Does College Football Recruiting Focus Too Much on The Future?

I consider myself a college football junkie like the majority of those who spend their days looking at blogs, websites, recruiting services, and vintage game film.  

It is clear that a growing emphasis continues to be placed on recruiting.  Scout and Rivals have increasingly grown in popularity, and the stories of offers to high school freshman continue to mount up.

The 2012 and 2013 prospects have already been evaluated, and five star college freshman are considered superstars before stepping on the field.  While many of these player ratings turn out to be correct, for every Adrian Peterson their is a Gerald Riggs Jr.

Do college football fans focus their football minds on the recruiting process for hope, intrigue, or simply because their is nothing else to do until the season starts?

A stronger emphasis is placed on the development of a 2011 high school verbal commit, rather than the progression of a team's starting quarterback from spring to summer.  

Why do Ohio State fans spend more time gushing over the commitment of prep quarterback Braxton Miller, when they should be more concerned whether the play of Terrelle Pryor in the Rose Bowl was just a fluke?  

Maybe it's hope, maybe it's expectations, or maybe it's the fact that Miller chose the Buckeyes over every other major program in the country.  

Receiving an elite prospect is more about ego then anything else.  

Your program enticed a quality player that your campus, your women, and your environment is better then the rest of the country.  For prestigious programs like Texas, Florida, and USC, it is the greed of stockpiling talent away from other schools. It is providing the illusion that your team has more talent, even if these players never make it past the practice field. 

I am as guilty as anyone else, a verbal from a four or five star recruit provides me with the hope that my team will be competitive for the foreseeable future.  

One thing I have to realize is that elite prospects don't make your program. A team's foundation is the two and three star recruits that provide motivation, competition, and determination for those around them.  

As we sit two months from the beginning of the season, I am going to try and make an effort to concentrate on the 2010 season. 

I will try to focus on the hopes and expectations for this year, not the recruiting visits, seven on seven camps, and players that will most likely never see the campus of my favorite team.