IN MY OPINION
A big decision for Booker T.'s Harris
Posted on Wed, Feb. 06, 200
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BY GREG COTE
[email protected]
The outsized mania over national signing day -- the annual occasion when premier high school football stars turn into young men who might or might not pan out as college players -- is reflected Wednesday, when, at 1 p.m. on ESPN, Brandon Harris from Miami's Booker T. Washington High reveals where he'll be headed.
Can you imagine being a teenager and having your decision carried live on television? Back in the day, I was thrilled that most of my choices made in high school were not even known to my parents, let along broadcast nationally.
Such astoundingly premature publicity possibly does not help as an athlete struggles to keep his ego in check, remember (in theory) that he is a student first, and fight the creeping sense of entitlement that being great in sports can encourage.
The natural regression from here already has begun, with top middle-school athletes now being recruited by high schools. At least scouts and agents have not begun to haunt elementary-school playgrounds. Yet.
I await the inevitable day when a new mother calls a news conference at a hospital nursery to announce a commitment on behalf of her caterwauling newborn (whose 21 inches portends impressive athletic wingspan) from among competing offers.
Where was I? Oh yes. Brandon Harris.
He decides Wednesday among his hometown Miami Hurricanes, Ohio State and, though hard to believe, Central Florida. So, as a public service prior to your decision, Brandon, let me mention two things that might help you in your choice.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
First, although Ohio State is a wonderful school, the typical weather in Columbus is minus-24 degrees with 45 inches of snow. City buses there careen out of control along icy streets as terrified residents -- arms pinwheeling for balance -- run for their lives.
Second, at UCF in Orlando, no matter what you do, you would forever be eclipsed by the long shadow of a gigantic, obliterating mouse. Also, from what I hear, the entire UCF campus rests perilously on a sinkhole and is overrun by marauding swarms of two-inch-long cicada killer wasps.
I kid around a little about this young man's decision because, by all accounts, coach Randy Shannon and UM are poised to sign a very strong, nationally regarded recruiting class whose brightness would only add a few more watts if young Brandon, a top cornerback, chooses to stay home.
It isn't make or break, in other words. It's a bonus. Although adding Harris, at a position both coveted and needed by the Canes, likely would catapult Miami's to a top-five incoming class by most estimates.
