Here’s what you should plan to do on Early Signing Day

Early signing day doesn’t have all the excitement and allure that National Signing Day every February once had.

I used to take the entire day off work, would spend countless hours on multiple recruiting sites, social media, and would organize an Ole Miss signing day watch party event. Some of that still happens, but it is a different era in college football recruiting.

So here’s what the plan should be for Early Signing Day if you’re a fan of the Ole Miss Rebels.

• First off, don’t take the day off. It’s almost dadgum Christmas break, and it’s much more fun looking up Hudl videos of the latest signee and rapidly bringing up a fake spreadsheet when a co-worker happens to gaze over your shoulder.
• Wake up early, because there’s probably a prospect from Scotland who is a great rugby punter who will be the first signee of the day at 3 a.m., and you definitely don’t want to miss that.
• If you’re working from home, make a bloody Mary at 7 a.m. or whenever the wife and kids or significant other is out of the house. If they are there with you, have them join in. Not the kids, whoops.
• Keep a screen locked on Ole Miss football’s Twitter for the entire morning. Last season we saw the advent of the “ticket on the Lane Train” announcement, and I’m eager to see how the signees are introduced this year.
• Absolutely have a “Merry Flipmas” meme on the ready - even if it’s a two star changing his mind from Arkansas to Ole Miss. Fire that thing off and make someone mad. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, folks.
• Lunch at Chili’s. Bag men have undoubtedly logged a lot of hours at random Chili’s locations in the far reaches of this great country in the last nine months. It’s time to honor them with the establishment where business still gets done.
• Unless you’re ranked outside the top 40, celebrate like this is the class where it’s all finally coming together, the staff evaluations are in, and boy howdy what a crop of finely tuned athletes we’ve got this year.

Listen, college football recruiting has changed, but these days are still pretty damn fun. There’s always some unexpected twists, whether good or bad, and the overreactions to the decisions of 17 and 18 year old athletes will never be greater than they are on Wednesday.

Cheers and here’s to a phenomenal class of recruits!