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Remember when National Signing Day was a big deal???

Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:27 am
Posted by dallasga6
Scrap Metal Magnate...
Member since Mar 2009
26319 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:27 am


Getting old, prior to 2017-18, NSD (usually 1st Wed in Feb) was a huge event.

Then we went to a early signing day and now tomorrow is no big deal.

We'd have a 10,000 post recruiting thread here on the Dawgrant, parties at the Blind Pig in Athens. All day ESPN recruiting coverage and a big recap Thursday about the winners and losers ...

Kinda miss it..
Posted by WG_Dawg
Member since Jun 2004
88227 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:08 am to
Those were awesome times. Even though I'm mostly a CFB traditionalist, I like/don't mind the early signing day. If a kid has been committed for years and know where he's going what's the harm in getting it over with?

Plus I can't count the number of times richt would have a high profile comittment, sometimes for over a year, only to have the rug pulled the day before NSD. In those cases I would've killed to have an early SD. Imagine how different things might've been if we'd held onto derrick henry at an early signing day..
Posted by dallasga6
Scrap Metal Magnate...
Member since Mar 2009
26319 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:24 am to
Honestly didn't realize that it was tomorrow. Was Christmas in February....

Had 247 and Rivals subscriptions, kept up with errythang, rumors, scuttlebutt, supposed insiders...

Least I save a few bucks now on subs.

Was a fun time...
Posted by tylerdurden24
Member since Sep 2009
46929 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:24 am to
I used to treat NSD like most treat March Madness. As a kid in HS, I would finagle any way I could to be in the library or a classroom with a computer (or a cool teacher) who’d let me sit on ESPN or Scout or Rivals all day hitting refresh. Different times for sure and there was exponentially more gravity to who you signed as it related to the fortunes of the team. Now, half the guys you sign don’t stick around and half your impact players end up transferring in. Or the guys who do sign do so super early and you kind of forget they’re there because now early enrolling is the standard (whereas it used to be a huge bonus if you could just get one or two high profile guys in for the Spring).

To that same end, Spring games are almost completely unnecessary now save for fan service and creating an impromptu recruiting weekend in the middle of April.

It also used to feel like an eternity to go from the national title games on Jan 1 (or on Jan 2-4 with the BCS) to mid February and all you really had to chew on were recruiting espionage and pseudo updates. I can’t remember the last time I actually bothered following the recruitment drama of a Josh Harvey-Clemons all that intently.

In 2027, the season won’t officially end until the natty on Jan 25 in Vegas….

Hard to wrap your head around how much it hs changed in such a short time.
This post was edited on 2/4/25 at 10:29 am
Posted by Peter Buck
Member since Sep 2012
13377 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:39 am to
Before the internet, Max Emfinger and I think his wife and a dude named Bobby would call you and ask where you were leaning and then he would mail it out once a week. It was like 10 pieces of paper stapled together. My Grandfather got it and called me every time he got it to talk about it. He knew more than I did. We have come a long way. Maybe not for the best. No one knew who I was outside of my district, some college coaches, and a handful of OG recruiting junkies. And I am ok with that.
Posted by dallasga6
Scrap Metal Magnate...
Member since Mar 2009
26319 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:49 am to
quote:

To that same end, Spring games are almost completely unnecessary now save for fan service and creating an impromptu recruiting weekend in the middle of April.



Tyler, I heard about a G5 coach on XM
Full Ride with Neuheisel this a.m. who wasn't gonna have an open Spring Game cause he didn't wanna lose any players to P5 teams in last portal period...
Posted by SquatchDawg
Cohutta Wilderness
Member since Sep 2012
16382 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:02 am to
Just another casualty of the new system. Kinda sucks.
Posted by tylerdurden24
Member since Sep 2009
46929 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:04 am to
The commodification of recruiting certainly became its own vice. It’s somewhat bittersweet seeing a lot of the wind taken out of those sails in the past few years; calling some of those recruiting guys “reporters” feels like it did as much a disservice to actual Journalism as anything in the political theater these past 8+ years.
Posted by tylerdurden24
Member since Sep 2009
46929 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:06 am to
Yeah there’s a number of schools leaning that way. Hell, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, etc basically just have a Pro Bowl style open practice with goofy side drills. I don’t think Kirby will do away with it anytime soon simply because I think he likes to have the dress rehearsal but it is certainly gone from staple of the calendar to an expendable excess from times gone by
Posted by bulldawger
Fish Creek, GA
Member since Jul 2010
2957 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:10 am to
I know it's already started, but the day after NSD is when you would see a plethora of coaching changes because players had signed and couldn't get out of their deal.
Posted by wdhalgren
Member since May 2013
3471 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:21 am to
quote:

players had signed and couldn't get out of their deal.


If something doesn't change soon, some school will probably create a half semester so they can enroll transfers in mid-season.
Posted by FirstCityDawg
Member since May 2017
2984 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:24 am to
I definitely miss it.
Posted by tylerdurden24
Member since Sep 2009
46929 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:34 pm to
quote:

If something doesn't change soon, some school will probably create a half semester so they can enroll transfers in mid-season.

Pretty much just the quarter system. Many schools have switched over to semester but wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a school where football solely steers the ship (Bama, Ole Miss, OU, etc) did actually make that drain of a change as an adaptation to current climate
Posted by Peter Buck
Member since Sep 2012
13377 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 2:52 pm to
UGA used to be on Quarters. I liked it.
I think NIL will look nothing like it does now n 2 years.
Posted by djsdawg
Member since Apr 2015
37292 posts
Posted on 2/4/25 at 6:45 pm to
quote:

Kinda miss it..


A lot more than kind of.
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