Will Class of 2021 Have an Avalanche of De-Commitments Nationwide?
It's too early to draw any definitive conclusions, but the word on the street is that there may be a lot more de-commitments than usual in the class of 2021.
For reasons that presumably deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges coahes are making more scholarship offers sooner than usual, and high school athletes are making more verbal commitments earlier than usual.
Sports Illustrated pointed out the trend when it unveiled its 2020 high school All-America candidates, introducting that story with these words:
College football’s 2021 recruiting class will be the most unique in the modern history of the talent chase because on both sides of the equation -- the players’ and the coaches’ -- there’s a leap of faith like never before as a result of the social restrictions triggered by COVID-19, Sports Illustrated’s director of recruiting John Garcia Jr. said. today as Sports Illustrated unveiled its watch list of 1,000 high school senior football players for the 2020 SI All-American team.
“The in-person evaluation opportunities that usually take place in the spring and summer went away, as did the official and unofficial campus visits that go so far in shaping a prospect’s decision on college,” he said.But rather than slow the recruiting process, the inverse has happened.
“More than 700 of the 1,000-plus high school seniors on our SIAA watch list have already committed verbally to a college -- in many cases without having set foot on the campus. What we’re seeing is unprecedented,” Garcia said.
He cautioned that the avalanche of early verbals could trigger an equally unprecedented number of de-commits as the first signing period in December draws closer.
Will Reed, an offensive tackle from Washington who committed to Cal last week, noted in the video above that the recruiting process was different than past years, and he too suggests a load of de-commitments may be coming.
"We've been talking about this a lot," he said, "and what I think is that everybody in the college football industry and all the players were kind of freaking out because everyone felt they were kind of on a time limit, which, in a way, we kind of are, so I feel like coaches were giving offers rapidly and kids really wanted to commit because they didn't want to be left without a spot.
"If you see the numbers, there was probably three times as many kids committed at this time than there was for the 2020 class."
Reed visited Cal last fall, but a lot of athletes did not get an opportunity to visit the campuses that interested them.
"I know a lot of kids who were just committing blindly," he said.
The uncertainty about whether there will be high school football in 2020 probably added to the anxiety, and social psychology took over: As a number of players committed early, others felt pressure to pull the trigger and commit early too.
The football season for high schools in California has been delayed until December of January, and it remains to be seen how that will affect commitments.
"I definitely think there's going to be a lot of de-commits," Reed said. "I've heard a couple reporters say the 2020 season is going to be the year of the de-commit."
None of Cal's 12 commits for 2021 has shown any hint that he would de-commit.
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