Admit it. Just once, you want to see this. You want to see some four-star prep hotshot, big enough to have his commitment decision broadcast live on ESPN, go through the usual bizarre tango of, say, putting on a Georgia cap, then saying, "Naah, just kidding" and whipping out a Florida State cap. The Seminole backers in attendance go wild, dreaming of the impact this kid will have once he sees the field in a year or two. They've got visions of conference crowns and a chance at a BCS title dancing in their heads. The recruit picks up a pen, about to sign the letter of intent. The space between pen and paper shrinks down to a few nanometers as NolesFan4Life69 is already three paragraphs into the taunting post he's writing on a Georgia message board. You can practically see a drop of ink ready to flow onto the paper. Suddenly, the recruit stops. He sets down the pen, tosses the FSU cap over his shoulder and rips off his Nike windbreaker to reveal ... a William and Mary t-shirt.
"Everybody else wanted me," says the recruit. "William and Mary needed me. I'm ready to play now, not three years from now. And besides, William and Mary has a great history department."
Why? Why can't we see this just once?
Beats the heck out of me. Great athletes have a diversity of outlooks on life. Why do the very best always seem to pick the same few big-time BCS programs? (Insert your own conspiracy theory here.)
Going big-time makes sense if you dream of playing in a BCS bowl or winning a Heisman Trophy. And sure, it means something to square off against four other four-star recruits at your position and win the battle. It certainly doesn't hurt the ol' ego when one of the biggest programs in college football knows your name and says, "You could be one of us."
Of course, as Tim Stephens points out in this article from the Orlando Sentinel, basketball players don't seem to think like this:
When Columbus (N.C.) power forward Rashanti Harris pledged to Georgia State last month, he became the latest top-100 prospect to spurn offers from schools in the power conferences.
Harris is the nation's No. 26 basketball prospect in the Class of 2009, according to Rivals.com. He follows No. 2 prospect DeMarcus Cousins, headed to UAB over the likes of Kentucky, Indiana and North Carolina. And No. 35 Aaric Murray, headed to LaSalle over Minnesota, Marquette and Cal. Or No. 39 Zeke Marshall, who chose Akron over schools like Pittsburgh and Virginia.
If they keep those commitments when the early signing period begins in November, those and several more elite players will follow the handful of others each year who chase college stardom in the relative shadows of mid-majordom.
Then again, in basketball, every team can (in theory) compete for the national title. College football isn't like that. College football has an elaborate security system called the BCS designed to protect its cash cows by making sure the BYUs, Boise States, and Tulanes of the world don't get uppity. "You're right, son; they do have a pretty good forestry program at Utah State. But don't you want to be on television? Do you really want to work that hard just for a chance to play in the New Mexico Bowl?"It must be a pretty seductive sales pitch, judging by the number of recruits who choose riding the pines in BCS hell over playing in mid-major heaven. Do they think they'll get a better education? You can get a good education anywhere--if that's what you want. Do the big programs put you on a fast track to playing on Sunday? Hmm.
Of the 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL (including the ones who would be starting if they weren't injured), 20 came from BCS-conference schools. Only eight or nine of those guys came from schools you could call "football factories." Most of the rest of those 20 came from programs with out a great football tradition, or teams who have fallen on hard luck in recent years decades. The rest are from the so-called mid-majors. Four starting quarterbacks didn't even play Division 1-A football. One (J.T. O'Sullivan of the 49ers) played Division II ball. There are even two cases (Kurt Warner and Joe Flacco) of a 1-AA quarterback being on the field while a Heisman Trophy winner (Matt Leinart and Troy Smith, respectively) holds a clipboard for them.And that's just one position. We could play this game for days.
There are some legitimate reasons for the bluest of blue-chippers to aim for the big BCS stage. But if a kid is more interested in the Super Bowl than the Fiesta Bowl, there's no reason to fear signing with a lower-echelon program. If you've got game, the scouts will find you. They found you once already, didn't they?
