Iowa Football Recruit Saga Shows Dangers Of Counting Class Before Signing Day
The Iowa football team’s recent recruiting woes should send Cornhusker fans an eye opening message about the dangers of counting a class before all its members have signed on the dotted line.
It’s hard not to get carried away by a Nebraska football recruiting class that is shaping up to be one of the best in the last decade. It’s especially hard not to get carried away, considering just how painful last year was in so many ways.
The problem is, it’s only June. We are still about eight months away from any of the now 10 kids who have committed to the Nebraska football program from making it official. We’re likely going to get considerably more than 10 commits this fall and hopefully Mike Riley and company can get the ones they really want to stay committed all the way to February’s signing.
What Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa football team just went through is, at the very least; a reminder that some kids can be incredibly fickle. Over the weekend a story circulated of Iowa defensive tackle Juan Harris who is a three-star prospect.
Harris seems to have a bit of a problem deciding whether or not he actually wants to be an Iowa Hawkeye. Three different times he’s told the school and the coaching staff he plans to be playing in Iowa City in the fall of 2017. Now, according to SBNation he’s also told the Iowa football team he changed his mind and no longer wants to be considered a commit to the school.
The first time Harris said he wanted to be a Hawkeye was in 2014 and when he was asked whether he was sure the school was his first choice (taken over programs like Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin) he made the now regrettable comment: “What type of man would I be if I commit, then decommit?”
In January of 2015, Harris announced he was no longer an Iowa football commit because there was some sort of family disagreement. Later that same month, Harris once again announced his commitment to the Hawkeyes saying the family issues were resolved.
In March of 2015, Harris left the school again, this time because he got an offer from Michigan and wanted to look at his options. In June of last year, he yet again said Iowa was where he wanted to go. He stayed committed for a full year.
This month, Harris decommitted for the third time. Certainly it’s well within Harris’ rights to decommit as often as he wants. There is a reason National signing day isn’t until the February because the student athletes are due to arrive on campus.
The NCAA wants these kids to think through their decisions as much as possible. At the same time, it’s hard to take a commitment seriously from Harris at this point. It would be better for him to not commit to another school until right before signing day.
The Nebraska football team should be wary of this kind of situation not only because the Huskers have been victims of the decommit before. NU just picked up two new commits last week and one of those won’t be able to arrive on campus until the fall of 2018.
Before anyone comments that the two players who committed this weekend are solid because they’re both Nebraska boys, keep in mind Harris is a native Iowan. His situation certainly does not guarantee it’s going to happen anywhere else, but as the recruiting season starts to heat up, it’s always a good idea to remember: there recruits are 17 or 18-year-old kids who are deciding the next four years of their lives.
Next: Who Will Be Nebraska Football’s Starting Running Back in 2016?
Proceed with caution.