Is National Signing Day overrated? These are kids – they still have a lot of growing to do and evolving of their skills – yet, people sit in front of their computers watching it at work as if their lives depended on it. As if the recruits that their schools get will be the difference between a National Championship Game and the Emerald Bowl. But USC tends to sign a few recruits in the top class every year, and that’s just where the Trojans ended up this past year.
Lets look at the 2006 class, and see how the top ten recruits out of high school ended up:
- Percy Harvin – Vikings first round pick, NFL offensive rookie of the year
- Andre Smith – Bengals first round pick
- Chris Wells – Cardinals first round pick, split time with Hightower
- Gerald McCoy – expected to be a first round pick in this year’s draft
- Sergio Kindle – expected to be a first round pick in this year’s draft
- Matthew Stafford – Lions first round pick, started for the Lions
- Vidal Hazelton – sat out a year after transferring from USC to Cincy
- C.J. Spiller – expected to be a first round pick in this year’s draft
- Allen Bradford – returning to USC
- Mitch Mustain – backup QB at USC
Look like the scouts pretty much hit it on the head. But on the other hand where did Boise State, TCU, and Cincinnati fair in National Signing Day over the past few years? Not one top 30 recruit in 2006, 2007, 2008 or 2009; yet the schools each had very successful seasons. And even though Jimmy Clausen may have been the number one recruit in 2007, he wasn’t the change agent that Notre Dame was hoping he would be. Just because your school doesn’t have one of the top recruits, doesn’t mean that it’s time to throw in the towel.
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