Recruiting commitments — how could it be better?

Commitments.

In recruiting, they are everything. And because, of late, BYU is becoming as successful as any school in the nation at getting commitments early, a proposed rule change that would allow football prospects to sign during an early signing period similar to basketball is right down Bronco Mendenhall’s alley.

The Cougars got around 20 commitments for the class of 2008 by Thanksgiving. They should be signed and locked up. That could happen if the rules is changed and it would save a lot of tension, money, gamesmanship, siphoning off other commits and time and energy by college recruiters, namely assistant coaches.

BYU expects to sign all those who have committed and that includes California linebacker Uona Kaveinga, who told Mendenhall he would be a Cougar and then kept his recruiting open to pitches from two Pac-10 schools.

This commitment game is crazy.

I remember a few years ago, sitting across the table at a Sizzler near Highland High with the mother of Haloti Ngata, the big-time blue chip recruit for the Rams. She told me her son was going to BYU, that he had shared this with her and it was her life-long desire that he go to Provo. Witnessing this was a childhood friend of mine from when I lived in Tonga, Timani Tonga, another native of The Friendly Islands.

Mrs Ngata told me Haloti’s uncle, his namesake Haloti Moala was pushing Oregon of the Pac-10 and he wasn’t very happy over the decision to go to BYU. The Ngata’s even had a phone answering tape recorded for callers and recruiters that Ngata was BYU-bound.

Gary Crowton told me Ngata had committed to him, albeit it in an almost whisper in his voice, while sitting in his office in the Smith Fieldhouse.

As everyone remembers, on signing day, Ngata signed with Oregon.

The reason? His uncle convinced him that’s where he needed to be and he agreed, ending up having a fine career with the Ducks.

I remember where this Moala push for the Pac-10 started.

I covered the signing of Tevita Moala, a DB from Hawthorne High near Los Angeles in the late 90s. He attended BYU before going on a mission. He had some academic challenges when in Provo and upon his return to Provo, the defensive coordinator at the time decided the issues with his academics would prevent him from receiving a spot, or so I am told. Tevita ended up working something with Oregon State and ended up having a great career in Corvallis. He was a super kid, an undersized but great football player.

That incident impacted the ultimate outcome, I believe, of the Ngata situation with his uncle, whom I understand was the brother of Tevita.

Ironically, BYU has a commitment from Tevita’s brother Tolu, a linebacker at El Camino, Calif., and he is expected to sign a litter of intent with the Cougars this coming week.

Recruiting stories are intense and full of drama a lot of the time.

But the NCAA is allowing a lot of it to get out of control. The advent of many Internet recruiting sites have added to the drama and excitement, informing paying fans of twists and turns moment by moment. Trouble is, some of these 17-year old kids are not sophisticated enough to handle all the inquiries and phone calls, text messages from recruiters, mainstream media and Internet media. This is how some information gets fragmented or misunderstood because the prospects really don’t know how to communicate their status unless it is clear cut and dried.

Often times, they simply don’t want to disappoint people and say what people want to hear.

This is a major reason I think the NCAA should have an early signing date for football and get a lot of this over before Thanksgiving. That way, recruits who know what they want to do can be accommodated. Those who can’t make up their mind, are confused, or just waiting to be catered to right down the wire, can be singled out for special treatment.