Published: February 08, 2008 08:30 am         

Sign, sign, everywhere they sign

Ah, National Signing Day. What memories that day holds for me.

I’ll never forget the day I announced where I was going to college. No, I wasn’t a football player, and, no, there wasn’t a single school in the country that asked me to attend, but the University of Maryland told me they wouldn’t mind that much if I went to school there. As long as I brought my mother’s checkbook, in fact, they didn’t think it would be that bad.

Frankly, while I was intrigued with the notion of one day attending Maryland, I informed my mother that, no, I didn’t believe I would be leaving just yet. I figured I’d just hang around in Cumberland for at least a year as I had a lot of good friends who were still attending high school or junior college here. Then I would go to Maryland.

Naturally, the chairman of the board didn’t view this as a very good plan. In fact, she didn’t even view it as an option.

“If you stay here,” my mother said, “all you’ll do is go to Shaw’s every night and drink beer (the drinking age then was 18). The way I see it, it’s either College Park or Parris Island.

“But,” she added, “it’s your decision.”

Hmm.

After considering my options very carefully, I sat down at the dining room table the next day with two ballcaps before me. One cap had “UM” on it; the other cap, “USMC.”

The time had arrived. I made my announcement to the keen anticipation of my mother (who was doing a crossword puzzle) and my cousin Steve (who had also been accepted at Maryland, and who had just stopped by the house to get a glass of water after his morning jog), and the next thing I knew I was packing my things and shipping out to College Park and the University of Maryland, where, for six-and-a-half years, I went to the Rendezvous Inn every night and drank beer.

Deciding where to attend college is one of the biggest decisions a person will make in his or her life, which is why I just shake my head when I hear college football fans bark at Jeannette (Pa.) High School quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 high school football recruit in the nation, for not being able to decide where he’s going to school.

Pryor called a national press conference at his high school on Wednesday to say, “I’d like to take more time and be fair to all the coaches that recruited me, who spent a lot of time recruiting me.”

Hey, kid. Be fair to yourself. It’s your life, and since you’ve got what they need, they’ll gladly wait until you know what’s right.

Fair to the coaches who recruit you? Right. The same coaches who tell you they’ll be by your side the whole way, but when that better deal comes along for them, you’re the one shoveled under the moving vans as they’re pulling away from Coach’s old house.

Since Michigan is said to be one of your final choices, Terrelle, ask Coach Rich Rodriguez how all of this works. It’s kind of understood in these parts that you have his phone number.

National Signing Day holds a flood of memories for a ton of kids who had the chance to experience it. No one will carry stronger memories of the day for the rest of his life, though, than Kevin Hart, a 6-foot-5, 290-pound senior lineman for Fernley High School in Lyon County, Nev.

Hart called a press conference last Friday to announce which football factory he would be attending, and in front of his high school coach, Mark Hodges, who assisted in the ceremony, and the Fernley student body, he played the hat game and chose the University of California cap over Oregon.

“I think it’s good I can maybe show people (from Fernley) you can do it,” Hart said at his news conference. “My personal opinion is anyone can play college football. You just have to have the will and desire to play and work hard.”

Well, you also have to have somebody recruiting you and asking you to play college football at their school, which is something young Mr. Hart did not have, as both California and Oregon announced not only did they not offer the lad a scholarship, neither school had even recruited him.

The scholarship and a crooked third-party-recruiter Hart told Lyon County police about were all a figment of the player’s imagination. He made it all up, because he wanted more than anything to play Division I college football.

Hart issued an apology on Wednesday night but it’s possible he could still face criminal charges for filing a false police report.

How sad is this? How could it be allowed to happen? Ask somebody at ESPNU. Maybe they know.

Where were Hart’s parents through this “recruiting process?” How did his high school coach ever believe any of this when he had contact with not one college recruiter? What are they putting in the water out there?

In a Capra-like world, some Division I college football coach out there would look at Kevin Hart’s size, recognize his desire to play college football to be so huge that he would go to this length to try to pull off the hoax that he did, call him on the phone and say, “Hey, kid. You messed up, but you’ve shown true remorse. That took a lot of character, and at Pleasantville University we’re looking for young men of character.

“How about you walking on for my football team? If you’re good enough to earn a scholarship, I’ll give you one next year.”

