Today is National Signing Day, or, as is it is called now, Wednesday. It has become largely irrelevant. But, there was a time, not too long ago, where it was a very big deal.

And man, did some wild stuff happen on this day, or right around it. Here are a few of the stories that I can remember, and I’m not going to include Corey “Mr. Aggie” Nelson.

Sedrick Johnson goes north

2008 was Mike Sherman’s first signing class, and it ended up being a pretty good one. It included corner Terrence Frederick, safety Trent Hunter, some defensive tackle known as Tony Jerod at that time, defensive tackle Eddie Brown, wideout Jeff Fuller and a running back by the name of Cyrus Gray. Fourteen of the 24 players were busts, but that’s pretty much the going rate.

But…there were only 24. The 25 went AWOL on signing day.

The Aggies were supposed to sign a 4-star wide receiver and Rivals 250 member from Arp (I had no idea where Arp was at the time) named Sedrick Johnson. The day wore on and, eventually, A&M got the fax and signatures they were looking for.

Problem: so did…Iowa State?

This was perplexing.

Johnson had decided at the last second that he didn’t want to go to A&M and signed his LOI with the Cyclones. His mother, who did want him to go to A&M, refused to sign it. She signed one and sent it to A&M. But Johnson drove down to find his dad — who he did not live with and wasn’t even close to — and had him sign the Iowa State LOI first.

A&M said the one from mom should be binding. Iowa State said to suck it, finders keepers.

Iowa State won out. Sedrick Johnson lost.

Johnson was a freshman All-American in 2008, with just 18 catches. But then he got hurt, there was a coaching change, he ended up at D-II Southern Nazarene in 2010 and was never heard from again.

But now I know where Arp is.

Floyd Raven flips the script

The 2011 signing class went down in history, and not just because it was the first I covered for AY. It didn’t have a great hit rate, but it had some serious pieces to the overall puzzle: corner DeShazor Everett, safety Howard Matthews, linebacker Donnie Baggs, linebacker Steven Jenkins, and All-American punter Drew Kaser.

Oh, and two guys named Mike Evans and Johnny Manziel.

All went well, and then the Aggies got an LOI from a 4-star corner named Floyd Raven, that everyone thought was going to Ole Miss. He wasn’t even really on the radar.

In fact, Ole Miss had already announced him as part of their class.

As it turned out, Raven had a last-minute change of heard a’la Jackson and sent his LOI to A&M. His mother forged his signature on the Ole Miss LOI and sent that in.

Even though they announced him, Ole Miss asked for another copy of the LOI be sent because they couldn’t read the signature.

Of course, everything was going nuts by this point and there wasn’t another LOI sent. A&M and Ole Miss had to work it all out, and Raven ended up starting for the Aggies against Ole Miss two years later.

Where’s Bobby going?

The 2018 signing class was largely a massive bust, though A&M got a few productive players out of it: Leon O’Neal, Max Wright, Seth Small, Luke Matthews and Bobby Brown. Brown was an interesting case, because he didn’t commit until signing day. A lot of guys that year, since it was Jimbo’s first class, didn’t commit until signing day.

A lot of people thought he was going to Alabama — Nick Saban amongst them. I had a running conversation going with the Alabama guys that night:

“Nick thinks it’s a done deal.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“He’s been telling people he’s coming to Bama.”

“He’s also been telling people he’s coming to A&M.”

“What concrete evidence do you have that he’s still considering A&M?”

“He was sitting with Jimbo at the basketball game Saturday night.”

And, as it turned out, Bobby Brown III was one of the first players to send in his LOI that Tuesday — to A&M.

I won.

Brown, of course, is now in the NFL with the Rams.

A few non-A&M classics

You guys probably remember Alex Collins (RIP) as one of the Arkansas running backs that ran through A&M’s defensive like a scythe, but never won a game against the Aggies. As it turned out, if his mom had her way, they would have never played.

It’s always the mom.

Collins was a longtime Miami commit, but flipped very late in the process to Arkansas. But the Razorbacks didn’t get his LOI. Miami didn’t either.

His mom, in an effort to get him to go to Miami stole his Arkansas LOI and vanished. He didn’t get it back, so Bret Bielema sent him another, which his dad signed the next day.

Collins would have three good seasons with Arkansas, spent a few years in the NFL and was killed in a motorcycle crash on Aug. 13, 2023. He was just 28.

Jacob Copeland was a pretty productive wideout for Florida and, later, Maryland. But nobody’s going to remember him for that. They’re going to remember him for the meltdown his mom had on national television when he signed with the Gators.

Mom, Betty, was sitting next him wearing Alabama gear with a Tennessee ski cap. When he grabbed the Gator hat, Betty got up and left. While her son was on ESPN!

Copeland later said that it was all a prank and his mom was fine with his decision. Whether or not that’s true depends on who you ask, but it’s become the gold standard for comedians to imitate when signing days roll around.

Which is now mostly in December.