In Recruitment, Early Bird Often Is a Lame Duck

In recent years, the NCAA has made many changes in the recruitment of high school seniors. These changes, which include scholarship cutbacks, have added to the overall importance of recruiting and placed more pressure on a high school senior’s decision.

Signing the right players can make or break a university’s athletic program and in the recruiting college football recruiting world, this has led to an ugly trend that does not benefit the high school athlete. This year, the national letter of intent signing period does not begin until Feb. 6, but many athletes have already made oral commitments to beat the rush.

Unlike basketball, which has a separate early-signing period before the athlete’s senior year, football’s main recruitment period does not begin until after the player’s final high school game. This becomes a problem when an athlete is pressured to make his decision early because another recruit might take his scholarship.

It is common practice for colleges to over-recruit and seek more players than it has available scholarships. Under NCAA rules, a Division I football program is allowed to have 96 scholarships at one time, which has squeezed the number of recruits a school can sign. The cutbacks have created a competitive atmosphere among recruits to decide on a school before it runs out of available scholarships.

Normally, this practice does not affect blue-chip recruits because schools often “save” a scholarship for such athletes. Sometimes even the top-notch players, however, have to make adjustments because of varying scholarship practices.

Carson High quarterback John Walsh is considered one of the best passing prospects in the nation after his record-breaking season last fall in leading the Colts to the City 4-A Division championship. At 6 feet 4 and 210 pounds, Walsh is rated high on many recruiting lists, and scheduled visits to Miami (Fla.), Florida State, Brigham Young, Washington and USC.

However, as the recruiting process of Walsh began, other top quarterbacks started making oral commitments, including Rob Johnson of El Toro and Kyle Wachholtz of Norco, who both decided on USC before Christmas vacation.

On Jan. 3, Walsh announced he will attend BYU, despite the fact that he still hadn’t visited the school.

After making his announcement, Walsh said a factor in his early decision was that BYU is only signing one quarterback this year while USC plans to bring in three quarterbacks. When asked why so many players were commiting early, Walsh said: “I wish I knew.”

It is good that the NCAA is cracking down on college recruiting in an attempt to promote fairness and to cut costs, but something needs to be done in order to prevent added pressure from being applied to recruits in making early decisions.

College football should follow the lead basketball has taken in recruiting by providing a longer period for recruits to make their decision. The seniors should either be given an early-signing period or have the signing date pushed back closer to the opening day of college’s spring football practices.

Having an athlete delay his decision may be an inconvenience to some college programs, but, for the recruit, a well thought-out decision is better than a hasty one.

The National Federal Football Rules Committee, which oversees national high school football rules, has decided to keep football goal posts wider than those used in college and the pros. High school goal posts will remain at 23 feet 4 inches wide. The NCAA will narrow goal posts to the NFL standard of 18 feet 6 next year. An exception to the rule will be made when a high school team plays on a collegiate field.

The committee also adopted a rule that will prevent a player who is knocked unconscious or apparently unconscious from returning to a game without the written permission of a doctor.

Last season, Christ the King of Queens, N.Y., was regarded by many as the nation’s best girls’ high school basketball team when it finished with a 25-0 record. This season, Christ the King might not be the best team, having lost two games already, but it may be the most traveled.

Through 11 games, the Royals have played in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Tennessee. They will travel to Southern California this weekend, playing Ventura Buena, the No. 3 ranked Times’ Southern Section team, Friday at Ventura College and Brea-Olinda, the No. 4 ranked team, Saturday at Brea-Olinda High.

Buena Coach Joe Vaughan says that it only took one phone call to get Christ the King interested in playing his Bulldogs. “We had heard that they were interested in playing some teams nationally,” said Vaughan, whose Bulldogs are 11-1. “They said that they wanted to come out to California during the Martin Luther King weekend. So, I called and talked to (Christ the King Coach Vincent Cannizzao) to set it up.”

Prep Notes

Last Friday’s Southern Pacific Conference boys’ basketball game between Washington and San Pedro was postponed because of a shooting of a Washington student last Thursday. No makeup date has been announced. . . . Wilmington Banning guard Jabari Anderson, a 6-foot-2 senior, scored 59 points in the Pilots’ 114-101 loss to Crenshaw last Friday. Anderson’s point total is the most against a Crenshaw team coached by Willie West. . . . John DiSante, a 6-4, 275-pound offensive lineman from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, has verbally committed to Washington.