Recruiting stories

The problem is, sometimes high school coaches are either (1) in the dark as to what "being recruited" really means, especially if they don't often have guys being recruited; or (2) willing to lie about it so that it makes them and their program look good.

 

Of course, stupid Twitter sniping between the Register reporter and the Daily Pilot column writer.

https://twitter.com/jeremybalan/status/432337153700274176

 

You also sometimes get dragged into the middle of a pissing contest between rival fan bases.

You can write something as innocuous as "Joe Quarterback committed to State U over offers from Southeastern Tech and Other State U," and you'll get 10 comments from Southeastern Tech fans saying Joe Quarterback never had a "committable offer" from that school.

Who the hell knows what is accurate.

 

I've known of kids who I'm certain gamed the media with fake scholarship offers from one school to coax a real scholarship offer from another school. Some of these kids know exactly what they're doing. Sometimes it even works.

 

Saw that with one of our local JUCO guys who signed with an SEC school in December. He had verbally committed to a major, major non-SEC program, then lo and behold changed his mind a couple of days before signing day. The message boards for the SEC school were giddy that he jilted the other program for them. The non-SEC school's fans brushed it off by saying they'd never heard of the guy, he sucked anyway, and must've had a "non-committable offer."
I didn't chime in on their boards, but did learn that apparently there are such things as "committable" and "non-committable" offers, and anyone who doesn't know the difference is a flaming moron.
I hate recruiting.

 

Recruiting is well worth hating, Batman, but it sounds like you really hate college football fans -- also a worthy hate object.

 

No, not really the fans, just everything recruiting has become. The fact that there's two different kinds of offers, and you're supposed to be able to differentiate between the two when one side can't tell you any details, seems silly to me. The whole idea of stalking teenagers to find out if they changed their mind because they said they daydreamed in math class about running on the field at Podunk State, after they'd given a "lean" to Podunk Tech when they saw a homeless guy in a Tech baseball cap on Monday, is equally absurd.
At our shop, we cover recruiting about how I like it. Check in with the kids or their parents once in a while whenever we see them, maybe write a story if they commit or a week or two ahead of signing day, then another when they actually sign. Gets the news out there without drifting into absurdity.

 

You have to sometimes question when a kid who just picked up a smaller offer says major programs are recruiting him or "close to offering." That also makes it so much more refreshing when a kid admits he's not really on any other school's radar.

I talked to a kid who committed up here the day before NSD. For whatever reason, it made my day to hear him admit he wasn't the first option for the school, getting a last-second offer. On top of it, he said Wisconsin recruited him as much as it did any other kid in the country ... by sending him a letter. For whatever reason, it made me respect him, knowing he wasn't blowing smoke up my rear.

I love covering recruiting--fans eat it up--but it can be a pretty twisted web with schools not being able to comment on the record until a guy signs.

 

I understand why the NCAA has a gag order on coaches commenting until a kid signs, so that they don't try to recruit a kid through the media, but they may want to consider tweaking it a little bit the way things are going. I put up with this bullshit all the time with AAU people in basketball -- a coach says to a kid "We're going to keep tabs on you", and suddenly that means the kid has an "offer".

It's becoming more regular than you think. Maybe if the NCAA allowed a coach to simply confirm yes or no on whether they've offered someone a scholarship, it would put an end to a lot of lies being spun.

 

When I was still a writer, one of the kids I was covering had been reported as committed to a BCS school (the kid's high school coach told me he was going there, and the kid said the same thing; pretty sure Rivals even listed him as a commitment at the time). A few weeks before signing day, he ends up committing to another school. I heard two stories on this -- 1) the kid misunderstood something that was said and never had been offered a scholarship; and 2) the school revoked the offer later. I'm thinking the confusion probably had something to do with his grades. The original school wanted him, but not as a partial qualifier, and I don't think he was going to make it otherwise without juco.

He was actually one of the top recruits in our state that year, but most colleges had their classes full by that time, so he ended up at a mid-tier program. Turned out OK for him, though, since he's in the NFL now.