Ohio State coach Urban Meyer once again expressed his stance against the early signing period Monday.
“I hear the reasoning is because there’s so many decommitments,” Meyer said. “What the hell does that mean? So because 17-year-olds are decommitting, let’s give them a legal document so they can’t decommit. That’s not very smart. Young people have a right to choose where they want to go to school. … You’re going to see more transfers and more mistakes made in recruiting than ever if they keep pushing this thing up.”
Meyer has approached this topic many times, as recently as last Thursday on his radio show, and he has always come out vehemently against an early signing period. In addition to saying players deserve more time to weigh their options, Meyer believes there are practical issues as well that affect the both students and coaches, such as an athlete gaining weight or taking the ACT/SAT.
2017 quarterback Danny Clark decommitted from Ohio State on Tuesday. Clark initially committed to the Buckeyes in 2013, when the three-star prospect was a high school freshman.
Out of respect for coaches on OSU staff, I will not be answering any questions on this topic. Ever… pic.twitter.com/KCUR4ZzcaA
— 10 Weeks (@DClarkQB) September 27, 2016
Clark’s decommitment is one example to support Meyer’s position that athletes do not always know their best fit for college early on in the process and should have as much time as possible to make their decision. Clark said in the note attached to his tweet Tuesday that he had grown up always wanting to play for Ohio State but recently realized the program would not be a good for him as a pro-style quarterback.
Ohio State has the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, according to 247Sports.