Thursday, January 29, 2009

Top prospects should ask for signing bonus

Yahoo Sports has an article about a few of the remaining top high school football prospects and their possible colleges.
Six of the nation's top 10 prospects remain up for grabs, and the jockeying, scrambling and final pushes before the dead period is in full swing. A minute doesn't go by where there's a rumor started about where some of the top players in the nation will end up.

At the top of the speculation list is the nation's No. 1 player, running back Bryce Brown of Wichita (Kan.) East. Brown remains committed to Miami, but he currently is with his uncle on vacation in Nebraska until Feb. 7. There has been rampant speculation that Brown will take an official visit to Auburn this weekend, but neither Brown nor his mentor Brian Butler have confirmed the visit.

It's believed Brown will come back the weekend after Signing Day and look at what players landed where and then decide on two official visits to either Auburn, Miami, Tennessee or USC.

Then there is wide receiver Rueben Randle, the nation's No. 2 player, from Bastrop (La.) High. He has shifted his focus to three schools – LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma.

Their choices will, of course, affect each of the universities' bottom lines: television exposure, shoe contracts, ticket sales, radio revenue, alumni donations, etc. Whether the players choose their schools because of the school colors or the cafeteria food or the size of the cheerleaders' breasts, one thing is missing: where is their share of the money?