High Schoolers Prepare To Commit On National Signing Day

Although no college football games will be played on Wednesday, Feb. 3, because the season is over, this is still a big day for college football.

As per National Signing Day tradition, the best 17 and 18-year-old high-schoolers from around the country will officially announce which colleges they will be playing for.

“It started in 1981 when the powers that be decided that they should all commit on the same day, the players to the teams and the teams to the players,” college football analyst John Bacon stated in an interview with Here and Now’s Robin Young. “Until tomorrow, you’re engaged but you’re not married.”

When asked how the selection process differs from the NFL Draft, Bacon said: “They’re high school kids. They’re 17 years old. They are not going to get paid. They’re not really in control of a lot of this. However, I will say this: when you’re a hotshot college senior you go to the team that you want to go to least, probably the worst one of the league. When you’re a hotshot high school senior, you have most of the power in this equation, you get to pick where you want to go. The flip side is, in the NFL, everybody gets only one first-round pick but in college football Alabama can get five first-rounders, and they get to keep them all. So that changes things quite a bit.”

All eyes will be on Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh and his team. The Wolverines currently stand at No. 6.

Caption:ANN ARBOR, MI – FEBRUARY 3: John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens head coach (L) talks with his brother, Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines during the Michigan Signing of the Stars event at Hill Auditorium on February 3, 2016 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)