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National Signing Day has developed into one of the most-talked about events in college athletics -- call it the NFL Draft plus Election Night.
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The day marks the first time that high school athletes can officially sign letters of intent to colleges and has turned into a booming business. Online publications like 247Sports, Scout.com, and others build their entire year around extensive coverage of the exciting day, while ESPNU dedicated 10 hours of live coverage to where the most highly touted players will play their college football.
National Signing Day attracts the most passionate of fans that demand the most exhaustive information possible, while also bringing out more casual fans who don't know too much about the day but are generally interested in seeing how their favorite school fared in recruiting.
Managing the expectations and demands of both types of fans certainly isn't easy.
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ESPNU senior coordinating producer Shawn Murphy said the network tried on Wednesday to give the diehards what they want, but also provided some graphics that could relate to those tuning in for the first time. ESPNU tried to accomplish this by: putting the rankings of the players next to their names, doing conference rankings and by interviewing coaches to give insight into the recruiting class in a general sense.
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ESPNU had more resources than any of its competitors in trying to accomplish all of those things, but Murphy said the issue of balancing it all out is one of the biggest challenges each year. The network tried to give a varied approach through placing reporters at 13 different schools and providing live coverage of 11 player announcements.
It was able to provide Florida State's enthusiastic reaction to defensive tackle Eddie Goldman's commitment -- Murphy called it the crowning moment of the network's coverage -- while also keeping tabs on the all the drama that comes with the day. Its live updates of the drama surrounding Georgia commit Josh Harvey-Clemons, who didn't fax in his letter, was some of the best work the network did all day.
The massive amount of coverage doesn't come without criticism, though. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier joked about ESPNU not having a reporter at his school's campus, but fans of some schools weren't nearly as jovial as Spurrier in announcing their criticism of the attention paid to some schools and not others.
Murphy said that was simply an efftect of being unable to be everywhere at once. The network was looking to space itself out throughout the country, but also make sure to focus on the important stories. That is why schools like Penn State, Alabama, LSU and others got the live coverage treatment, while other schools did not.
"With Penn State we felt we needed to have a presence there because that story transcended college football and was in the spotlight for several months," he said. "Alabama was national champion, LSU played in the national championship -- we looked at a combo of 2011 success on the field with recruiting success."
Other major criticisms were that while the network dedicated an impressive amount of time to National Signing Day, some of its reporters were not as immersed in recruiting knowledge as some would have liked. Reporter Pedro Gomez is known for his quality reporting at the main network, but likely doesn't think often about whom the fifth-ranked linebacker in the country is and where he is going.
The ESPNU senior coordinating producer disagrees with the general criticism and felt the group was well-prepared for the day, even if their primary job isn't college football coverage. Rece Davis, Dari Nowkhah and David Pollack were a few of the ESPN talent that shined particularly bright during the coverage.
"A lot of them have good relationships with the schools and coaching staffs," he said. "They've been there before and there is a trust level there. We are trying to get access and information from the school and they are good reporters -- they ferret that sort of information out."
It is that kind of access that Murphy feels separates ESPNU from all of the other outlets that cover National Signing Day. The ability to get well-known coaches such as USC's Lane Kiffin and Florida State's Jimbo Fisher to provide analysis on their recruiting class is one of the primary differentiators.
