National Signing Day and the cult of Potential

Hey kids,
So the Super Bowl happened, it was enjoyable, but since I've barely talked about the NFL and every possible angle has been covered to death by this point I'll leave it with this: 1) Larry Fitzgerald is a freak of nature, 2) I'm glad Kurt Warner is no longer married to a battle axe, 3) 100 yard pick 6's as time runs out in the 1st half are hilariously awesome, and 4) It was a heck of a game which should've had the last play reviewed, but shouldn't be tarnished because it wasn't.

My main focus this week has been on the college football front. Yesterday was National Signing Day. For the unitiated, NSD is the first day that recruits can sign their letters of intent to play for the school of their choosing next year. While many players have already made verbal commits this doesn't matter until yesterday. I take one of many life lesson's from Alec Baldwin's GlenGarry speech that you must get them to sign on the line which is dotted. Schools have lose players on NSD every year that have said they were going to be joining their hallowed halls, just how the game works. While it is strange that people would care about where a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds decide to go to school, part of the fun of sports is the idea of potential. Now surely you have some people that don't care about scouting, recruiting, drafts, or anything except for what happens on the field(or court or diamond). Then there are others, a camp I'm in, who can take as much enjoyment from the possibility of the future as the actual events of the present.

For some reason I've always loved drafts. I think the event prompted me to reset this whole thing was the NBA draft last year. For some reason looking at young players and imaging what they could become can be as much fun as watching the process itself. Before you call me crazy, it is the offseason after all. and ND is coming off of a few bad years, so the future is the main solace I need to draw from. Plus, everyone likes to have a prediction come true, things like new recruits signing is the perfect opportunity to make bold claims about the future and then see what happens as they progress. If you've been reading since the beginning of this football season my love of Freshman WR Michael Floyd was clear throughout the year. Potential can be as much fun as actual talent. It's what makes LeBron James such an amazing figure today. To think he dropped a triple double last night with 52 points makes you think he is in the prime of his career. Then you realize he just turned 24 a few months back. As good as he is now, he has the potential to challenge to be GOAT. It's what makes Ken Griffey Jr's post Seattle years so sad to long time baseball fans who saw what the player called "The Kid" did so early and what he could have done had he stayed healthy.

Potential permeates every facet of sports and can provide a whole new way of looking at the game. The Free Darko book (which if you like basketball at all is a must, I know it's been said everywhere here on the interwebs but wow, fantastic stuff) talked about the cult of the Next. How players are predicted at a young age for what player they can be like, or better than. It just provides a new way to think about the games we love...

Anyway, after all of that talk about why I love potential, I gotta say I'm pretty pumped about the guys who committed to ND. While it hurt a lil to only get 1 DB, and the overall class ranking doesn't match last years #1 class, Weis and company were able to fill several needs and get players who could help right away, even amidst contraversy as to whether they would even be around.

The biggest moment of yesterday in my mind, and even in the minds of many who carry a torch for ND was the decision of #1 OLB Manti Te'o to come to South Bend. Manti was the #1 defensive player in the country and had narrowed his choices to ND, USC, and UCLA. Many thought (read: feared) that Manti was SC bound for a number of reasons, most importantly that his last official was to USC last weekend. However, when ESPN put him on the screen it was an ND on his hat to be replaced with a gold helmet in the near future. While you can never really guarantee a guy will be great in college, Manti is as close to a lock as you can get. He will likely get plenty of burn in his freshman year in ND's 3-4 scheme. I'm sure Jon Tenuta was unable to sleep last night just thinking of new ways to blitz him.

Manti isn't the only guy who will be able to help out his freshman year. Chris Watt is a 5 star OG who was ranked #1 in the country at his position and should compete for playing time on an OL that still had a lot of issues last year. One of the most important recruits in the class in my mind is 4 star WR Shaq Evans. Shaq was the #12 WR in the country who is 6'2 with good speed and great hands, but that isn't what makes him important. The big thing about him is that Shaq is from Inglewood CA and USC had been going after him hard. Combine that with Cierre Wood, one of the top RB's out of Oxnard CA who will have a chance to get on the field early, there are great things to picture for the future. Even coming off of a 7-6 campaign, ND was able to walk into the mouth of the beast and pull top talent out of Pete Carroll's back yard. Obviously SC isn't hurting, but ND's ability to beat them head to head for guys, along with UCLA's resurgence under Neuheisel, as well as Stanford coming out of nowhere for a top 20 class, shows that they do not get to just walk in and point at a guy and have them as their own without a fight.

Theo Riddick is another RB that has good ability and joins one of the best RB cores in the land. Besides starting a Cali stronghold, Charlie went back to his roots and got several good NJ players. One of the best is another great LB, 4 star Carlo Calabrese. Carlo is a tough guy that likes to hit people, two of the main things you look for in a LB. While there are several other great players in the class, I'm not gonna get to all of them. The last group I want to mention are the specialists. Kickers and punters rarely light a fire under anybody, but special teams has been a big issue for ND over the last few years. Why not get guys who can help you with those problems. Finally is the scholarship to long snapper Jordan Cowart. Rarely does anyone make offers to long snappers, but here are a few reasons I like the play here. 1st, Cowart and new punter Ben Turk were teammates on the defending Florida state champs. These 2 have worked together for years and Cowart hasn't botched a snap in his last 300+ attempts. ND had filled most of its needs and had scholarships available. Finally, walk ons filling the role usually get rewarded with a scholarship (think JJ Jansen), so its not like this is something unheard of. Why not fix one of the major problems your team had.

All in all I think this was a very good signing day for the Irish. Yes a few targets went the other way in the end with Jawanza Starling (awesome name) and Byron Moore, but it is better to look at the good things you have instead of what you missed out on. Looking around the country, LSU and Bama both had a fantastic close, USC lost several verbals to schools like S Carolina and Arizona State, and Alabama also featured my two favorite live commits of the day. The best one was Trent Richardson's:

That suit with the houndstooth is style I only wish I could attain some day.

So NSD2k9 is behind us now, time to start checking out the 2010 recruits. By the way, have I mentioned ND has 2 5 stars committed already. Let me know your thoughts or how your school did in the comments.