JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Ross Pierschbacher committed to Iowa back in January, he said the following to Rivals.com: "I just felt really comfortable with it (committing to Iowa). Waking up this morning, I just kind of knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. I just felt really comfortable and just thought why not today and make it the day."
Seven months later, Pierschbacher isn't as certain about his college future and has told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that he is going to decide between Iowa, Stanford and Alabama, possibly as soon as this week. Should he reaffirm his non-binding (see meaningless) commitment to Iowa at this point, he can always change his mind again, as often as he would like, before the first Wednesday of February which is national signing day.
All of this is totally Pierschbacher's prerogative, of course. This is how the system is set up. There is no early signing period and verbal commitments are not contracts.
I don't fault Pierschbacher for looking closely at all of his options, for taking visits to Alabama (his second) and Stanford. If I had a son or daughter in a similar, highly recruited position with several amazing options, I'd encourage them to take the visits, too, especially if one of those schools was Stanford. How many people get a chance at a full ride to attend Stanford? Most Stanford grads are set up for life and if you don't have student loans to pay off you're in an even better position.
Then again, I'd wait until after they began their first day of their senior year of high school so those colleges would be able to pay for the cost of the trip, but perhaps I am just cheap.
Pierschbacher won't have any student loans and he is choosing between the home state Hawkeyes, one of the world's elite institutions in Stanford and one of the greatest college football dynasties in history in Nick Saban's Crimson Tide.
You shouldn't be critical of any selection, but the process and how he's going about it? Some will have something to say about that. Then again, if he had picked another school instead of Iowa right out of the chute, some would have had something to say about that, too because four legs good, two legs bad. If you don't pick 'our school' then we never wanted you anyway...you know the type.
Regardless of what Pierschbacher says this week or whenever he commits again, I don't think I'd write it in pen. If he pledges to the Hawks again and Iowa goes sub .500 again this fall, all bets are likely off. Why do I say that? Read this quote fro Pierschbacher when asked this question by the ICPC:
“Whatever is happening then, I couldn’t tell you what’s going to happen."
Again, more power to the kid for exploring all of his options. He should take all the time he has allotted to him before he decides, which is over six months until signing day. Tell the three schools you are interested in that you will talk with them once per week or once per month for that matter, until your senior year is over. Tell every other school not to bother calling you at all. Tell the recruiting services and reporters you don't want to talk to them until you have something to say. Change your cell phone number. Whatever.
But the 'I'm in until I'm out' thing will certainly not improve his quality of life. Someone who follows HN on twitter wrote this:
https://twitter.com/HoundGuy/status/362374981696499712
"Then why commit? That's like a woman accepting a wedding ring, but still checking match.com daily."
One of the few real benefits I see about verballing well in advance of when you can sign is that if you verbal to the right program and you get hurt your senior year, the program will still bring you in and you get a full ride.
Not all programs do that.
Kirk Ferentz has done that while Iowa's head coach. We've read stories about how Nick Saban runs off healthy players, much less prospects who blow out a knee before they make it to Tuscaloosa. I'm not saying that would happen in this case or that is a Saban rule, but Ferentz has shown his stripes on this numerous times.
The bottom line: these are not easy decisions when you have options like this, so why rush into things? There's no need to decide now if you take control of the process. The schools interested in you will leave you alone and you can make it so the recruiting services lose your number.
Pierschbacher can commit again this week and then change his mind in November and then again in January and still find a school who would love to have him. That's the way things are when you are a Top 100 player. That doesn't mean it was the best way to go about it but in the end, given the rules of the current process, he could do just that. In the end, he gets to set the timetable as long as he has the offers.
While I might do it a different way or advise my child to do things differently, it's his choice and beyond this item, there isn't much I have to say about it and I certainly wouldn't begrudge the kid if he felt like a program other than Iowa's was the place for him.
Seven months later, Pierschbacher isn't as certain about his college future and has told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that he is going to decide between Iowa, Stanford and Alabama, possibly as soon as this week. Should he reaffirm his non-binding (see meaningless) commitment to Iowa at this point, he can always change his mind again, as often as he would like, before the first Wednesday of February which is national signing day.
All of this is totally Pierschbacher's prerogative, of course. This is how the system is set up. There is no early signing period and verbal commitments are not contracts.
I don't fault Pierschbacher for looking closely at all of his options, for taking visits to Alabama (his second) and Stanford. If I had a son or daughter in a similar, highly recruited position with several amazing options, I'd encourage them to take the visits, too, especially if one of those schools was Stanford. How many people get a chance at a full ride to attend Stanford? Most Stanford grads are set up for life and if you don't have student loans to pay off you're in an even better position.
Then again, I'd wait until after they began their first day of their senior year of high school so those colleges would be able to pay for the cost of the trip, but perhaps I am just cheap.
Pierschbacher won't have any student loans and he is choosing between the home state Hawkeyes, one of the world's elite institutions in Stanford and one of the greatest college football dynasties in history in Nick Saban's Crimson Tide.
You shouldn't be critical of any selection, but the process and how he's going about it? Some will have something to say about that. Then again, if he had picked another school instead of Iowa right out of the chute, some would have had something to say about that, too because four legs good, two legs bad. If you don't pick 'our school' then we never wanted you anyway...you know the type.
Regardless of what Pierschbacher says this week or whenever he commits again, I don't think I'd write it in pen. If he pledges to the Hawks again and Iowa goes sub .500 again this fall, all bets are likely off. Why do I say that? Read this quote fro Pierschbacher when asked this question by the ICPC:
“Whatever is happening then, I couldn’t tell you what’s going to happen."
Again, more power to the kid for exploring all of his options. He should take all the time he has allotted to him before he decides, which is over six months until signing day. Tell the three schools you are interested in that you will talk with them once per week or once per month for that matter, until your senior year is over. Tell every other school not to bother calling you at all. Tell the recruiting services and reporters you don't want to talk to them until you have something to say. Change your cell phone number. Whatever.
But the 'I'm in until I'm out' thing will certainly not improve his quality of life. Someone who follows HN on twitter wrote this:
https://twitter.com/HoundGuy/status/362374981696499712
"Then why commit? That's like a woman accepting a wedding ring, but still checking match.com daily."
One of the few real benefits I see about verballing well in advance of when you can sign is that if you verbal to the right program and you get hurt your senior year, the program will still bring you in and you get a full ride.
Not all programs do that.
Kirk Ferentz has done that while Iowa's head coach. We've read stories about how Nick Saban runs off healthy players, much less prospects who blow out a knee before they make it to Tuscaloosa. I'm not saying that would happen in this case or that is a Saban rule, but Ferentz has shown his stripes on this numerous times.
The bottom line: these are not easy decisions when you have options like this, so why rush into things? There's no need to decide now if you take control of the process. The schools interested in you will leave you alone and you can make it so the recruiting services lose your number.
Pierschbacher can commit again this week and then change his mind in November and then again in January and still find a school who would love to have him. That's the way things are when you are a Top 100 player. That doesn't mean it was the best way to go about it but in the end, given the rules of the current process, he could do just that. In the end, he gets to set the timetable as long as he has the offers.
While I might do it a different way or advise my child to do things differently, it's his choice and beyond this item, there isn't much I have to say about it and I certainly wouldn't begrudge the kid if he felt like a program other than Iowa's was the place for him.
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