Early Commitments In College Football Growing, Not So For Vanderbilt

As the number of early college football commitments grow across the nation, the numbers for Vanderbilt remain small.

The number of early commitments in college football doubled compared to this time one year ago, according to a news article from Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde. 

In the state of Tennessee, the Volunteers have been on a historic run over the last two weeks, garnering eight commitments from first-year students to be for the 2021 class. 

Other schools have had similar successes on the recruiting trail as Forde reports.  

"There's not a lot happening in terms of actual sports right now, but that hasn't stopped college football recruiting from picking up at warp speed. There's been an incredible number of early commitments being made. According to USA Today, earlier this week more than 600 prospects in the class of 2021 have verbally committed to FBS programs."  

"That doubles the number of commitments at this point a year ago and exceeds the combined total at this point from the past two recruiting cycles. What's going on here?" 

One possibility is the fact that recruits are now unable to make in-person visits to college campuses or have coaches pay them in-person visits to their homes or schools. Without these two usually essential aspects of the recruiting process, recruits are moving more quickly to make their college decisions and secure their spot in their desired schools recruiting class. 

This trend has not impacted Vanderbilt to this point, as currently, the Commodores and head coach Derek Mason have just five current public commitments, including the most recent commit from cornerback Tyson Russell. 

 The Commodores have offers on the table to recruits, including three-star California quarterback Chayden Peery, who has shown interest in Vanderbilt but is considered a strong lean toward Boise State according to 247 Sports.  

The lack of commits in the face of the current increase from last season is no reason to panic, the Commodores will fill their class before all is said and done, but it does beg the question of why there hasn't been more at this point. 

The answer to that is unknown, but one might assume that some of the players' Mason and company are targeting are merely waiting longer to make their decisions. 

Either way, recruiting is moving at full speed, at least in the virtual sense, and the Commodores are working even if we don't see a massive return at this point. 

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.

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