Happy ending, right? Yes, in the Capra world. But this isn’t the Capra world. It’s not even the real world. It’s more absurd than the real word. It’s the big-time college football world, where coaches look at game film — not heartwarming stories of character — to determine just how long he’s going to be able to live in his beautiful home, or maybe a more beautiful home in another college town.

Feelgood stories? C’mon. In college football, the feelgood stories begin and end on the same day: National Signing Day.

At least for the ones who are asked to sign.

Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.



Maryland, West Virginia Commitments

Terrapins
(Name, Position, Height, Weight, High School, Hometown)
Tyler Bass, QB, 6-3, 220, Stockbridge High, Atlanta, Ga.
Cody Blue, DL, 6-5, 286, Wilde Lake High, Columbia, Md.
Kerry Boykins, WR, 6-1, 200, Oscar Smith High, Chesapeake, Va.
Devonte Campbell, TE, 6-3, 240, Forestville High, Md./Hargrave Military
Cameron Chism, DB, 6-0, 185, Bishop McNamara High, Forestville, Md.
R.J. Dill, OL, 6-6, 274, Trinity High, Camp Hill, Pa.
Kevin Dorsey, WR, 6-1, 187, Forestville High, Md.
Gary Douglas, RB, 5-11, 179, Hillside High, Durham, N.C.
Eteyen Edet, LB, 6-1, 235, Friendly High, Fort Washington, Md.
A.J. Francis, DL, 6-5, 310, Gonzaga College, Severn, Md.
Matt Furstenburg, TE, 6-4, 230, The Hun School, Flemington, N.J.
Justin Gilbert, OL, 6-6, 283, Monacan High, Richmond, Va.
Demetrius Hartsfield, LB, 6-2, 225, Southeast Raleigh High, Raleigh, N.C.
Masengo Kabongo, DT, 6-2, 279, Fairfield College Prep, Fairfield, Conn.
Zach Kerr, DT, 6-3, 310, Quince Orchard High, Gaithersburg, Md.
Justin Lewis, OL, 6-4, 320, Johnsonville High, S.C.
Davin Meggett, RB, 5-8, 190, Surrattsville High, Md.
Kenny Tate, WR, 6-4, 215, DeMatha High, Forestville, Md.


Mountaineers
(Name, Position, Height, Weight, High School, Hometown)
John Bassler, ol, 6-5, 285, Francis Scott Key HS, New Windsor, Md.
Tyler Bitancurt, k, 6-0, 180, West Springfield HS, Springfield, Va.
Brantwon Bowser, db, 6-0 180, Phoenix CC.
Jeff Braun, dl, 6-5, 315, Winters Mill HS, Westminster, Md.
Ryan Clarke, fb, 6-1, 235, DeMatha Catholic HS, Glen Burnie, Md.
J.J. Dorsey, db, 6-0, 180, Handley HS, Winchester, Va.
Tevita Finau, de, 6-5, 275, Phoenix CC
Larry Ford, de, 6-5, 240, Coffeyville CC, Georgetown, S.C.
Corey Freeman, de, 6-2, 215, Cleveland Heights (Ohio) HS
Josh Jenkins, ol, 6-5, 305, Parkersburg (W.Va.) HS
Terence Kerns, rb, 6-1, 225, Hargrave (Va.) Military
Joe Madsen, ol, 6-4, 270 Chardon (Ohio) HS
Donovan Miles, lb, 6-2, 225, Brooke Point HS, Stafford, Va.
Ja'tavious Miller, lb, 6-0, 208, Pahokee (Fla.) HS
Chris Palmer, dl, 6-4, 290, St. John Neumann HS, Philadelphia
Robert Sands, db, 6-6, 205, Carol City HS, Miami
D.J. Shaw, de, 6-1, 290, Copiah-Lincoln CC, Bude, Miss.
Bernard Smith, dl, 6-2, 20, Mays HS, Atlanta
Courtney Stuart, db, 6-3 210, Phoenix CC
Jerome Swinton, db, 5-9, 160, Seabreeze HS, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Tyler Urban, te, 6-4, 240, Norwin HS, North Huntingdon, Pa.
Coley White, qb, 6-1, 175, Daphne (Ala.) HS
J.D. Woods, wr, 6-2, 180, Golden Gate HS, Naples Fla.
Jorge Wright, dl, 6-3, 260, Krop HS, Miami.