It’s another national signing day for high school seniors bound for NCAA schools. It is a monumental occasion in the life of youngsters all over the country that maybe has been made just a little less epic with the creation of the “early” signing day in December that attracts the signatures of most of the highly coveted talent.

There are still hundreds, probably thousands, of athletes who will sign today.

Four football players at Gardendale are planning to sign today, something that is becoming customary under coach Chad Eads at the northern suburb of Birmingham. Today’s quartet will make seven of 19 Rockets’ players from the Class of 2023 to sign scholarships to play college football.

“That is 37 percent of our senior football players,” Eads said. “Over the past five seasons, Gardendale High School has graduated 94 seniors from our program. Of that, 25 have signed football scholarships at some level. That’s 27 percent compared to the national average of (7.5 percent overall, 2.2 to Division I programs).”

The three Rockets who signed in December were defensive lineman Kelby Collins – ranked as No. 53 on the ESPN 300 of top prospects – who went to the University of Florida, Arkansas cornerback signee Dallas Young and Kennesaw State quarterback signee Tyler Nelson.

The four who will sign today are all from the Gardendale defensive secondary. Bryan Gilmore is headed to Southern Miss; J’Dyn Arrington to West Alabama; Caden McGruder to Division II University of Nebraska at Kearney; and Donovan Marshall to Division III Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Ky.

Eads said the key to getting players scholarships is, first, having good players. “It’s the kids. We had Will Crowder who could throw the ball anywhere you wanted,” the coach said of the Class of ‘21 quarterback who signed with West Virginia before transferring to Troy. “I didn’t teach him. (Linebacker) Kenny McShan, who’s at Navy, he had the physical measurements.

“I joked with Will that he was bait. Coaches came to see him and saw (cornerback) Justin Parks, who signed with Arkansas State, and they saw Kenny. Then, along comes Kelby Collins and every coach in the country came in.”

The Gardendale coach is systematic in his work to make sure that prospects who have a chance to play and get a college education are made known to college coaches.

“I just want to get the kids’ names out. I handled recruiting at Hoover for so long, I got to know the coaches and developed their trust,” he said. “So many kids now are going to personal trainers who use them for advertising. In today’s world, sometimes the high school coach is the only one being honest with the kids. They are being told by their uncles, by their trainers, by people who show up out of the woodwork. Sometimes, I try to keep them from having too much influence.”

Eads said the recruiting process is always changing, from the days when he would print out spreadsheets to send to coaches to today’s landscape where his son – and assistant coach – William Eads, helps him with preparing e-mails that include links to players’ contact information, video highlights and stats that recruiters read on their phones.

“We try to get to players when they are young,” Eads said. “We try to ID those who can play and at what level – every kid these days thinks he can play at Alabama. We have sophomores that we work with to find two or three summer camps at colleges they want to go to and whoever shows interest we make sure they go to the college’s ‘Junior Day.’ We tell them to respond to every coach who reaches out. You may not want to play at the school he’s currently at, but by the time you graduate he may be at Alabama or Auburn.

“It’s good for the kids to meet all these guys,” he said. “It’s good to know how to meet people and how to present yourself.

“We’ve got a good reputation of players going and playing (in college). It feels good having coaches come in and recruit our kids. People will say, ‘Coach (Nick) Saban came to visit you,’” Eads said, “but he didn’t come visit me. He came to visit Kelby Collins. They got recruited, not me.”