Signing Day Perspective: Today Was Crucial

Feb. 2, 2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla.— Today was really the first crucial day in the next chapter of Miami football. There have been plenty of important moments and decisions in the 52 days Al Golden has been on the job, but no day was more critical to the future of the program than Feb. 2, 2011.

Since Kirby Hocutt hired Golden nearly two months ago now, there has been whirlwind of meetings, coaching hires and recruiting trips to get us where we are today. The result, thanks to tireless work by the coaches and football staff, is a recruiting class few could have expected given the uphill climb the program faced making a coaching change when it did.

National Signing Day is always the most important day of the spring for college football programs across the country, but it meant something quite different today in Coral Gables. It meant Golden and his staff will have officially put their first true mark on the Hurricanes’ football program.

And what a mark they made.

Fourteen National Letters of Intent came across the wire today, with some having already signed on before today (Thomas Finnie and Olsen Pierre) and the potential for a few more ahead of us. Names like Anthony Chickillo – now a third-generation Hurricane – and Jalen Grimble are the headliners from Wednesday, but there are plenty of athletes mixed in that will be a big part of what Golden and his staff are building here. Early reports have the ‘Canes jumping up some 50 spots nationally in the signing class rankings since Golden has taken over.

It is hard to gauge just how good a recruiting class is, and more importantly, will eventually be. Most people follow the star rating system that grades high school players on a scale of 1-to-5 with only the elite prospects earning a five-star rating, which Chickillo and Grimble have both earned.

However, Miami fans should know just as well as anyone out there that these recruiting rankings have their flaws. Often times a recruit or even an entire recruiting class fails to live up to the hype. Even more often, a class will fly under the radar on the recruiting sites only to be the core of a BCS or national championship team a few years later.

Ultimately, this year’s class was about filling needs and starting to develop relationships. It was about getting to know recruits, their families, their coaches and their high schools, despite really only being allowed on the road for 15 days. Eight signees the Hurricanes pulled in today were initially committed elsewhere before Golden had a chance to sell Miami.

Those eight signees, along the six others that joined the program today, were ultimately sold on being a part of the Hurricane family, no matter how recent their relationship is with Golden and his staff.

Watching the coaches today as the NLI’s rolled in was a unique experience. You can’t fake excitement like that. Linebackers coach Micheal Barrow might have nicknames for all of the signees already (he referred to Chickillo as “3G” several times Wednesday) and defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio is an encyclopedia of knowledge on this class.

From Golden down to the office interns, it was a long day in the office after an especially long January.

Most of the action took place early this morning, with coaches arriving before 6 a.m. Eleven of the 14 NLI’s came in before 10 a.m. and after a few hours of regrouping, Golden met with the media to talk about his new guys and officially welcome them to his family.

It was two months of meeting with parents, working the phones and attending high school football games summed up in an hour in front of some interested reporters.

But don’t let today’s press conference fool you into thinking this program is letting off the gas.

There is still plenty of work to do in recruiting – both for 2011 and 2012 – and spring ball is right around the corner. Right before Golden arrived for the press conference, his team – most in a full sweat – was out on the Greentree Practice Fields grinding. Clearly there is a sense of urgency around the program.

But this day was about these signees joining the family and the coaches that worked tirelessly to bring them here.

Recruiting is as difficult as it has ever been these days in college football. Someone just forgot to tell Golden and staff.