Football recruiting: February national signing day has little hoopla, even less suspense

The fanfare is gone.

It's no longer the national holiday for many college football fans who were glued to smartphones, computers and tablets waiting to see who signed with their favorite team.

Outside of a handful of spots, the Class of 2019 was already filled out for most schools. 

Heck, coaches largely turned to recruiting for the Class of 2020 after the early signing period in December.

Why shouldn't we turn to next year?

"We were so used to following the February signing period that everyone has had at adjust their habits to follow the early signing period," said Ryan Callahan, a writer for 247Sports. "It's starting to show. Fans will follow the activity and it's been December the past two years.

"But February has some drama. There are some big names available."

Sure, there are some. Just not many.

Nationally, 35 of the top 250 Class of 2019 prospects on the 247Sports Composite were unsigned entering Wednesday. In Tennessee, five of the top 25 prospects for 2019 hadn't signed. 

Not much drama there, but there is a little.

In Tennessee, eyes were on Memphis for MUS' Maurice Hampton and Southwind's Kristian Williams and on Murfreesboro for Blackman's Adonis Otey.

Hampton, the state's top prospect according to the 247Sports Compostite, had been a longtime LSU commitment to play football and baseball with the Tigers. He stayed loyal to LSU.

Williams decommitted from Minnesota on Monday and signed with Oregon on Wednesday.

Otey has been committed to Arkansas since August, but Southern California got in the picture last month. Otey chose USC on Wednesday.

That's where the suspense was for the state.

"I think there is still big-name prospects that are available," said Barton Simmons, the 247Sports director of scouting. "There are still some story lines there."

How did we get here?

Two years ago, an NCAA rule change set in motion measures to allow a second signing day. The early signing period was set for December about a week before Christmas. The regular signing period remained the first Wednesday in February.

But what it did was speed up the process.

What we've seen is that the overwhelming majority of FBS recruits, at least in Tennessee, sign in December.

"I think it's still a national holiday," Simmons said. "It still symbolizes the conclusion of the recruiting cycle. 

"There is no question this is really just a postscript. The bulk of the work was done in December."

On Wednesday, a bow was put on each signing class and the final grades were handed out.

And we can officially turn the page on 2019 and look at next year's class.

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Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.