BALTIMORE (Map, News) - In the eyes of some, Antonio Logan-El was a modern-day Judas as a high school senior.

Today, high school athletes throughout the country will make their college decisions on what is known as National Signing Day for football, soccer and field hockey. For the vast majority of those students, signing a letter of intent will take place in a school library with little fanfare.

That’s the norm. The exception happened on Jan. 24, 2006 at the ESPN Zone in Baltimore, when Logan-El, then a senior at Forestville High in Prince George’s County, announced his college football commitment amid a three-ring-circus atmosphere on national television. A throng of family members and fans of various Division I programs gathered to find out which college the star had chosen. Many of those in attendance had never actually seen Logan-El play football before but had followed his recruitment intensely on the Internet.

With a series of hats on the table in front of him representing his future college home, Logan-El dropped each until it came down to two — Maryland, a program he had once given an oral commitment to, and Penn State. Logan-El was wearing a red tie, and he invited Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen’s wife to the ceremony.

He then pulled out a photo of himself with Penn State coach Joe Paterno and announced he was going to play for the legend in Happy Valley, sending a dagger into the hearts of Maryland fans. Reportedly, shouts of “traitor” rang out in the restaurant, while Logan-El’s supporters shouted back, and a normally happy occasion turned ugly.

These days, National Signing Day has become its own spectator sport, turning the once-obscure lives of prep athletes into prime-time viewing. ESPN and CSTV will feature signing day specials today.

“Their egos have become so big because of all the recruiting attention,” said Jeff Ermann, senior writer for TerpSportsReport.com.

Ermann doubts that a repeat of the Logan-El event will happen to Maryland football today.

“They seem to have wrapped up their class,” Ermann said.

Still, many fans will flock to Ermann’s Web site to see the latest official word today. Ermann expects to spend up to 12 to 14 hours working on signing day information. His site is part of the popular Scout.com network, which has sites dedicated to recruiting news of individual colleges.

Ermann, a freelance writer for The Washington Post, knows he is a part of a growing, unwieldy beast. He said there are more than 250,000 subscribers to the network. Many will spend their entire day in front of a computer hitting the refresh button and talking to fellow fans on message boards.

Ermann wants readers, but not at the expense of playing with their heartstrings, similar to what happened with Logan-El.

“There’s a thin line,” Ermann said. “There’s definitely some guys out there who will use hype or spin.”