Roquan Smith could change the landscape of college football recruiting if he sticks to his plans to not sign a national letter of intent.
Smith is the four-star linebacker from Macon County who nearly was burned after committing to UCLA over Georgia in front of ESPN cameras Wednesday. He didn’t turn in his NLI after reports surfaced later that day that UCLA’s defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, accepted a job with the Falcons.
The original plan was for Smith to take about a week to choose again from among his four finalists, which included Michigan and Texas A&M.
Macon County coach Larry Harold said Monday night that Smith now has “no timetable” for selecting a school, but that he “doesn’t expect it to drag out too much longer” with his star player.
Perhaps most significant, Smith’s coach also revealed that the linebacker won’t sign an NLI after finalizing his college plans. Smith will commit to a school, and sign scholarship papers that bind the school to him, but he won’t join the school’s football program until he attends his first day of summer classes.
“He’s not going to sign,” Harold said. “The reason why is because what he went through last week. This just gives us flexibility in case something else unexpectedly happens again.”
Harold said Smith’s finalists agreed to take him without an NLI, which could be unprecedented in football recruiting — but not in other college sports such as basketball.
“Again, we’re doing it this way after what happened last week,” Harold said. “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 is one of several ugly recruiting stories that have dominated the headlines since signing day — all involving college coaches who lured kids into signing with their school, only to leave for other jobs shortly after the ink was dry on the NLI.
Smith was lucky because he didn’t submit his paperwork, but others weren’t as fortunate.
A Detroit high school coach called out Ohio State coach Urban Meyer for recruiting “under false pretenses” after the Buckeyes’ running backs coach left for the NFL the day after signing day. Meanwhile, a Texas recruit tweeted, “Guess I was lied to in my face” after a Longhorns assistant was hired by Florida on Friday.
If Smith bypasses the NLI, it could start a trend among next year’s elite prospects who worry about pending coaching transactions that are announced right after signing day.
“I don’t know (about a trend), I really don’t know,” Harold said. “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?’
“You want the best for these kids. They are like your sons. When they hurt, you hurt.”
Former Kentucky basketball star Brendan Knight was one of the first highly publicized recruits to beat the system in 2010. He committed to the Wildcats, but refused to sign an NLI because he worried that coach John Calipari would take another job. Knight became a Kentucky player when he attended his first day of classes that summer.
Georgia Tech fans will remember in 1995 when the nation’s best point guard, Stephon Marbury of New York, signed a letter of intent with the Yellow Jackets but forgot to turn it in. He became a Jacket on his first day of classes.
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