It’s 8 am, and the smell of a Keurig that has never been cleaned fills the air. I spill some coffee into a Styrofoam cup for the second time that morning, ignoring the coaches’ laughs as I flood the cup with creamer. The steam from that cup warms my face as I walk back to my desk, where transfer portal entrants wait for me to consider them. I watch more film and feel like the isolated portion of a timelapse video. Chaos exists all around me. Tension, too. It’s the day before Early Signing Day.
2024 brings the earliest signing day in history, December 4th. In the past, it occurred in the third week of the month, with many teams on-site at a bowl location using a hotel ballroom as its recruiting base. The constant evolution of the transfer portal, along with some good ol’ general logic, have led to moving this date into a more convenient window as most teams can handle the process in the office.
Since Sunday, the UH staff has been fully locked into recruiting and the transfer portal. The news surrounding defensive coordinator Shiel Wood – said to be heading to Lubbock – is a distraction that requires staffers to contact recruits to calm their nerves and any impulses to consider their second favorite. Leaked staff moves have rarely happened hours before signing day, but you can attribute that to the new calendar. It’s just another circumstance that the recruiting staff has to deal with and it’s another reason that, as the day approaches, anxiety is bundled with excitement. It’s almost like the days leading up to Christmas, except your neighbors are actively looking to steal your presents.
While you have seen your team earn the commitment of recruits, it doesn’t mean anything. Rival schools will be looking to flip players until the morning of. The commitment is like a pretty engagement ring, but where she always has the chance to get a refund. Signing day is submitting the marriage license.
Support Staff Shenanigans
Coaches ensure that the relationships with their recruits are still going smoothly, but signing day is a day for the support staff to handle. The recruiting staff and creative team are joining forces to provide a couple of nice social media posts for each signee.
Someone will be tasked with finding the best handful of plays for each signee to send along to the creative team. And the creative team will put together a nice video package that has been in the works for months. Likely getting shots when players were on their official visits just for this specific day.
In the past, our Director of Player Personnel stressed over getting all the necessary paperwork in. But getting paperwork in was the go-ahead for making the all important social media post. The perfect way to celebrate an 18-year-old’s biggest, and maybe first, real decision.
What Signing Day Means
This schedule will likely change again next season, but as it is structured today, it makes logical sense to build a recruiting class. Early Signing Day finalizes a high school class just before the transfer portal opens on December 9th. Where the previous staff may have left fans at the dock when it comes to recruiting, this gives fans a future to look forward to.
Having the high school and JUCO portion of the class complete, coaches can hone in on immediate needs. Of course, almost every staff has already been having these conversations during the season. They can also start nudging players who are no longer fit into the portal. I anticipate more turnover at UH in that respect this off-season.
The UH recruiting class currently sits at 48th, according to 247 nationally. This is Houston’s highest-ranked class since the 2016 recruiting class featured Ed Oliver. This a good sign for Willie Fritz and the staff in their first season in Houston.
We’ll see if that ranking holds up. Maybe a few surprises can see it climb even further.