No suspense left in national signing tradition

DALLAS -- Not so long ago, the most sought-after high school recruits wouldn't make their college choice known until national signing day.

Then they'd draw out the suspense even longer with their own news conferences. Many would even make their choice public by picking up that school's cap from three or more different caps in front of them.

There is no need for such dramatic presentations anymore.

Before they could even make their decisions official Wednesday, 21 of the top 25 players ranked by SuperPrep had already verbally committed. The only thing left to do was sign the letter of intent and fax it back to the school on signing day.

"Back in our time, it was pretty unsure right up to signing day," said Ken Dabbs, the recruiting coordinator at Texas from 1974-83. "Once in a while, we had a lot of defections and a lot of additions the night before signing day. It seemed it drug out forever. It's now a different game."

Texas coach Mack Brown already knows he's in for another good signing day. The Longhorns had verbal commitments from 18 of the top 100 recruits from Texas, including Houston Madison quarterback Vincent Young, one of the top-rated prospects nationally.

Of the top 25 high school recruits in Texas, as ranked by Rivals100.com, 13 of them had announced their intention to sign with the Longhorns.

Rivals100.com and California-based SuperPrep, another recruiting analysis service, have already ranked Brown's latest recruiting class as the nation's best.