THE QUOTE
“I’ve never met a great player who was worried about the depth chart, if he’s worried about the depth chart we didn’t want him” – Jimbo Fisher on Dante Fowler, post NSD conference video
THE MOMENT
My 2012 National Signing Day was in stark contrast to the 2011 version that I experienced, however one location delivered like no other. Last year it was the tears of joy from Quentin Williams and the rest of his Carver City Family that brought the day into its proper perspective. This year it was Juwuan Coffee and his fellow J-Boy’s giving one of the most genuine displays of human emotion I’ve witnessed.- Doug
THE ENVIROMENT
Well…my day was a good one and memorable. I started out at Tampa Bay which was like a family atmosphere, but short and to the point. TBT signed 3 and others expected to sign later in the coming months. I then went to Armwood, to where I must say it was almost standing room only j/k. But, to see 12 D-1 players sign was a good thing and hope to see all these guys play or hear about them. What stuck out the most, was Matt Jones showing his emotions and letting it all out and thanking everyone that was in his life. My last stop was Plant High and you knew this signing day would be packed. I never had someone tell me they were going to win state before the season even started, but Drew Madhu told me at the BCP DB camp, that Plant was going to win state. The rest is history. Madhu approached me at the ceremony and said “hey you work with BCP”, I said “yes” he smiled at me and said “I told you we was going to win state”, all I could do is shake his hand. – Willie
BIGGEST SIGNING SURPRISE
After watching signings at Gibbs, St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Plant and actively following the happenings around the internet the most surprising signing to me was obvious. It wasn’t Nelson Agholor leaving the state and heading cross country to play at USC. It wasn’t Dante Fowler flipping from FSU to UF. It wasn’t Plant sending three players to the Ivy League. It wasn’t even Iman Smith choosing Middle Tennessee State over FIU and FAU. To me, the biggest surprise was seeing Plant LB Tate Rogers stand up and put on a Vanderbilt Commodores hat. The reason for my surprise doesn’t stem from my thinking Rogers can’t be successful at Vanderbilt, because I think he can have success at Vandy just like he would anywhere else. My surprise stems from the fact that Rogers and the coaches at Plant kept the interest completely silent. Rogers known interest was from Furman, Samford, The Citadel and Elon, but it seemed that no one knew about Vanderbilt and was completely shocked by the selection. – Kyle
BEST SIGNING CLASSES
Miami pulled the most top-level talent from the area, but Wake Forest was the only other ACC school to land any Tampa Bay area recruit (Shelldon Lewinson, DT, Armwood). The SEC had the best day in signing players from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties with Florida bringing in four high profile players, Vanderbilt gaining two quality players and South Carolina and Missouri each getting a 3-star recruit. But the conference that signed a similar amount to the SEC and perhaps had the best day was the Sun Belt. Florida Atlantic had two signees, including Jesuit’s Isaac Edwards, Florida International had four signees, including Jefferson’s Adrian Jenkins and Boca Ciega’s Denzel Conyers, Middle Tennessee State signed Pinellas Park’s Iman Smith and Western Kentucky signed Plant’s Austin Aikens. Yes, the SEC did what the SEC always does, but that’s a given. FIU coach Mario Cristobal has created a label of credibility on the other campus in Miami and high school players in the state are taking notice. As a result, Cristobal’s performance has elevated the status of the Sun Belt. – Chris
Stetson University made a push to surround itself with local talent, and came up with gold scoring a National Signing Day win for the Pioneer League. The Hatters, which will be resurrecting its football program after a 56-year hiatus, nabbed Zack Jones and Zack Boryla from Steinbrenner, Andrew Green from Tampa Bay Tech, Nico Morgado and Adam Vinson from Pinellas powerhouse Countryside and Calvin Armatas from Tampa Catholic. The Bay area connection along with the spirit of starting a new college football program has me feeling like the Division I-AA league can make big progress and turn some heads in the process. – Jeff
While it is hard to say just how good this 2012 class will be for the bay area, it is evident that this might be one of the most talented the bay area has had as far as high school careers go. Teams from all over the US dipped into the Bay area and plucked out many of our local talents, but I feel one conference in particular really increased their skill level and that would be the MAC conference. 11 players from the Bay area will join Bernard Reedy in the frigid MAC conference as they came in and plucked speed and talent that you typically would not find in the Great Lakes area. Many of these kids will show up to their prospective schools with a chip on their shoulder because there were not as highly recruited as some of their other Bay Area brethren but with players like Dazmond Patterson and Wade Edwards, will bring speed and desire to the MAC and turn that conference upside down. Those two are just the tip of the ice burg as Greg Windham and Chris Murray go to The Ohio Bobcats as a package deal and Armwood sending talented line (Cameron Dees and Allen Covington) up north. The teams in the MAC will need to buckle their seat belts as I predict good futures for these athletes. – Eric