The statement was made during a sports chat, and the subject was collegiate recruiting.

As a reminder to non-Merkins [ducking from darts thrown by Dr Bill], in the US, collegiate sports is Big Business. Successful programs pull in millions of dollars a year for their universities, and result in increased applications for admittance. So, the competition for the best athletes is fierce, and coaching staffs recruit athletes to come to their schools. Recruiting efforts include visits to the colleges and much sweet-talking

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) governs the conduct of its members, including recruitment practices. Among the NCAA rules governing recruitment are restrictions on when a college can contact a potential recruit, and when a college can sign a recruit to a binding letter of intent. Once the athlete signs a binding letter of intent, he is bound to go to the intended college, and recruitment by other colleges must cease. There are two periods during the year, both brief - a week, maybe? - when an athlete can sign a letter of intent.

A "verbal" is a verbal commitment made by an athlete before he can sign a letter of intent; the verbal commitment is just the athlete saying to the coaching staff of a particular school, "I have decided to go to your college and will sign the letter of intent when the signing period comes." Verbals aren't formally binding, but are usually - not always - adhered to.

A "silent verbal" is a verbal commitment by an athlete which carries with it a request that the college not make the commitment public; usually, this is because the athlete doesn't want to stop the wining and dining he still has coming from other colleges who don't know that he has already made his choice. Right now, we are in the pre-letter period but close to the point at which a lot of basketball and football recruits are making decisions, and so the speaker observed that we are in the days of the silent verbals right now.