The main point for prep football players making commitments is to make the right choice for them. It's hardly a one-size-fits-all process, as there are considerations for education, playing time, geography and coaches.
From what we've seen going through the
MaxPreps 2015 National Signing Day page, only one guy made the absolute right choice.
OK, let's take a step back. For the purposes of this article, only one guy made the right choice.
We're talking about players whose names should automatically have them penciled in at a certain school with the same name, or the same colors. So a guy whose last name is Cardinal should be committed to Stanford, or someone whose last name is Washington should commit to the Huskies or even Washington State.
Turns out that nobody went with their name, that we could find. And only one went by color.
So first off, congratulations to
Jamal Brown of
Phillips (Chicago). He committed to Western Michigan and is expected to sign today with the Broncos, whose colors are - you guessed it - brown and gold.
Now let's get to the situations where things didn't end up right at all. Essentially, kids aren't going to the schools where their names say they should. Need proof? Look at this list of factoids:
- Nobody with the last name of Greene or Green is going to schools that wear green like Michigan State, Marshall, North Texas, Ohio and more.
- Nobody with the last name Knight or McKnight has committed to play for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
- You won't find any kids with the last name Washington committed to play for the Huskies or the Washington State Cougars.
- Nobody with the last name Gaines is committed to going to Gainesville, Fla., to play for the Florida Gators.
- The same can be said for anybody with a first or last name of Logan committed to play for Utah State in Logan, Utah. Want more? No Austins going to the University of Texas in Austin, no Marshalls going to Marshall, W.Va., nobody named Troy going to Troy, Ala., and nobody named Dallas heading to Southern Methodist in University Park (which is completely surrounded by Dallas).
- Three kids with Houston as a first or last name will head to schools in Texas, but none to the University of Houston.
Cameron Scarlett, Central Catholic
File photo by Larry Lawson
We can even put some individual kids out there as examples of names gone wrong.
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Cameron Scarlett of
Central Catholic (Portland, Ore.) and
Jordan Scarlett of
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) skipped the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers for Stanford and Florida, respectively. OK, good calls on their parts.
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Dj Beavers of
Crespi (Encino, Calif.) should have gone to Oregon State to play for the Beavers. Instead, he's committed to Washington, who are Huskies.
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Baylor Romney of
Franklin (El Paso, Texas) isn't staying in his home state and heading to Baylor. He's committed to Nevada.
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Adrian Falconer of
Leesburg (Fla.) could have gone to Bowling Green or Air Force and been a Falcon. Instead, he chose Iowa to be a Hawkeye.
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Reno Rosene of
Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) could have gone to Nevada and done his schooling in the City of Reno. He chose to commit way far away and go to Duke.
- Speaking of Duke,
Landis Durham of
Plano East (Texas) and
Johnathan Durham of
Aledo (Texas) each stayed in their home state instead of the city named after them in North Carolina, choosing Texas A&M and Texas State, respectively.
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Rawleigh Willaims III of
Bishop Lynch (Dallas) is committed to Arkansas, and not North Carolina State, which is located in Raleigh, N.C.
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Orlando Bradford of
Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport, La.) is committed to Arizona, and not Central Florida, located in Orlando, Fla.
Then there are the types of names that lend themselves to certain types of schools. Like somebody with the last name Snow shouldn't be at San Diego State and somebody named Jazz should go to a place like Tulane in jazz-crazy New Orleans.
There's some success in this group, and then some misses of course. We'll check out the successes first.
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Beaumont Central (Texas) quarterback
Michael Jacquet iii is committed to Utah, and he's going to need a jacket in Salt Lake City.
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Jazz Ferguson of
West Feliciana (St. Francisville, La.) is staying close to home, committed to LSU in the state where jazz is still king.
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Trevon Sands of
Southwest (Miami) is committed to USF, the University of South Florida in Tampa. That's close enough for him to get his toes in the beach sand occasionally.
Malik Psalms, Ayala
Photo by Donn Parris
And here are the misses:
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Malik Psalms of
Ayala (Chino Hills, Calif.) would have been a perfect fit at a religious institution like Notre Dame, BYU, SMU or Baylor, since psalms are songs or poems used in worship. Instead, he's committed to Cal.
Richie Worship iii of
Valley Forge (Parma Heights, Ohio) is committed to Purdue, a public university in Indiana.
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Alec Ingold of
Bay Port (Green Bay, Wis.) is committed to Northern Illinois, where they don't wear gold. So he's not going to be in gold.
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Alex Snow of
Clear Lake (Houston) could have gone to a cold climate to live up to his name but chose UT-San Antonio. Also,
Mike Freeze of
Graham (Texas) could have done the same but chose TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.
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James Peach of
T.R. Miller (Brewton, Ala.) could have gone to a variety of Georgia schools in the Peach State, but he's committed to Iowa.
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Chandler Eiland of
Canton (Texas) should have committed to Hawaii - the only island option in FBS. Instead, he's committed to the University of Louisiana, Monroe.
