Couch: Time to 'flip' the script on football recruiting

The first lesson many colleges teach their incoming football players is that a commitment in life is meaningless.

Yet another reason football probably shouldn't be tied to higher education.

Before another coach, administrator or NCAA representative gushes about student-athlete experience or developing the whole person, one situation has to be fixed: the "flip" in college football recruiting.

When the latest batch of high school prospects sign their letters of intent Wednesday, it appears more of them than ever won't be signing with the school they first pledged to.

What was once a considered a shameful practice — however, rampant — is now being encouraged.

And the more we say and hear the term "flipped" about a teenager's first major decision in life, the more it's OK — acceptance through desensitization.

It's caused by a cycle that feeds itself. And adults who can't police themselves. And a governing body that doesn't understand policing.

Recruits can't sign until February. They can't take an official campus visit until their senior year of high school. And they can't receive a scholarship offer in writing until Aug. 1, before their senior year.

And with these senseless parameters exists predictable anarchy.

"The reaction by college coaches and by recruits is understandable," Rivals.com Midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt said. "The problem in my opinion is the NCAA not working quick enough to address it, and making moves that backfired."

Those moves including bumping forward the official scholarship offer date by almost year.

"The written offer used to mean a lot," Helmholdt said. "Now the written offer isn't even part of the conversation anymore."

Coaches feel required to offer scholarships early — sometimes choosing vague noncommittal language. Mid-level recruits feel obligated to accept, fearing being left with nothing. And then as reality hits The State Tech A&M University that its coveted five-star prospect isn't coming, the food chain takes effect.

Former Ithaca High School quarterback Travis Smith found himself entangled in this last year. He reneged on his commitment to Toledo when Wake Forest came calling.

"When they came in, they can throw around their weight a little bit, because they're in the ACC," Ithaca coach Terry Hessbrook said.

"You see a lot of kids switching, but first they secure their place somewhere. But I think a lot of kids hold out hope they're going to get a bigger offer or better offer, or what they think is a bigger or better offer."

Smith has already left Wake Forest, transferring closer to home to Eastern Michigan. He treated his commitment to the Demon Deacons about as firmly as they respected his to Toledo.

"You get new coaches moving around to these different places and they're gonna start poaching your kids," Michigan State football director of college advancement and performance Curtis Blackwell told my colleague Joe Rexrode recently. "You can't fall asleep behind the wheel, that's how kids get flipped. We've got a kid in Ohio that's committed, but that hasn't stopped our neighbors down there from poaching at him. We're all over that."

MSU tries to use a low-pressure approach so kids only commit once they're truly ready. It doesn't always work, but it's a smart tactic for a program with significant cachet.

But if there is school out there that avoids interaction with already committed prospects, it isn't winning.

Just last week, twin brothers Andrew and David Dowdell — previously committed to Kentucky — reportedly flipped to MSU.

Nothing nefarious perhaps. But certainly if MSU had dropped all contact with this pair, they probably wouldn't be headed to East Lansing.

New Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh's first three commitments were flips, originally committed elsewhere.

Playing for Harbaugh at Michigan is enticing. Just as MSU is a preferable football destination to Kentucky. It's hard to fault the kids, especially when they're just pawns in a meat market.

"I teach my kids the value of your reputation and your word, what that means," Helmholdt said. "But the reality is certainly more complex, for the recruits and for the parents, those who are going through it for the first time. It's a learn-as-you-go process.

"And when you're talking about 16- or 17-year-old kids making the most important decisions of their lives up to that point, that are going to have an effect throughout the remainder of their lives, I sympathize with those in a position where what was the obvious choice months ago, becomes not the obvious choice and not the ideal choice."

The answer begins with a second signing period, earlier, perhaps in August. It would force schools to make smart early decision, to be sincere with their intentions — and likewise for recruits. If a head coach were to leave, that recruit's letter of intent should no longer be binding.

But for that to work, players have to be able visit colleges earlier, as juniors.

"An official visit is different than unofficial visit," Helmholdt said. "It gives both the player and the university a better idea whether this is the right fit."

That none of this is in place speaks to the weakness of the NCAA and pushback by major conferences. The top of the food chain doesn't mind the current mess.

Helmholdt believes an early signing period is inevitable. I don't. Not as the power five conferences grab further autonomy.

If there are other solutions, let's hear them. But this system cannot be in place next year. If it is, those driving it should be driven from college football.

Or maybe football should be driven from college.