CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Tyreke Smith thought his recruiting blitz had begun to settle.
Then his phone started ringing again, more and more.
The 6-foot-4, 260-pound defensive end from Cleveland Heights is not among the college football recruits who will utilize the NCAA's new early signing period on Wednesday. Instead, he will wait to announce his choice at the Under Armour All-American Game on Jan. 4, then make it official on the traditional Feb. 7 signing day.
Smith isn't the biggest fan of the new signing day, but opinions vary.
"I don't really agree with it," he said last week. "It's cool, but it forces a player to make a decision."
Players such as Smith have a big decision to make. In his case, it is Ohio State, Penn State, Alabama, USC or Oregon.
Twenty-seven of the top 50 players in the 2018 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com's composite rankings, have already committed to their college and can make it official this week. Smith and many others prefer to wait, take advantage of opportunities like announcing on national television and enjoy the process for another month.
St. Edward senior cornerback Michael Dowell saw no reason to wait.
He committed in May to Michigan State, and will sign Wednesday with the Spartans. The school already has his older brothers, Andrew and David Dowell, on its roster.
"For people like me, I don't like all the attention and stuff like that," said Michael Dowell, a first-team cleveland.com all-area defender with Smith. "I don't need five hats in front of me. It's just easy for me to not have to wait until February."
Dowell can receive packets from Michigan State on its designated workouts and other information that it would not submit without a signed contract. Dowell is not enrolling early in college, but he has a 4.2 grade-point average.
Bedford coach Sean Williams said the early signing period is beneficial to players, such as Dowell, who have high grades. However, Williams fears for high school players who are waiting on test scores and have colleges pushing them to sign now.
"I think it's a positive and a negative," Williams said, "because for those kids who are ready to go, it's a great opportunity. For the kids who need more time, man they're in a pressured situation."
Williams has a handful of players from his 10-2 playoff team who are slated to sign with colleges by February. His Division I-bound players, such as Kenny Wilkins, Davion Johnson and Kevin Brewer, all plan to wait for the traditional February signing day.
Wilkins, a standout running back and linebacker, has offers from most Mid-American Conference schools. He likes Marshall and also holds offers from Cincinnati, Iowa State and Kentucky. Wilkins said none of those schools pressed him into signing this week.
"It's still an advantage," he said of waiting for Feb. 7, "because I don't think a lot of schools are going to sign players."
Time will tell when the ink dries on the faxes sent Wednesday. High school players will have until Friday to make their pacts official.
Smith expects more phone calls to come in the next month. They might even keep him up at night. Just this month, he said, a coach called at 1 a.m.
"I saw the call coming through and thought it was a butt dial," said Smith, who declined to identify the school. "Then he texted me two minutes afterward."
Smith's mother, Michelle Smith, recalled taking away her son's phone for a week last year because the calls and distractions got so bad.
For those who sign this week, that should no longer be a concern.
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