One week to Letter-of-Intent Day

Next Wednesday, February 1, 2006, is Letter-of-intent day. Most schools sign 90% of their incoming class on that date (or are allowed to release the news of the signing).

Activity runs right up until the deadline, especially for I-AA schools. Many of the lower tier I-A schools miss signing higher rated players and end up making a late run at players recruited by I-AA teams. Former UMass coach Jim Reid told me once that UMass looses two or three verbal commitments every year to last minute offers by I-A's.

However, that runs both ways. Some players hold off committing hoping for a I-A offer that never comes.

The following is a list of commitments by Atlantic 10 teams. Remember, as per my previous blog of 01/19/06, the list is an artifact of press coverage. The southern teams have a greater apparent totals because the local press has provides more coverage. In this list, Maine has only two commitments. In 2005, Maine led the A10 with 26 signings, so take the list with several grains of salt...

• JMU 17 signings
• Delaware 16 signings
• Hofstra 10 signings
• Towson 7 signings
• UNH 5 signings
  
• Richmond 4 signings
• William & Mary 4 signings
• UMass 3 signings
• Villanova 3 signings
• Maine 2 signings
• Northeastern 1 signing
• URI 1 signing

Data is taken from the only I-AA recruiting site "Showing Blitz.com"