National Signing Day: A College Football fan's Christmas

BY David Villavicencio

National Signing Day is here!

In a few hours, high school seniors from across the country will announce their college choices and fax in their letters of intent.

NSD is a holiday for college football fans. It's kind of like Christmas. You know what most of your presents are going to be but there are always a few surprises.

Signing Day is no different as most schools have the majority of their recruiting class committed. Those young men will fax in their letters of intent and officially join their school's Class of 2016.

But like Christmas, there are some surprise gifts that you may not know about. Those come by way of announcements from undecided players. NSD is full of these announcements that fans from across the country will be eagerly awaiting.

Fans will all be hoping the talented player will "make the right decision" and choose their school over their bitter rival. Some will be happy and others will be disappointed. Those emotions are a part of NSD that every college football fan experiences.

I covered National Signing Day a few years in a row while I was in college. I was at Miami Northwestern when Tommy Streeter and Brandon Washington picked the Canes. I was also at Booker T. Washington when Brandon Harris picked Miami that same year. I was at Killian the day Lamar Miller announced he would join the lineage of great Hurricanes running backs three years ago.

While I have plenty of good memories from covering National Signing Day, I also remember some announcements that did not go in favor of my beloved Hurricanes. I was at Pace the day Kayvon Webster decided to join two of his high school teammates and sign with USF after being committed to Miami for nearly a year.

Tomorrow will be be an interesting National Signing Day for the Hurricanes. It will be the first full class for Al Golden and it is a good one. Coach Golden addressed many needs and has pulled in a ton of top talent. Local stars like Duke Johnson and Deon Bush are just some of the headliners in Golden's class but he could be adding some more.

Miami is in the running for a pair of big time talents that will be announcing their decision on NSD and many believe they will get at least one of them. Cornerback Tracy Howard will announce his intentions early Wednesday morning while offensive lineman Avery Young will tell the world where he is going to school in the afternoon.

Even if Miami misses out on both talented players, they should be commended for their talented class. Coach Golden and his staff did an excellent job of recruiting what is expected to be a pivotal class for the Golden regime. This year's recruits will go a long way towards determining how soon the Hurricanes return to national prominence and that is something every Canes fan is excited about.