Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson also wants to scrap National Signing Day
By Jack Crosby
Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Bo Pelini recently made some headlines when he suggested that National Signing Day for college football players be scrapped altogether. College football recruiting has become almost as big as the games themselves, and some see that as a negative in some aspects.
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Apparently, Pelini has a supporter in Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson who recently expressed his agreement with Pelini on the issue.
“Personally, with what Bo Pelini came out with, that’s what I’ve been talking about for years,” Johnson told the AJC. “That’s the way I would do it. You don’t even have a signing date. Once they commit, you give them a scholarship and they sign. You get 25 signees per year, and 85 spots overall. I think they have to be in their senior year of high school (to be able to sign), or maybe complete their junior year.”
Johnson would delve a little deeper into the “foolishness” that all the recruiting hoopla has become.
“It would cut all the (crap) out of it,” Johnson again told the AJC. “All those people who think they have offers would find out that they really don’t have offers. You know, if somebody walked in your school and said ‘You have an offer,’ the kid could say ‘OK, where is it? I’m ready to sign it.’ This would stop all this foolishness.”
While it’s unlikely to happen, scrapping the idea altogether, the event has become a bit of a sideshow on every first Wednesday of February. It might not go away, but there are some changes they can look into.