It used to be a big deal when a player was committed to play football at a certain program but backed out of his commitment and chose a different school.  That was a long time ago though and the game has certainly changed as anymore that feels like it happens multiple times daily.

I won’t say that I like that because I certainly don’t.  I understand that a player can only be committed to a certain degree if he’s still choosing to go about the recruiting process and make visits elsewhere and for as much as I love college football, that is certainly one of those things that has never felt quite right.

New Oklahoma head coach and longtime Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables met the media on Friday and made a heckuva lot of sense in explaining what an actual commitment in college football looks like.  Take a quick look for yourself below.

Again, I really like what Venables says.  As an observer it drives me a bit crazy when a player commits to a program but still takes visits elsewhere and I can’t begin to imagine how insane it’d make me if I was a coach being told one thing and then seeing my “committed” prospect visiting elsewhere.

So you’d think by saying this that Venables certainly wouldn’t ever consider pursuing a player who has made a verbal commitment to another program, right?

Except literally this very weekend Venables and Oklahoma are hosting five-star safety Peyton Bowen on campus.   Bowen committed to Notre Dame the morning of New Year’s Day and has only seen his recruiting rankings grow since.

Listen, I don’t like the committed but only sort of committed thing either, Brent, but until you entirely stop any pursuit of any player that is committed somewhere other than Oklahoma, then your word means nothing.

Congrats on the viral video, though.

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Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire