The whole "I'm committing to" / "I'm re-opening my recruitment" thing has become a joke.

Agreed in most cases... But as a fan that is self aware enough to know that, you should also be sharp enough to just discount any commitment more than a year out as well and enjoy the ride...

Some are asked to, and it's the classy route, to let them decommit. Just like UTk "flipped" a UGA 3*, when actually we were looking for him a place to go, so we could sign a 5*.

I somewhat agree, but committing to the school holds your spot, so I definitely see why kids commit early. I do think its silly to decommit when that school is still going the be in the running, and nothing is stopping you from taking OV to other schools.

I suppose there are circumstances for everything. I certainly understand Leon O'Neal decommitting from A&M when there is a coaching change/the new coach hadn't offered at the other school and I would imagine there are coaches that tell some they won't be able to visit unless they open up their recruitment.

It's been a joke for about 13 years at this point.

I think if we're honest with ourselves, if any of us had been 5-star, sure thing recruits, we would say and do whatever got us the most on-campus arse and off-campus cash before ultimately choosing the school we wanted all along.

If you could bang a house full of tri-Delts by committing to LSU, then get your momma a car by "re-opening" your commitment on an OV to Bama, you're really gonna sit there and tell me your 17 year old self would be "loyal" to LSU? Especially when you could just sign with them anyway?

That's why I don't feel bad for some of these kids when the week of signing day the coach asks them to look elsewhere or greyshirt. It's become OK for a kid to hold a school hostage but when the school does it back then that coach or school is a POS for doing that to the poor kid. Can't have it both ways.

If your school waits until last week in January or first week in February to let a guy know... it's pretty shitty. This has nothing to do with a guy changing his mind on a commitment that was made over a year in advance then changes it with months (or more) left until signing day...

It happens, but, to say that recruit behavior excuses it is complete bullshite. As the previous poster mentioned, in 99.9999% of cases, the kid being asked to greyshirt is often a guy that likely didn't have a billion options... schools aren't asking 5* prima donnas to greyshirt or look elsewhere... they're asking the borderline players to do so... who will also have a hard time finding a landing spot worth a shite in one week. If there is any positive to be found in the early signing period, it's that schools have to be a little more upfront with guys on where they stand... are they a priority or have they been shuffled back, with nearly 2 months to react. It's an unfortunate part of "the business"...