5 observations and things that matter after the 2021 recruiting season and National Signing Day are over.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
[jwplayer zT5rEzuj]
Now that it’s all over, what mattered about National Signing Day 2021 and the entire recruiting period coming off the weirdest possible season?
Here are five observations and things that matter – especially if you don’t care about recruiting.
5. Yes, National Signing Day was last Wednesday
You can be forgiven if you didn’t notice that the first Wednesday in February passed without you noticing any sizable changes in your world.
There used to be a time when that date meant something to college football fans looking for something to care about in the middle of a random weeks, and was a national holiday for the fetish crowd that gets WAYYYYYYY to into the college whims of teenage guys.
But that’s all changed, and it’s good thing.
As a friend of mine put it, now it goes Early Signing Period > Transfer Portal > National Signing Day.
And that was what made the 2021 recruiting season so strange. The Early Signing Period in late December has destroyed the February National Signing Day, mainly because everyone signs on as soon as they’re able to.
2021 Recruiting
Coaching Changes & 2021 Recruiting
New Schools In The Mix | The Top Position
Alabama Dunked On Your Recruiting Class
Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC
(Why the superstar recruits don’t hold out until the last possible second as the value goes up and the “offers” become more tasty is beyond me – but that’s for another day.)
This year, though, late December meant something beyond the random bowl games, which meant that college football fans had to care about how the extended season ended, which meant that random interest in recruiting was next to nothing.
Coaches and recruiters couldn’t work like normal in the COVID year, there wasn’t a Terrelle Pryor or Justin Fields or Rashan Gary or Jadeveon Clowney who captured the recruiting world’s imagination, and there’s the one big aspect that has totally killed interest in recruiting …
Who cares about a bunch of questionable prospects who may or may not be worth the trouble when you can go get the guys you need in the transfer portal?
But recruiting still matters, especially at the highest level. Now, it’s a strength in numbers game considering so many players will be off to the transfer portal the second they see where they are on the depth chart. Obviously, the more great recruits you get, the more chances that a few will work out.
At the end of the day, whether recruiting has lost its mojo or not, you still need the guys.
Coaching Changes & 2021 Recruiting
New Schools In The Mix | The Top Position
Alabama Dunked On Your Recruiting Class