huskerfan500
Starter
they should have an early signing day
Hunter, I doubt anyone would honestly care. Look at Jared Glover, no one really gave him crap for de-committing. And why? Because he knew what he wanted, and even if it wasn't Nebraska he let the coaches know the minute his mind began to change. He was a man about his decision, and I respect him for it.
It's when Travis Lewis knew of his intentions, and handled it the way he did. Not only that, but to then blame our coaches afterward that royally pisses alot of people off.
From the way I understand it, Lewis and Ian Harris had a nice little laugh over the whole situation. Should tell you alot about what really happened.
I'll admit..I know very little about Travis..And it doesn't matter to me now how classy or not he is...He is NOT representing My school...He could steal playbooks for all I care.37, do not talk about classy and Travis Lewis together.
Lewis knew his decision for a month leading up until he called Coach Callahan. He didn't make it public, or even to the coaches until Coach Callahan could not recruit anyone else. He stated he was afraid of the backlash from the media and how the coaches would react.
These coaches put in thousands of hours recruiting, don't you think the least you could do is be considerate and tell them ahead of time, if you know your true decision?
In life, you get what you give. When Travis showed his amount of respect for our coaches in how he handled his commitment status, I am glad Coach Callahan called him out on it.
It's just simply a direct slap in the face to not only Coach Callahan, but the entire coaching staff how he handled that situation.
No kidding. Just let it go. Why go back AFTER the fact for a SECOND phonecall with his mom no less? Geeeez, don't give the fodder! :hmmphRule #1..You don't make Girls cry...especially someone's Mom or Wife.
Dan McCarney: Rush for early commitments has a price
Web Posted: 02/07/2007 11:01 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News
Looking resplendent in a charcoal gray suit and white Oklahoma hat, a gigantic smile plastered on his face, Lee standout Travis Lewis couldn't have been any happier after signing with the Sooners on Wednesday on National Signing Day.
As for how he reached his decision, Lewis wasn't quite so proud.
Lewis had been committed to Nebraska since November, after he had taken official visits to both schools. But with Signing Day less than a week away, a gnawing sense of doubt led Lewis to realize Norman, not Lincoln, was where he'd rather be.
"The worst thing about changing my mind was telling (the coaches at) Nebraska," Lewis said. "I've gotten hate mail already. I can't blame them. I did commit, and I went back on my word. But it's the next four or five years of my life, not theirs and not the coaches.
"I pushed myself to make a decision too fast. If I had it to do over, I would have waited."
Such is the fallout in the era of early commitments.
At a time when colleges are pushing harder than ever before to land pre-Signing Day pledges, late defections like Lewis' are becoming more common.
Churchill tight end Ian Harris committed to Nebraska, then Missouri, and finally to Texas after the Longhorns made a January swoop. They did the same with Clemens defensive tackle Tyrell Higgins, talking him out of the commitment he made to Oklahoma State last summer.
(Churchill quarterback Nick Fanuzzi also switched schools, from Miami to Alabama, but his decision was based more on the firing of Hurricanes coach Larry Coker than cold feet.)
Like Lewis, Harris and Higgins regret not taking their time.
"The whole recruiting process is crazy," Harris said. "When schools offer early, it's hard not to be tempted. I'd tell guys to avoid getting sucked in."
Colleges operate under a different set of rules than the recruits they pursue so fervently. While players are free to follow their whims, teams rarely back out of the scholarships they have offered.
That security is one of the main lures of committing early. Have a poor senior year, or suffer a career-ending injury, and your education is still getting paid for. There is no such safety net for schools, which are left scrambling for replacements when players break their word.
In those terms, the villains and victims seem clear cut.
But from another standpoint, it's hard to have much sympathy for the cash cow that is college football, where schools rake in money hand over fist for the pittance of a few scholarships.
With that reality in mind, Higgins couldn't have picked a better way to explain his reason for jilting Oklahoma State.
"This was a business decision," he said, "and I had to look out for myself first."
In other words, Texa$$ made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
If Higgins sounds like a mercenary, he's not. Nor are Lewis and Harris. In discussing their circumstances, all three came across as intelligent, mature and entirely sincere. They made the decision they believed was best for them, and they regret any hurt feelings along the way.
"(The OSU coaches) were pretty mad at me," Higgins said. "They were ignoring my phone calls. I 100 percent sympathize with them. They had a kid they thought was coming, and I feel sorry about that."
Rather than assign blame, we'll simply call it the price of doing business in today's college football. If you push for early commitments, be prepared to accept the consequences when your target realizes he might not have done enough homework.
Yeah..But then you have more pressure for a longer period of time from recruiters/Fans/Family/Mailings/Phonecalls...Nice find Husker37. There probably needs to be some sort of reform in the way that the process is going on. I would prefer it if kid's didn't commit till the very end. Make the best decision for themselves and don't open themselves up to fans hating them for changing their mind. It's probably hard for a 17-18 year old to deal with that.
is it just me or do others here think that soonerOLB and Bug Tooth are FormerFan and Benard reborn?