Jamie Newberg is embarking on his 20th year of covering college football recruiting at the Southeastern or national level. He has covered recruiting on television and for Internet sites such as Scout.com, Rivals.com and now ESPN.com. Newberg offered opinions on this year’s recruiting process, which isn’t over since a couple of top-10 national prospects have yet to sign.
Q: You have been doing this for a long time. What do you think of the whole recruiting process, especially how things transpired in the past few weeks and months?
A: “I don’t like where all this stuff is headed. It’s been bad for a while, and I just don’t like where this is headed. In five of the last six years, if it’s not the nation’s top recruit pushing his announcement beyond signing day, it’s one of the nation’s top recruits. I know sometimes that kids need time, and I understand that Wednesday was just the first day that they could sign and that they have until April 1, but you wonder sometimes what the real reasons are for doing this. That’s just one aspect I don’t like.”
Q: What are some others?
A: “The recruiting is just so unbelievable now and so cutthroat. The gloves are off in January, and all the nonsense with the commits and the decommits and the commits. The coaching volatility seems to be crazier than ever and seems to have a bigger effect on recruiting each year. Everything seems to be escalated and magnified more than ever before.”