When I first started in the “business” recruiting day was not even close to what it is today. I remember working at KCCI in Des Moines and Iowa and Iowa State simply sent out a news release informing members of the media how many players signed and a short biography on each one of them. This was standard procedure for most teams.
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| Twitty Bird |
Wow have things changed, today I was watching the twitter feed as coaches, sports information departments, recruiting services threw a “twit” every time a signed fax arrived. Are the LOI's still faxed or scanned and emailed in a PDF file?
I loathe the recruiting process, a process that has been hijacked by the Internet and turned into a multimillion dollar business. A business that cares more about exploiting kids, building up the hopes of fans all across the country and cashing in on it.
Rivals, Scout, ESPN, SI, they all have recruiting experts, in the case of Rivals and Scout those experts seem to be attached at the hip with the University they cover, some more than others.
I feel like these recruiting services treat high school athletes more like a movie or restaurant review. 2-star, 3-star, 4-star and 5-star. Of course what team collects the most stars has the best recruiting class. ESPN literally parades kids across the stage at the Under Armour High School All-American Game.
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| Wish Upon A Star |
My disdain for recruiting hit an all time high when Bill Callahan was the Head Coach at Nebraska. His recruits were advertised in all circles. Most famously, Harrison Beck. The super stud quarterback from Florida was on the front page of the sports section, huge picture. A local TV station traveled to his home town and did a live broadcast featuring his commitment. They hype was astronomical and the expectations from the fans even higher.
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| Fallen Five-Star |
Of course Beck did not live up to the so called 5-star potential, fans turned on him, the coaching staff didn’t believe in him and Beck did not finish his career at Nebraska. In the end Beck was never as good as “advertised”.
We never know how good a “class” is until their time is done. It’s easy to get excited about the future, but know that a players success as more to do with a coaches ability to development talent than it does with being a hero in high school.
In my time I have done more stories about players who were walk-ons or under the radar in the recruiting process than I have about four year superstars.
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| Star Power |
I’ve seen thousands of kids play football, the only “sure thing” I saw in high school, Ahman Green. I turned out to be right.
If you would have asked me if Eric Crouch would be a Heisman Trophy winner when he was senior at Millard North, I would have called you crazy.
It’s impossible to accurately rate a recruiting class until the class is done playing. I read on SI.com today that Clemson has had a top 20 recruiting class in 6 of the last 7 years. Well obviously not.
Things to ponder:
100,000 High School Seniors play football
9,000 Will play football in college
310 Of these now high school seniors will make it to the NFL Combine
215 Of these now High school seniors will make an NFL roster
Do you think all 215 are 5-Stars? Hell one of them has to be a 6-Star.
You forgot to mention that Beck even bought a Husker Lunch Box ;)
ReplyDeleteCallahan's tenure at Nebraska had be super hyped for this day, one year, might have been the Marlon Lucky class, I even took the day off.
Even though I still following recruiting, today is just a "ho-hum" day, espcially with the attitude that Pelini has had to this day.
GO HUSKERS!