A Grip on Sports: The more recruiting changes, the more everything stays the same – it reminds us of something

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It seems perfectly appropriate Groundhog Day falls on the same day high school seniors sign their National Letters of Intent to play college football. After all, the same schools rise to the top of the recruiting rankings year after year. And Nick Saban is beginning to resemble Phil Connors, in attitude if not looks.

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• Alabama will have a great recruiting class today. Book it. So will Georgia and Ohio State. More than likely Clemson. Possibly Texas A&M and seven other SEC schools. Texas will be there as will Oklahoma, despite the coaching change.

In the modern world of college football recruiting, the Orwellian theories of 1984 always apply. The rich strive to stay rich, the middle class tries to replace the rich and the poor remain where they are.

The recruiting system in place, with its well-publicized, but hardly binding, letters of intent, keeps it that way. Heck there is an entire multi-million dollar industry that has blossomed around high school recruiting, from training to rating to representing the players.

Like Ned Ryerson, it’s a little icky.

(None of this, however, should be taken as criticism of the athletes who are signing today. This is their dream come to life. That part of today is something worth celebrating. Loudly.)

Funny thing, though. As Phil evolves through the years he’s stuck in Punxsutawney, so is letter-of-intent day. It’s not nearly as important this year to the colleges and universities as it has been for the past 20. The transfer portal has taken care of that.

Lincoln Riley leaves Oklahoma for USC. Does he immediately start trying to gather all the available high school seniors in Southern California? Sure he does. But he also knows it’s mainly a fruitless endeavor for the short term. Recruiting is about building relationships. So Riley immediately hits the transfer portal. Reels in player after player, including his quarterback from last season, Caleb Williams.

But it’s not just new coaches in new places doing this. The establishment has embraced it as well. It makes sense.

A 21-year-old with experience will probably help significantly more this fall than an 18-year-old fresh from a high school homecoming game. And just about every college coach is worried more about winning now than in three years. By then, the players might be under the control of the next guy.

Coaches like Saban and Kirby Smart and Ryan Day have the luxury of not worrying about if they will have a job this time next year. They can sell the long-term. Attract the best. Give them time to develop. And, if holes develop, go find a stopgap in the portal.

It’s a brave new world.

• The Washington Football Team is going away. Replaced by the Washington Commanders. Interesting. After a multi-year process, and a bunch of money, the Washington NFL franchise made the wrong choice? What a surprise. And then it screwed up the roll out.

None of this is unexpected, not for a franchise that has stubbed its toes so often under owner Dan Snyder walking is a chore.

Maybe its karma for taking so long to understand the need to change its longtime nickname. Maybe it’s just plain incompetence. Wait. It’s the latter. No question.

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Gonzaga: Chet Holmgren may not be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft, but he’s going to be among the top two or three. That’s the consensus of those Jim Meehan talked with. … Last year’s high draft pick from GU, Jalen Suggs, has done enough in his rookie season to make the NBA’s Rising Stars all-star game. Theo Lawson has that story. … Around the WCC, BYU has to bounce back from back-to-back losses. It may not be easy.

WSU: Not all that long ago, we would all gather around the fax machine on this date and wait for it to spit out NLIs. That tradition is gone. But we expect the day to be dominated by Washington State’s announcements of players signing. As we wait, we offer Colton Clark’s assessment of the defense heading into next season. And the news a local Spokane athlete, Northwest Christian’s Jonny Lester, will head south. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, don’t look now, but Washington is inching up the power rankings. … Stanford beat up on California, handing the Bears their eighth consecutive loss. … UCLA hopes to have a couple stars back for Thursday’s game at Arizona. … Not only is Colorado struggling, coach Tad Boyle is out a while due to COVID-19. … In football news, as we mentioned above, USC attracted the most-wanted quarterback in the portal. … Utah wants to build a new indoor facility. It would help “add to the brand” as they say.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana is trying to build an indoor practice facility. … Montana State has added another assistant coach. … In basketball news, Montana State is prepping for its rematch with Weber State. … Portland State topped Northern Colorado last night.

CCS: The Sasquatch have a new baseball coach. It’s Ryan Webb, who replaces Bryan Winston. That news leads a local briefs column.

Preps: We just happened to be in the same gym with Dave Nichols last night as he covered Gonzaga Prep’s sweep of Ferris. … Dan Pelle was there as well and he has photo galleries from the boys and girls games. … Dave also has a roundup of other action from Tuesday.

Seahawks: How important to the defense do the Hawks feel Quandre Diggs is? … We passed on the news yesterday of Tom Brady’s retirement. His the most successful quarterback to ever play in the NFL. … The league and a handful of teams are facing a lawsuit from a former Miami Dolphins coach. Brian Flores is suing over what he feels is discriminatory hiring practices.

Kraken: Seattle’s “sensational” season continued with another loss. This one 3-2 in Boston.

Storm: It sometimes takes a gamble to win big. The Storm gambled with their roster and will have their big three back for next season.

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• I agree with some folks who commented on Twitter yesterday in regards to Bill Belichick’s text gaffe that bolsters Flore’s lawsuit. Belichick’s reps should get in touch with Southwest Airlines and do a “got-to-get-away” commercial. Until later …