Guerry Clegg: Roquan Smith may change signing day forever

Just when we thought the spectacle of college football recruiting couldn't get much seedier, along comes the strange case of Roquan Smith.

It's being labeled as potentially ground-breaking. We'll see. That might be an overreaction. Then again, big-time recruiting is long overdue for breaking some new ground, both for the coaches who try to manipulate a bunch of 17-year-olds and for the kids -- and, many times, their parents and coaches -- who milk the process for every drop of attention they can squeeze.

At least the madness usually ends on the first Wednesday of February, when football players can sign their national letter of intent. But not this year. Smith's high school coach Larry Harold told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Smith will break from tradition and not sign a NLI with any school.

Instead, according to Harold, Smith plans to apply for financial aid and enroll at the school of his choosing, presumably either Georgia, UCLA, Texas A&M or Michigan.

For those blessed to ignore college football recruiting, here's a recap. Smith is a highly coveted linebacker from Macon County High School in Montezuma, Ga. He drew interest from colleges far and wide. For months, he was thought to be headed to Georgia. But a week ago today, on national signing day, Smith announced he was going to UCLA. He had developed deep trust in Jeff Ulbrich, the Bruins' defensive coordinator.

That's when Smith's recruiting took a most stunning turn of events. Smith made his public announcement. Family and coaches celebrated at the school. But before Smith actually faxed his letter to UCLA to make it official, he received a text from Georgia recruiters. They informed Smith that Ulbrich was about to accept a job with the Atlanta Falcons coaching linebackers. Sure enough, four days later, Ulbrich was officially gone.

So Smith stepped back to reconsider everything. That itself was a mature decision for the young man. But now, apparently with Harold's blessing, Smith has decided not to sign a binding letter with anyone.

"The reason why is because what he went through last week," Harold told the AJC. "This just gives us flexibility in case something else unexpectedly happens again."

No big deal, right? Well, maybe it will be a big deal. You can bet that next year, more kids are going follow Smith's lead and refuse to sign a letter of intent, which simply binds the player to the school but not vice versa. That could be a good thing if it leads more coaches to end unethical recruiting practices such as oversigning.

Then again, it could wreak havoc on the signing process. If it becomes the rule rather than the exception, it would drag recruiting well into spring or maybe even early summer.

"I guess you'll really be able to tell if a coach or college really wants a kid if they'll agree to do this -- letting a kid come to their campus this summer without signing an LOI," Harold said. "Again, we're doing it this way after what happened last week. I don't know where this is all going to go. I guess God put Roquan in this position for a reason. Maybe it was meant to help educate other kids about these types of situations."

Smith wasn't alone. As Ohio State's running backs coach, Stan Drayton convinced Mike Weber to sign with the Buckeyes. Shortly after the ink dried, Drayton left Ohio State for the Chicago Bears. That prompted Weber to Tweet:

"I'm hurt as hell I ain't gone lie."

Two days after signing day, Chris Rumph jumped ship from Texas to Florida. Du'Vonta Lampkin, a Longhorns signee, Tweeted, "Really? 2 days after signing day?" Then, six minutes later, "Guess i was lied to in my face."

Said Harold: "I do hope after what happened with the kids from Ohio State and Texas, that the 2016 class of recruits and beyond will take precautions. I hope that they will learn from these situations, and they will ask questions to the coaches like, 'Be straight forward and honest with me, are you leaving? Do you plan on leaving anytime soon?' "

Yeah, that ought to do it.

If any coach who recruits a player leaves before that player has enrolled in a school, the player should be allowed to go elsewhere without having to wait a year as he does now. In an age where schools are lobbying to loosen the rules, it's time for some rules to protect the kids.

-- Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Roquan Smith may change signing day forever ."