Recruiting: Decommitments

The word commitment is defined as: To bind or obligate, as by pledge or assurance; Pledge: To commit oneself to a promise; to be committed to a course of action.

But in the college football world, it means much less than that. In fact, a commitment in recruiting essentially means nothing. Yes, it is in fact an oral pledge or promise but what is it really? In theory, a recruit could technically give his ‘commitment’ to all 120 college football programs if he so chooses. Terrelle Pryor could have played at any single school in the nation. If every third day he decided to change his mind, it would be his prerogative.

Of course, that would never happen. Would it?

Take Athlon Consensus 100 Hampton (Va.) Phoebus quarterback Tajh Boyd, who committed to Clemson last night at his high school. The Tigers have become the third major college football program that he has committed to this season. Boyd first announced publicly that he would attend West Virginia. A few months later, he announced he would instead be heading to Tennessee. Leaving the Vols may not have been his choice but he is a Tiger none the less.

Do 16 and 17 year old kids change their minds about as often as Ellis Johnson changes jobs? Yes. Is it OK? That is a trickier question. Picking a university is an incredibly difficult decision and is the most important one of most of these young athletes lives. So of course some leeway of uncertainty is granted. However, it is possible to better educate these kids about the consequences of their actions.

The importance of a commitment is not just about the individual in question. Each verbal pledge has far-reaching ripple effects that most kids do not think about.

First, the depth chart. Recruiting services have exploded in the last decade and it is not just the fans that have benefited. If another quarterback recruit sees that Clemson has landed Boyd, it may change his mind entirely. So commit lists on recruiting websites actually act as a system of checks and balances for other recruits. Especially since coaching staffs have a tendency to be very focused on self-preservation in a business that is incredibly cut-throat and pressure packed. On the flip side, coaches can learn about where recruits are going and who is recruiting them. For the most part, staffs learn about commitments more so from the internet rather than from the recruits themselves.

Second, the budget. A study by The Chronicle of Higher Education proved that 48 percent of NCAA Division-I athletics departments at least doubled their recruiting budgets from 1997 to 2007. Twenty-one of the 300 schools studied spent more than seven figures. On the whole, the 65 biggest spenders shelled out more than $61 million in 2007. That is an 86 percent increase from 1997. The University of Tennessee led the nation during that ’07 campaign with more than $2 million worth of recruiting expenditures. That is a 119 percent increase from ’97, when it spent $915,000. The Vols landed 32 prospects in the 2007 class, and estimating that football is a majority of the budget, it could have cost them upwards of $50,000 per prospect. As a side note, Maryland raised its spending from $242,000 to $912,100. The 277 percent increase led the nation. Needless to say, recruiting is a big business.

The amount of superfluous spending that could be stopped if coaching staffs knew with 100 percent certainly that johnny-prospect was ‘off-the-board,’ could be huge. Both are major arguments for an early signing period.

Third, the hype. Commitments gets fans excited about their school — and it does not take a genius to figure out that athletic department higher-ups want excitement. For the given recruits, they get their names in print, on television or bantered about on message boards. Generally, this is an enjoyable aspect of life for a 16-year-old football player. But it is not a reason to toy with entire fan bases and coaching staffs — at least not intentionally.

So what does all this have to do with 2009?

With exactly one week still left until National Signing Day, this has already been a crazy, decommitment filled recruiting class — possibly the craziest ever. There have been 16 AC100 prospects that have decommitted at one point or another this season. There are still 19 uncommitted prospects, so that means 20 percent of all committed AC100 prospects have changed their minds this season — although Darius Winston and William Campbell actually reaffirmed there original pledge after some brief flirtations. The commitment has clearly lost its luster over the last half decade.

Here are just a few of the big names that have decommitted this season:

There are plenty of other names that have swapped teams this season as well. Too many to mention in fact. So who are the winners and losers of the decommitment revolving door? Clemson has likely had the biggest roller coaster ride this recruiting season. The weeks following the Tommy Bowden firing saw three AC100 safeties bolt for other programs. But the fired-up Dabo Swinney has re-energized the Tigers recruiting efforts with verbals from wide receiver Bryce McNeal and quarterback Tajh Boyd.

Tennessee has had a similar back and forth with its emotions. The low point was clearly the Phil Fulmer press conference, but again a young, motivated worker has injected some life into a stagnant program. The Vols, too, saw kids change their minds after the coaching switch — some by choice (Boyd) and some not. Tennessee has certainly not locked up kids like McNeal, or future Gamecock Jarvis Giles, since the change but the ridiculously driven staff and much needed recruiting hype is going to pay off.

South Carolina, however, will probably be the biggest winner after the door stops spinning. The Gamecocks landed two of the three former Clemson AC100 safeties. So not only did they land two of the best safeties in the nation, they did it while throwing a haymaker at a hated in-state rival. The Ol' Ball Coach certainly loves sticking it to Big Orange as well and snagging Giles was a big pickup for a team that has struggled to run the ball for years. They also plucked safety D.J. Swearinger away from the Vols as well.

The biggest loser might be USC. The nation's top tight end prospect, Presley, is now enrolled in classes across town at UCLA. The Trojans also lost local wideout Shaq Evans and athlete Bryon Moore, Jr. But don't start shedding tears for Pete Carroll just yet. He just landed the nation's top defensive end (Devon Kennard) and now has three of the top-12 prospects in the nation.

The funny thing is, there is still plenty to come. AC100 names like David Oku, Je'Ron Stokes, Randall Carroll and Trent Richardson have all been linked to possible decommitments or even switches.

College football fans everywhere can sit back and enjoy the fireworks. To the coaches go the Rolaids.

Stay turned to Athlon Sports throughout January and beyond as we get you ready for Signing Day 2009.