
Todd Graham.
After spending some time with Graham, Hunter decided to keep his commitment.
"He's very happy, and Hawaii is very happy," Chandler coach Rick Garretson said.
Garretson sees the recruiting process starting earlier with the December signing period, so it's important to get on board a college sooner than later.
"We tell our young guys if you're gong to commit before the season or in the summer, and if you don't sign during
State coach that earlier period, I don't think too many are going to be committed to you," Garretson said. "That's unless you're a five-star."
But there are pros to waiting it out, too. That helped Brock Purdy, who could have signed with a smaller Division I had he not felt confident that he would have Power 5 schools in need of quarterbacks after the December signing period.
Waiting also helps a kid who needs more time to become academically qualified.
It helped Gilbert Highland running back Daniel Wood, who will be playing football at Utah on an academic scholarship.
"He did not know if he had an academic scholarship to Utah until a few days ago," Highland coach Brock Farrel said last week. "He would not have known that back in December."
For players just wanting to play at four-year college, the February signing is beneficial with NAIA, Division III, II and FCS scooping up recruits not signed by the power conference schools.
"It's a difficult world of recruiting," Garretson said. "It changed with the early signing.
"Most of the guys coming through here now are not looking at 2020. They're looking at 2021 and 2022."
There could be upwards to 200 Arizona high school football players in the 2020 class to sign with a four-year college. It's one of the deepest classes in Arizona preps history.
Surprise Valley Vista coach Josh Sekoch said he doesn't know if there is any plus to waiting to sign anymore.
"I actually wish there was a spring of junior year signing date for these kids with offers," Sekoch said. "Too many colleges are throwing out offers that aren't committable.
"There is no benefit of waiting in my opinion. You sign early so colleges can't then shop around, keeping the student interested, while they look or wait for next best guy. If you are their guy, they want you to sign early, period."