Gunner Kiel Postponing Decision Hurts All Those Involved

Update: 7:00 p.m. ET 

Gunner Kiel has officially made his decision, and according to 247Sports.com, Kiel has chosen to play for Les Miles and the current No. 1 LSU Tigers. 

"I can't wait to play in the SEC," Kiel said. 

I'm convinced Kiel read the post below from earlier today and decided to make his official announcement. Of course, I have no way of knowing this, but hey, it's possible. 

The post below is all about why Kiel was in the wrong to postpone his decision, but it turns out he didn't postpone it all that long. 

Solid pickup for LSU, though, as they know have a great group of young quarterbacks to work with.

Original Post 

On Monday, Gunner Kiel was expected to tell the world where he'll be playing college football, but he opted not to, which not only hurt him but also the teams considered to be his top choices. 

As the nation's top available quarterback, and one that Rivals.com compares to Peyton Manning, Kiel is likely to influence the decision of many recruits. 

Had he made his choice when he told everyone he would, it would have done wonders for the winning school. Now, it could cost him some very talented future teammates. 

It's unknown when Kiel will make his decision, but according to The Times-Picayune, the schools he is most interested in are LSU, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. The Arkansas Razorbacks were up there but have since fallen off. 

Kiel was once committed to play for Indiana, but changed his mind in October, which wasn't too shocking since Indiana isn't all that great of a team.

It opened the race for Kiel, and ever since then teams have been actively pursuing him. Some believe the in-state school of Notre Dame has the best shot, but others say No. 1 LSU will be the winner.  

Jamie Newberg of ESPN Recruiting tweeted that Kiel should announce this week. 

Of course, we've already been fooled once by Kiel stating he would share his choice to everyone. 

It's fine if Kiel isn't ready to make his decision yet, as it is a life-altering choice to make. However, if he ever had any doubts, Kiel shouldn't have told anyone he planned to make his decision by a certain date. 

That gets the hopes up of the team recruiting him, the fanbases and all college football junkies. Now, we're all forced to sit and wait once again to see where the top QB will go. 

LSU and Notre Dame already have solid recruiting classes, but landing Kiel could potentially lead others to chose them as well, making their 2012 class even stronger. 

Vanderbilt, on the other hand, never has a perennial top-25 recruiting class, but if the Commodores were to get Kiel they could possibly see other recruits come their way. 

Since he is the top QB, many of these upcoming freshman are going to want to play with him. These kids weren't born yesterday. They know that in order to succeed in football, you have to have a superb QB, and Kiel is going to be a household name in college football. 

Listed at 6'4", 220 pounds, Kiel has all the intangibles needed to excel at the next level. If he gets into the right system and is surrounded with supreme talent, he's going to do great things. 

This is exactly why he needed to make his choice before several other top recruits. He still has time, as a number of the elite prospects will probably wait till National Signing Day, but it benefits Kiel more to announce his choice earlier.