By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

National Signing Day is suppose to be a time of happiest for the average High School or JuCo student-athlete as they make their move to the next level.

But every year, and last year covering two signing day events made me think about this, why don’t we move it to the afternoon-early evening?

My reasoning is this:

Why force this kid to miss class (they may or may not have a full class load as their underclassmen counterparts but still they might still be missing their one or two-classes), and force their families to use some sick time to go through a 20-minute ceremony?

I covered a high school prep Signing Day at 8am in the morning in Granite Bay, California.  That lasted 20 minutes and when I was causally speaking with a student-athlete, they told me that they won’t be able to focus for most of their classes that day because of their excitment.

Yes it good that they got it out of the way and yes they media moblies in the area and at ESPN are jacked because they don’t have to worry about it for their night deadlines.  But my biggest issue is that these media giants then turn around when they are ‘academically ineligible’ and saying ‘Well they should’ve focused on their studies’.

So, you guys beat into their heads on Signing Day that it’s ok to miss class because your the ‘big dog’ and ‘deserve the attention’ in high school then flip the script because you need to sell a paper the next day by saying something different?  Come on McFly!

I’m all for Signing Day though, I think it’s an honorable way to honor your athletes going on to the next level.  For me personally, I favor the later start time so they can go to their classes and learn and won’t be a distraction when they walk into class halfway through because of this.

This also allows families to go through their work day without missing too much work (if any) at the end of the day.

I saw this at a JuCo I covered in California.  They held their Signing Day at 3/4pm, and I talking with them, they had a lot more people show up for the event then their high school Signing Day because it was later in the day.

Yeah they may miss a little bit of practice, but in all honestly, if they’re going on to the next level after this year, it’ll open the door for the next guy who maybe in his/her shoes over the next few years.

Long Story Short, move it back to a later time.  Limit how much people miss class and how much people miss work won’t hurt the bottom line of the media giants.  Who knows, you’ll probably get a better answer if it’s later in the day than earlier.