Kelly Embraces Early Signing Period
Apparently, Brian Kelly and Nick Saban don’t chat much.
"I have not talked to a coach who's happy with it,” the Alabama head coach told AL.com regarding college football’s first-ever early signing period, which opened on Wednesday.
“Not one.”
Well, he didn’t speak with the Notre Dame head coach, who praised the new system multiple times during his press conference on Wednesday to introduce the 20 players the Irish signed.
“For me, the parameters of what has been laid out, everybody knew what they were, so there was no confusion as to what the parameters were leading up to this,” Kelly said. “It might have fit other schools a little bit better and been more comfortable for others, but there were challenges for everybody across the board.
“So some may complain and might have a louder voice, but there are some schools in Hawaii right now, that's a challenge. Some are in the Bahamas, that's a challenge. So there are challenges across the board, but everybody knew what the parameters were going into this. You just work within those parameters.”
Kelly and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer probably don’t exchange calls and texts much either and they certainly aren’t on the same page when it comes to what a commitment means.
Kelly said the new early signing period, “puts the commitment back into commitment.”
“No more soft commitments,” Kelly said. “The charge that I gave to our assistant coaches is that if a player has given us his commitment, we have been committed to them that they're going to sign with us. If not, that's fine, but we're going to keep recruiting that position. So, it's really put back into the definition of commitment. If you're committed, there are no, ‘Hey, I'm committed, but I'm going to take other visits.’
“It really truly means a commitment to one university. We have a commitment to you, and we're going to honor that commitment. That's what it's meant to us here at Notre Dame, that's what it's meant in terms of signing 20 today. We identified those kids that were committed to this university and we went to work on that.”
Meanwhile, Meyer has repeatedly said he’s “absolutely opposed” to the new system.
“I hear the reasoning is because there's so many decommitments,” Meyer said last October. “What the hell does that mean? So, because 18-year-olds – excuse me, 17-year-olds – are decommitting, let's give them a legal document so they can't decommit? That's not very smart.
“Young people have a right to choose where they want to go to school. Period. Let them decommit 100 times.”
Ironically, Meyer was burned by a decommitment today, when five-star offensive lineman Jackson Carman spurned the in-state Buckeyes in a stunning signing day-switch to sign with Clemson.
Meanwhile, Kelly feels like he signed a better overall class than any other program in the country, at least so far.
“Be hard pressed to find a college football program that signed 20 players today, and so my estimation is this is probably the number one recruiting class in the country if you talk about signed players,” he said. “You guys can do the research. I'm sure you will dig in deep and look, but we're really excited about it, obviously, to have 20 signed.”
And they aren’t finished yet with Oregon receiver Braden Lenzy set to announce and sign on Friday with the Irish as the overwhelming favorites. Notre Dame is also in the mix for Washington cornerback Kyler Gordon, who will announce Thursday night.
“We're still open for business as it relates to the December 20th signing period,” he said. “A lion's share of the work is complete relative to the committed players. We have expectations of some more things occurring in the next 48 hours.”
Kelly and his crew will look to close the class in February as they continue to chase players at receiver, offensive line, linebacker, defensive end and defensive back.
“Certainly, you'll get an opportunity to hear me again in February with some more signees.”