Signing Day Recap...

For many people, today was a normal Wednesday, halfway through the work week, with the weekend beginning to come into view. But for a somewhat disturbingly large population of sports fan (myself included), it was a holiday of sorts. February 3rd, otherwise known as National Signing Day (NSN), is the one day in the year when top high school football recruits finally sign their letters of intent to notify the general public where they will be attending school for the next 3-5 years. For rabid college-football fans who have just been hit with the reality of eight months without football Saturdays, NSN is the one day where speculation runs rampant and college football once again takes the spotlight.

For practically the whole year, Florida has held onto the #1 spot in the recruiting rankings, but true to form, they could not hold off a last minute charge from U$C (at least according to rivals.com). The Trojans and their controversial coach Lane Kiffin went nuts on Signing Day, landing perhaps the biggest (both literally and from a rankings standpoint) prize in 6'8 offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson. They already had two five-star receivers, and they added another one on Wednesday when Markeith Ambles committed to the Trojans. Apparently, he was so excited about being a Trojan that he forgot how to spell his team's mascot, saying "Go Trogans!". Two separate times. Hopefully he signed his name right on the letter of intent, or else SC is losing out on a big-time wide receiver prospect.

I probably spent way too much time talking about USC instead of talking about the team everyone really cares about, the Michigan Wolverines. Coming into this final weekend before Signing Day, the big emphasis for the Maize and Blue was on securing a commitment from a top ranked defensive back, as the Wolverines are currently very thin in the defensive backfield. Michigan was in on three athletes to complement the already-committed Cullen Christian. They were Floridians Rashad Knight and Demar Dorsey, and Californian Sean Parker. Supposedly, our best chances were with Knight and Parker. Alas, Knight ended up committing to Rutgers on Tuesday (Rutgers over Michigan?!?!), and Parker started off Signing Day with a surprising commitment to the University of Washington. This left Michigan with only the longshot Dorsey, rumored to be a Florida State lock. But lo and behold, after an unbearable (at least for us recruitiniks) few hours of waiting for Dorsey to announce, the wait ended up being worth it, as Dorsey pulled a shocker and chose to venture up north to Ann Arbor for college. How does this impact the Wolverines? Well, we're getting a kid who some have called the fastest kid in Florida, one of the top states for producing talent. He was also selected to play in the prestigious Under-Armour All American Bowl this past January, and is the 12th overall player according to espn.com.

Besides the defensive backfield, other positions of focus going into the recruiting process were the defensive line and linebacker (basically, Michigan needed quality defensive players). Of Michigan's 27 commitments, they landed 17 on defense, and received commitments from touted players like defensive tackle Richard Ash and linebacker Marvin Robinson, both of Florida (if you haven't realized it yet, Florida is a pretty important location for the Wolverines, with current players such as Denard Robinson and Martavious Odoms also being from there). Hopefully, players like these will help turn around the program, and bring it back to its rightful status as champions. The class was ranked in the top 25 by all three major recruiting sites (rivals, scout, and ESPN), and should begin making a major impact immediately.