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Recruiting | National Signing Day

Last chance to woo future football stars as National Signing Day approaches

 

The frenzy of the final week of the recruiting process for coveted high school players culminates with National Signing Day.

 

Wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, out of Missouri, has been compared to Randy Moss. Green-Beckham is leaning toward Arkansas.
Wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, out of Missouri, has been compared to Randy Moss. Green-Beckham is leaning toward Arkansas.
Miami Herald Wire Services

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RIVALS.COM TOP 20 RECRUITS

PlayerPos.SchoolHgt.Wgt.Committed
Dorial Green-BeckhamWRHillcrest (Mo.)6-6220Undecided
D.J. Humphries OLMallard Creek (N.C.) 6-5265Florida
Mario Edwards DTRyan (Texas) 6-4275FSU
Shaq Thompson DBGrant (Calif.) 6-2210California
Jonathan Gray RBAledo (Texas) 5-11190Texas
Jonathan Bullard DECrest (N.C.)6-4255Florida
Eddie Goldman DTFriendship Collegiate Acad (D.C.) 6-4307Undecided
Stefon Diggs WROur Lady (Md.) 6-0185Undecided
Noah Spence DEBishop McDevitt (Pa.) 6-4245Ohio St.
Jameis Winston QBHuetown (Ala.) 6-4200Florida
Darius Hamilton DEDon Bosco Prep (N.J.) 6-4245Undecided
TJ Yeldon RBDaphne (Ala.) 602205Alabama
Tracy Howard DBMiramar5-11175Undecided
Ondre Pipkins DTPark Hill (Mo.) 6-3325Michigan
Trey Williams RBDekaney (Texas) 5-8175Texas A&M
Zach Banner OLLakes (Wash.) 6-9310Undecided
Landon Collins DBDutchtown (La.)5-11199Alabama
Nelson Agholor WRBerkeley Prep 6-2180Undecided
Kyle Murphy OLSan Clemente (Calif.) 6-7275Undecided
Gunner Kiel QBEast (Ind.)6-4220Notre Dame


mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com

National Signing Day is Wednesday, which means all over the country this weekend, college football programs are pulling out all the stops — “rolling out two red carpets,’’ recruiting guru Tom Lemming said — in a last-ditch effort to impress the still-uncommitted high school stars.

Dorial Green-Beckham, a wide receiver from Missouri, is considered by most experts to be the crown jewel of his class and he is among the players getting the royal treatment. He is 6-6 and 220 pounds and has football and track coaches drooling because he runs the 100 meters in 10.5 seconds.

Word is Green-Beckham will wind up at Arkansas, but he still has Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama on standby.

Lemming calls him “the next Randy Moss.’’ Mike Farrell of Rivals.com compares him to Calvin Johnson.

Other players still up for grabs include 307-pound defensive tackle Eddie Goldman of Washington, D.C.; wide receiver Stefon Diggs of Olney, Md.; defensive back Tracy Howard of Miramar, who is visiting the University of Miami this weekend; Nelson Agholor of Tampa, a Nigerian-American who can play wide receiver and running back; and Ronald Darby, a cornerback from Potomac, Md., who committed to Notre Dame but recently decommitted and is now leaning toward Florida State, Clemson and Auburn.

Last-minute campus visit invitations went out in the past 48 hours to players who had committed to Rutgers, only to find out on Thursday that coach Greg Schiano is headed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You can bet those players are being wooed big-time.

“Everyone amps it up and goes all out this weekend,’’ Farrell said. “They’ll tell you how important you are to their program, how high they have you on their depth chart, make you feel like they have to have you. There is more of a sense of urgency than earlier in the recruiting process. They want the kids to leave campus at least confused or, at most, convinced.’’

Meanwhile, some of the athletes will drag out the process as long as possible, even if they already have their mind made up.

“I think most of these kids have an idea where they’re going, but they like the drama,’’ said Lemming, national recruiting expert with CBS Sports Network. “They love the attention, the media, Facebook, Twitter. They can’t get enough. They’re like opera singers. Prima donnas.

“The longer they wait, the more attention they get.’’

Lemming said some high school players will wait until after signing day to announce their commitments “so they get the spotlight all to themselves.’’

In some cases, the increased social media exposure can be a detriment. Yuri Wright certainly learned that lesson. The phenom cornerback from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., had been offered a scholarship by Michigan and had it revoked after Wright’s sexually explicit, vulgar and anti-Semitic Tweets became public.

He thought he was writing only to his 1,600 followers, but found out otherwise. Wright has since signed with Colorado.

“Twitter and Facebook allow schools to determine character by seeing what the kids are writing to their friends,’’ said Farrell, who follows hundreds of prospects on Twitter. “Ninety percent of what they write is vapid nothingness, and you can’t learn a whole lot in 140 characters, but sometimes, it’s useful.’’

Farrell figured out that Landon Collins, a safety from Louisiana, was headed to Alabama because he saw a photo the player posted of his girlfriend decked in Alabama clothing.

Alabama is rated as the top class by Rivals, followed by Michigan, Texas, Ohio State, Florida, Texas A&M, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame and Stanford. Those rankings could shift with the signing of one or two of the players left unclaimed.

National Signing Day has not quite reached the level of NFL Draft hysteria, but with each year, there is more hype. ESPNU is boasting 10 hours of continuous coverage on Wednesday and “comprehensive analysis’’ with reporters on 13 college campuses.

Ten high school players — including Green-Beckham — will announce their decisions live during the show. The in-studio lineup includes former University of Miami coaches Butch Davis and Randy Shannon.

“When you think about it, it’s so much attention for ballplayers who haven’t proven themselves except at the high school level,’’ Lemming said. “But this is their time, their week, and they’re going to grab the spotlight for as long as they can. Once Wednesday is over, there will be a big letdown for them.’’

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