Dunlap: I Get Excited For The Games, Not Recruiting
The star-rating system.
The press-conference hat dance.
The flip-flopping and reopening of recruiting.
Oral commitments, verbal commitments, hard commitments, soft commitments, a heavy lean, a light lean --- I can't keep up with it and, truth be told, I'm not all that much interested.
How many offers does he have?
How many handwritten letters were stuffed into his mailbox today?
How many times can you call him in accordance with the NCAA rules?
When can you call? Who can you call? Can you call his mother? His coach? The mother of his coach? I don't know.
Will he "camp" at a certain school?
Has he visited a school yet?
Is a tweet to him considered communication?
What about Instagram? What are the rules on Instagram? I need to know about Instagram!
This world of recruiting high school football players is all so foreign to me with a terminology and lexicon that's both ever-changing and so confusing that I can't keep up and, again, I've really got not much of an interest in doing so.
That said, as we have arrived at National Letter of Intent Day, I'm not naïve to the fact that many people do have a deep interest in such events and real passion for recruiting.
They scour the Internet for the latest tidbits, they want as much information as possible, they need to know seemingly every movement of a 17-year-old kid who is trying to make one of the most important decisions of their life.
Everyone has something they are interested in and I don't begrudge the people who have a profound interest in recruiting; it just never was --- and never will be – my thing.
Me? Just show me the games. Let me know when the ball kicks off and I'll be there.
And that's probably the crux of this whole column as many have used the recent "recruiting wars" between Pitt and Penn State as a topic of discussion and a matter of football fodder in the recent past.
Some point to the fact that Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, with his first full shot at hitting the recruiting trail as Pitt's head man, has reeled in some big-time guys including Central Catholic's dynamic defensive back Damar Hamlin.
Others look at how James Franklin at Penn State, even as he had some high-profile decommits, was still able to bring in a strong class including Woodland Hills running back Miles Sanders.
In regards to today, for the most part I just shrug my shoulders and feel good about the fact that all the kids receiving scholarships have realized a fruit to that tireless work they put in. I also think about their parents and how they will have fewer financial burdens because their child is a high achiever at something. That fact, when money is tight for so many people nowadays, is downright awesome.
What I don't do, and won't do, is declare today that Pitt or Penn State was some winner.
We can do that on Sept. 10 --- when they actually play in a game against one another.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.