When my current college sophomore committed in February of her junior year, she was roughly number 450 or so listed on an online database. There are currently 230 sophomores listed on that same database as committed. Yes, things have sped up significantly in a very short amount of time. For my older daughter, we were astounded when someone on her club team committed in fall of her sophomore year to a top school, as she was the first that we had heard of.
You are correct, there is no reason. But you have to play the game the college coaches play, and if they are recruiting early, you need to go along with it or they will move along to the next "great" girl. It needs to stop at THAT level.