Coaches, ex-players weigh in on early signing

As is the case with politics and religion, it can be difficult for a group to come to a consensus.

That seems to be the case with an NCAA proposal that was approved April 14. It will allow high school football players to sign their letters of intent in early December. A date has yet to be announced.

Select area high school coaches see the merit of the new rule, but other problems in big-time college football recruiting exist, they said.

Players can still sign in early February, which is the usual time. Expect the five-star recruits to wait until that time, when some put on a show unveiling their college choice.

Some love it — most notably ESPN, which plays up national signing day like a sports holiday. Others hate it.

The addition of the December signing period is huge for recruits who don’t want to wait until February to secure their future, plus cover most of their college costs.

Prior to the addition of the December signing period, players who committed did it verbally. They could back out, and so could the coach who offered that scholarship.

That happened to Mentor graduate Ben Pike when he verbally committed to Eastern Michigan in November 2008. A few weeks later, the defensive lineman was told his scholarship was going to another player.

Even if a December signing period was intact in 2008, Pike would have been out of luck, and scrambling to find another interested school. How often a case such as Pike’s happens is anyone’s guess.

Pike eventually landed at the University of Toledo and had a solid career. Plus, he met his wife Ashley at the school.

Pike said the NCAA’s proposal is a step in the right direction, but he suggested a way to sweeten the deal.

“I’ve always thought that players should be able to sign their letter of intent whenever they are ready to sign,” said Pike, who lives in the St. Louis area and is an assistant high school football coach there.

“If they did that, I think if would stop some schools from handing out a vast number of scholarships, then pulling those offers once they are full, and possibly hanging some players out to dry.”

Pike said this would take out a lot of the “game” that goes with recruiting.

“It would require both sides to be more honest,” he said.

Former Mentor quarterback Conner Krizancic, the 2012 Tony Fisher Award winner, originally signed with the University of Minnesota as a receiver, before transferring to Ohio University to take a shot at QB. Concussions, however, derailed his plans, and Krizancic was forced to retire from football in 2016.

Krizancic was also a standout basketball player for the Cardinals and double-dipping in late fall, early winter can make players taking official visits difficult. That’s another factor to consider for recruits — how do you decide on a school until visiting first?

“I think I would have taken my time signing,” said Krizancic.

Brush coach Jeff Fink went through this process with his standout defensive lineman Tyrone Chambers.

Chambers eventually settled on Toledo at the final moments before signing day last February.

Before then, it was a whirlwind for Chambers, mostly because of coaches coming and going.

About a year after Chambers originally verbaled to Toledo, Coach Matt Campbell left for Iowa State.

That prompted Chambers to look elsewhere. He later verbaled to Cincinnati, but Coach Tommy Tuberville eventually retired.

Then Chambers committed to Western Michigan and Coach P.J. Fleck, who then took the job at Minnesota. Chambers agreed to follow Fleck to the Twin Cities.

Chambers said he disagreed with the academic requirements from Fleck, and that set up a last-week change before signing day he called “hectic.”

He visited Toledo on Jan. 27, and by Jan. 29 committed to Coach Jason Candle. He didn’t make his decision public until Feb. 1.

Fink said after watching Chambers’ recruitment unfold, and if their had been an early signing period and Chambers did just that, “It would have been a different story for him,” said Fink, who played in college at Bowling Green as an offensive lineman.

The Brush coach said he’s in favor of the early signing period mostly because it gives recruits “a little protection. But it should also help the kids understand what a commitment is all about.”

There are pitfalls, a sentiment Matt Rosati hammered home. The Perry coach is not in favor of the early signing period, and is not happy with the current state of college football recruiting at the FBS level.

“I don’t think this will make much of a difference,” said Rosati. “All this will do is speed up the process even more, and more mistakes (in recruiting) will be made. This is all kind of out of whack.”

Rosati said the high school senior season for top-notch players “doesn’t matter” when it comes to earning a FBS scholarship. That’s because Rosati said most FBS schools have the majority — if not all — of its recruiting classes intact before a player plays a down as a senior.

“These days, games don’t matter much from a recruiting aspect when a kid’s a senior. They just don’t,” said Rosati. “It’s how you look as a junior in all these summer camps. These schools are in such a rush, and it’s disappointing because there are good players all over Ohio that miss out.”

Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt was the runner-up for Mr. Football as a high school senior at Chardon in 1998, and was recruited by the likes of the late Joe Paterno at Penn State and Nick Saban, at the time the coach at Michigan State.

Hewitt eventually signed with Bowling Green and a had a solid career there. But he admits times have changed in recruiting since he was being courted.

“Timing is everything,” said Hewitt. “It was like that for me, but it’s even worse now. It’s kind of like first-come, firstserve with these offers.”

Hewitt has a standout recruit in defensive lineman Chase Kline, who has offers from Ohio, Iowa State and Syracuse. Ohio State could be in the mix, said Hewitt, but nothing is guaranteed.

The coach’s advice to Kline?

“I would tell him to hold off,” said Hewitt, who said the early signing period is a positive.

At Mentor, Coach Steve Trivisonno has three FBS recruits in QB Tadas Tatarunas (a senior next fall) and left tackle Ryan Jacoby and defensive lineman Noah Potter. They are juniors in the fall.

The 6-foot-5 Tatarunas has generated interest from plenty, and took visits last spring to Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Rutgers and Miami (Ohio).

“I’m not sure what Tadas does,” said Trivisonno. “Maybe he waits.”

That’s the big decision for FBS recruits, beginning in December — sign early or wait.