Ahhhh, the silent commit. Yeah, I've heard of those. Good luck
No, it isn't the "silent commit" phenomenon.
Let's put it this way. Identifying a prospect is a very time/labor intensive proposition, from watching at least half an hour of video to in-school, in-home, and unofficial and official campus visits. At every school, including those as rich as Texas, those are finite resources--sometimes only because of NCAA legislated limits. However, every staff only has so much time to spend identifying prospects.
Then there is the internet, where the recruiting services identify thousands upon thousands of prospects. Sure, there are well known standouts, but how do you discriminate between the borderline guys, and the hidden gems, the guys who simply don't have the glowing publicity, who play at a school or in a conference that isn't blanketed by recruiters? Sure, lots of these guys are
mentioned by Rivals or Scout.com, even three stars, but to a large extent, that doesn't really
mean anything. Even big schools simply can't look at them all.
However, there is one last discriminator, one final threshold to trigger interest. That's when a player suddenly shows up as "committed" to a school like Iowa State. That gives the power schools pause, makes them say, "what is it in this guy that makes Iowa State, makes
Chizik think that he can play Big XII football? We had better look more closely, invest some of that valuable evaluation time...
And more times than not, it seems, they find that they like what they are seeing. And Gene Chizik's staff loses all of the time and labor
they have invested.
So right now, Jeremy, Paul and company are keeping their mouths shut. Why? It isn't as if recruiting scoops won't sell subscriptions, boost hits and advertising. However, in the long run, a successful team on the
field is a much more profitable proposition.
And yes, there is another example. Sedrick Johnson was lost in the coaching transition at A&M. A talented wideout, the staff was apparently so busy getting settled that no one had thought to call him. So he reopened his recruiting. Lo and behold, no sooner does he announce this, no sooner is he on the verge of a visit to Iowa State than he gets a call from Sherman's staff. Whether the A&M staff saw the info online, or a worried or irate alum gave them the heads up,
someone decided that Johnson needed tending.
And no, I'm no insider. Not hardly. My contacts in Ames evaporated years ago, and I don't subscribe anywhere. Just interpreting the picture...