Calling it now that early signing period is going to be the single most telling moment for this staff since they walked through the doors at Heritage Hall. You look at the 247 composite and the crystal balls and all the noise around our 2026 class and it looks solid on paper but the real story is what happens when the pens hit the paper in December. I have a source close to the program telling me there is some serious unease about how many of these kids are actually solid versus how many are just riding out the dead period waiting to see what other bags get thrown their way.
The thing that keeps me up at night is the Big Ten factor. You watch Ohio State and Oregon stacking 5-stars like they are collecting trading cards and we are sitting here trying to hold onto a couple of high 4-stars who are getting daily calls from the SEC and the Big Ten schools that actually have recent playoff success to sell. The staff needs to lock down this OV schedule in the summer and get these kids on campus for the San Jose State game because that late Thursday night slot is going to be a tough sell for families traveling cross country.
Mark my words that by the time early signing period closes we are going to see at least two flips out of our current commits and the question is whether the staff has enough in the NIL war chest to backfill with portal guys or if we are going to be scrambling in the February window like we were last year. The 247 composite does not tell you about the silent commits that are getting bumped by other programs or the kids who are using us as leverage to get better offers elsewhere. I have been watching this stuff for years and the dead period is when the real work happens and I am not sure our staff has the closing instincts that the top tier programs have.
The ESPN offseason ranking probably slotted us somewhere in the middle of the pack and that is fair based on what we have shown so far but the early signing period is where you either prove the doubters wrong or confirm every suspicion about where this program is headed. I need to see some crystal ball flips in our direction before December or we are going to be having a real different conversa...