The NCAA draft, better known as National Signing Day, has come and gone.
There was once a time when I used to get excited about all the hoopla that went on over who would sign with what school and how well my school would do with adding quality players to its roster. But that is now a thing of the past.
The reason? Like everything else, it’s become overly hyped. We have this big build up during the season with an entire program on ESPN dedicated to which five-star athlete will be going to which school and which programs will end up failing because it didn’t get the players it “needs” to become a contender and is thereby condemned to mediocrity.
Then there are the 17-, 18- and 19-year-old kids who have been the stars at their high schools, and heavily chased and pestered by college coaches to sign with their schools, holding elaborate press conferences where they can tease the media before announcing which school they plan to attend. These guys have never played a down of college football, and as far as we know could be one of the biggest busts the college that selected them ever had, but they play the media and their 15 minutes of fame like they were some college or NFL legend.
I look at those kids and think of several examples where the highly recruited, highly hyped athlete never lived up to expectations or never played more the a season or two at their school.
ESPN’s “30 For 30” series, which is one of the best sports documentary programs on TV, did a program on the recruiting of Marcus Dupree, of Philadelphia, an extremely gifted running back who played two seasons at the University of Oklahoma — 1982 and 83 — before leaving the school and never playing another down of college football. In the documentary, Dupree recalled coaches sitting outside his home in the early morning. This was before recruiting was hyped like it is now.
Don’t get me wrong. I follow my school’s recruiting efforts and I’m very happy when they are able to get a talented player to come to LSU. I realize you can’t have successful programs without quality players. I just wish the whole process wasn’t treated like some sort of major earth-shattering event, which it definitely is not.
What I would like to see is a return to a time when recruiting athletes was done with a lot less hype. Yes, it is news when a “quality” athlete signs with a college, and yes, the decision where to attend school is a big step for the athlete. But all that can be done without the ballyhoo of a major world-shaking event, or treating some teen’s announcement where he’s going to school like it’s a peace in the Middle East.
In the wide view, there are far more important things in the world than whether a teenager signs on the dotted line.

John Surratt is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at john.surratt@vicksburgpost.com.