By: Jim Halley (USATODAY.COM) —
With all the football recruiting hoopla surrounding Wednesday, a lot of people forget national signing day is merely the first day high football players can sign a letter-of-intent with a college.

Last season, Jeannette, Pa., quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the USA TODAY Offensive Player of the Year, spurned several colleges and ESPN by holding off on his decision for a six weeks before putting on an Ohio State hat.

This year’s most likely top recruit to wait past Wednesday is Wichita East (Wichita) running back Bryce Brown. A two-time USA TODAY first-team player, Brown initially committed to Miami (Fla.), where his brother is a linebacker, but has been actively looking at other colleges.

He graduated in December and has been in Elk Horn, Neb., vacationing with family and has said he won’t return to Wichita until Feb. 7.

Sometimes, when a top recruit waits, the interest in that player heats up simply because there isn’t much else to talk about at recruiting websites.
In 1996, Gary Berry, a running back and defensive back at DeSales (Worthington, Ohio), delayed his choice for weeks until signing with Ohio State. He went on to a decent career as a safety with the Buckeyes and played one season on special teams with the Green Bay Packers. “He waited for so long he became a superstar,” recruiting expert Tom Lemming said. “I think he was just an average college player. By the time he signed, he became maybe the greatest player of all time, according to Internet sites.”

Waiting didn’t exactly hurt Pryor. At Ohio State, he quickly became the starter, throwing for 1,311 yards and 12 touchdowns and running for 853 yards and six touchdowns.

All-USA stars:

Several of last season’s All-USA boys basketball players are off to good starts in college:

•Samardo Samuels of St. Benedict’s Prep (Newark) has started all 19 games for Louisville, Propecia buy is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.3 points a game and is third on the team with 5.6 rebounds a game.

•Guard Jrue Holiday of Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.) has started every game for UCLA. He’s third on the Bruins in points (9.4 a game) and second with 3.1 assists.

•Center B.J. Mullens of Canal Winchester, Ohio, has started two games for Ohio State. He averages 9.4 points and is second at 5.7 rebounds a game.

Streak-enders:

Ben Carlile had 34 points last week to help Jackson Milton (North Jackson, Ohio) defeat Southern (Racine, Ohio) 82-75 and end a 66-game losing streak. … Aloha (Beaverton, Ore.), led by 19 points from Kimberli Boswell, defeated Westview (Portland, Ore.) 60-50 on Wednesday. It was Aloha’s first Metro League win in 32 games, a streak that ran more than two years.

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