National Signing Day Getting Huge

National Signing Day just may be the single most overrated day in American sports. And that includes the Super Bowl.

What you basically have is a bunch of coaches doing all they can to convince cream of the crop recruits that their school is the place to be. If you're a bigger name program like Florida, Texas or USC, then most of the leg work is done by your school's name. For just about everyone else, it's all about the legal hustle.

Not that signing day isn't imporant; on the complete contrary, of course it is. These are the incoming players who will win and lose games on the field for their respective schools over the next four years. But how much of that has to do with coaching and how much of it directly correlates to player talent is an intriguing debate.

I'm of the belief that coaching and the molding of personnel to a given system is the big determiner of success at the collegiate level. Whether or not a given player is a three, four or five star recruit usually doesn't guarantee anything. Darren McFadden, for example, was a four star recruit, now he's an odds-on fave to be the top selection in April's NFL Draft.

So grab your favorite school cap and watch that television monitor for round-the-clock updates on who's committing, de-committing and pledging allegiances where.

The hype machine is in overdrive: It's signing day, baby!

-JAB