This is not your grandfather’s National Signing Day | Football Insider

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There was a time when a player like Boone High senior running back Aaron Hardy Jr. would be swimming in major college scholarship offers. Or a record-setting quarterback like Tohopekaliga’s Sabby Meassick would have a long list of schools from which to choose.

Granted, these two players have size issues, but there would have been programs in the past that would have taken a chance on those players due to their talent and potential to get at least a bit bigger.

Not these days. Development is a thing of the past. High school recruiting is no longer the process that it used to be. Scholarship offers made when players are young mean nothing when colleges discard their promises and instead sign players with next-level experience.

For some, it’s National NOT Signing Day | Football Insider

The reason: The NCAA transfer portal. It’s simple. College coaches would rather fill holes on their rosters with 22- and 23-year-old players with years of maturity and experience over developing incoming freshman. Curt Cignetti perfected the transfer portal process at Indiana and look where it got him. Given Cignetti’s blueprint to a national championship, recruiting 18-year-olds is mostly a thing of the past.

It’s frustrating for high school athletes. But the trend should force them to think differently about the path they can take.

High school coaches are now guiding their young players to start looking at smaller colleges instead having grandiose dreams of joining the big-time programs right away. That dream can still be alive, but for many, it will mean another layer of recruiting after they prove themselves at an FCS school or a Division II, Division III or even NAIA program.

“One hundred percent,” said South Lake coach Brad Lord, who will have six players signing with small colleges on Wednesday. One of those is the area’s third leading rusher, Malik Holman, who ran for 1,656 yards. He is signing with a small school, D-II Erskine College in South Carolina.

“I’m telling my kids to go where you can play, get your film and then get in the portal. And you have to be careful. Some schools will bring in 150 kids every year. So you gotta be smart about it.”

Hardy had a breakout senior season, rushing for 1,521 yards and 24 touchdowns, but he hasn’t even gotten a sniff from an FBS program, and he’s had trouble finding a landing spot at the lower levels. He is ranked No. 39 in the Sentinel’s 2026 Central Florida Super60. But at 5-foot-7, 170 pounds he is completely overlooked.

“It’s very frustrating seeing my teammates get recruited before myself,” Hardy said. “What I have learned is it’s not about how many yards I ran, or how many TDs, but how visible I was not during my senior year.

“[The portal] appears to be the new way of college sports. I’m not irritated, I know now that I gotta work harder and my light has to shine brighter.”

Hardy has narrowed his decision to three very small programs. He will be signing Wednesday with either Southeastern University in Lakeland, Trinity College of Florida in Clermont or Valley State in North Dakota.

Meassick passed for 3,591 yards and 37 touchdowns as a senior to cap a career in which threw for 13,617 yards and 138 touchdowns. Those are top 10 numbers in Florida’s all-time list. But is the 5-foot-10, 175-pound QB getting any offers? Hardly. No one yet wants to groom a kid who is still waiting on his growth spurt.

For proof that offers mean nothing for underclass players, just look at Meassick. He was offered a scholarship by then Florida coach Dan Mullen when he was 14 years old, and in the eighth grade. Where is that offer now? In reality, it never was a real offer. Schools hand out non-committable offers all the time. It’s just part of the game … showmanship.

Anthony Paradiso, Meassick’s coach at Toho, had a similar QB in Tucker Israel, the state’s career all-time career passing leader with 15,034 yards at Lake Nona. Israel was undersized as well, at 5-11, 190. But he signed with Clemson in 2015.

Meassick is considering a preferred walk-on spot at Purdue, which might be a perfect scenario. He is confident he will get bigger and only has to look at his father to keep his hopes up. Dan Meassick is 6-foot-6, and didn’t get his growth spurt until he was in college.

A D-1 walk-on would give Sabby time to grow and develop. He has extremely good football IQ and quarterback instincts. Time is exactly what he needs.

For Toho QB Sabby Meassick, size definitely matters | Football Insider

Lord thinks the state of recruiting could actually benefit players in the long run. It adds another layer of recruiting to the process, but success at smaller schools can open bigger doors once they have actually played some college football.

“Oh yeah, I think it can be better than what it was before,” Lord said. “I’m telling my kids … guess what, Florida is gonna take someone from Georgia Southern who comes out of the portal before they take you. So go get your film, become a star wherever you go, and then, if you want, get into the portal. That’s my advice.”

Jones head coach Elijah Williams said he’s been telling his players to do this for years.

“That’s the only focus now. At this point, if you aren’t signing FBS in December, you aren’t going FBS,” Williams said. We had eight kids leave in December, but only four were FBS and four were FCS.

“It’s tough, because in the portal, all of FCS kids are being taken by the FBS schools. All of the Division II and III kids are being taken by the FCS schools. And all of the NAIA kids are being taken by Division II and III. So you gotta start down, and work your way up.”

Williams said the trickle-down effect is affecting junior colleges. He said he talks to 50 to 75 junior college coaches each year in trying to find spots for players.

“Here is a prime example. I have over 87 juco coaches in my phone,” he said. “I called them and there hasn’t been one call me back this year. Not one. And usually, I talk to them all of the time.

“So all of those kids who are stuck in the portal and didn’t get signed, they’re going to the jucos. So I tell all my kids, ‘If D-II is gonna offer you a full-ride, take that.’ ”

Scott Perry, who coached Lake Mary to the Class 7A state championship, agrees. He had only two players sign with FBS schools in December and won’t have any players signing Wednesday. The state championship team in the state’s largest class will have only five seniors signing. All signed in December.

“And even for the kids who are going D-I, everything is a one-year contract,” Perry said.
“That’s how you gotta look at it. You can resign and go someplace higher, or you can get fired and end up with something lower. I’ve had kids in the past who have done both. It’s not about loyalty. It’s a job.”

Getting kids to understand the options and narrow their dreamscope is now important. It’s not necessarily about forgetting about big dreams. It’s just adding a layer to the process before a player can realize those dreams.

“I mean, we can’t really say that since we just had Noah Grubbs who is going to Notre Dame and that’s his dream school. But if you’re not a four-star or a five-star player, you’re gonna have to put your time in somewhere else,” Perry said. “I have explained to the kids and I have explained to the parents, ‘This is the toughest time in the history of college athletics to get a scholarship. It’s not the same as it used to be.

“You can’t even walk-on to big-time schools anymore.”

Since the NCAA has limited rosters to 105 players, colleges can’t load up with walk-ons who suit up with hopes of eventually earning a scholarship

Perry was a walk-on to Florida after his high school days at Lake Mary.

“I could walk-on at Florida because they would take 120 players on the team, and I would be a practice player and maybe play a little bit my junior and senior year,” Perry said. “But they can’t do that now. It’s a whole different deal.

“It’s sad. You can’t have that player who always dreamed of going to a school and walking on. There is no ‘Rudy’ story anymore,” Perry said, pointing to the Notre Dame walk-on whose underdog story became a movie.

Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.

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