How long before big-time recruits sit out their senior seasons?
By David Purdum | Thursday, November 2, 2006, 12:32 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He’s high school’s biggest star, so why shouldn’t quarterback Jimmy Clausen arrive at his own press conference in a stretch Hummer limousine. A week before his senior season began, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and ESPN were among the approximately 20 media outlets that wanted a piece of the 18-year-old Oaks Christian (Calif.) quarterback, who has already been anointed as Notre Dame’s next golden boy. (He even big-timed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gasp!)
Welcome to the modern era of high school football, a time when players are bigger than any program or coach; a time when superstars the caliber of Caleb King may decide to sit out their senior years.
In Gwinnett, the question of which school King would play for this season stirred up emotions across the state. His decision to transfer from Parkview, a perennial AAAAA power, to AA Greater Atlanta Christian also showed that the team name on the front of a jersey matters little in the recruiting world. Before long, the question surrounding the elite senior athletes will be about, not where they’ll play, but if they’ll even play at all.
When King, who is out for the year with a broken leg, was making his decision to transfer, his older brother Andre King said, “I don’t care if Caleb plays another down of high school football. I’d rather him miss his senior year at Parkview than his freshman year in college.”
Even if King had chosen to sit out this season, it would be unlikely that many of his 60 offers, if any at all, would have been rescinded. That’s the case for most of the nation’s elite high school athletes. They simply don’t need to play their senior year. Which draws a question that until now had been reserved for college juniors considering entering the NFL: With scholarship values rising well over $100,000, why risk injury?
The increasing frequency of transfers shows that loyalty to a school or coach clearly is not an issue, and does anyone really need a 61st offer? That leaves playing for the love of the game. Is a passion for the pigskin really worth $100K?
“There’s no such thing as loyalty at any program,” said Bill Redell, Clausen’s head coach at Oaks Christian. “There’s a lot of excuses, but there’s just so much money involved with how much it costs to go to college.”
Camps, combines, passing leagues and on-line scouting sites have streamlined the recruiting process. They’ve also forced college recruiters to start earlier. College coaches have pinpointed and often offered scholarships to the athletes they’re interested in by the end of their junior year. They’ve known about the Caleb King’s of the world way before their senior year. If they haven’t, they’re probably too late.
Redell sees the day when players will commit to a major university early and then decide not to play during their final year of high school. In fact, it might already be here. Eight years ago, an Oaks Christiam player committed to a major university before his senior season and then sat out most of the year with an injury that Redell wasn’t sure was that serious
The Forbes Report provides recruiting information on sophomores and juniors to more than 100 of the 119 NCAA Division I programs. Founder and president Terry Forbes, a former assistant coach at Notre Dame, says college coaches cannot afford to use a wait-and-see approach to recruiting. They’re forced to recruit potential, not on-the-field performance. They’re forced to recruit athletes, not football players.
“From a college coach’s standpoint, I don’t think that any of them want to recruit juniors and sophomores,” Forbes said, “but there’s really not much choice. You have to be early coming in or else the game might be over.”
Forbes doesn’t think we’re to the point where we’ll see a player sit out his senior season, but notes that the possibility of it happening grows each year.
“You’re not talking about that many guys,” he continued. “You might be talking about 50 guys in the nation. It’s rarified air. “Sometimes the guys that are the most highly thought of are guys that don’t have the highest profiles, may not have won all the awards, but they are still the guys that those top 20 programs might say if we could only sign five guys, these are the guys we would sign. And you’d be surprised that would be left out and some of the guys that would be included.”
Southwest DeKalb’s Marshall “Scottie” Williams, who transferred from Parkview this summer, started just three games for the Panthers last year. But strong performances at spring camps earned him a scholarship offer from Auburn. Patrick Witt was considered an unspectacular quarterback last year at Parkview. He moved to Dallas, performed well in passing leagues and picked up several offers, before committing to Nebraska.
Byrnes (S.C.) High School head coach Bobby Bentley, whose quarterback, Willy Korn, is ranked second behind Clausen by Rivals.com, says there’s too much emphasis on combine statistics.
“The recruiting services and dot-coms get these stats from in kids running in shorts at these camps,” he said. “The last time I checked football was played in helmets and shoulder pads.”
Forbes and Redell agree with Bentley and urge players not to over-think the recruiting process.
Said Redell, “High school is becoming like the NFL to a certain degree. They bring in all these guys into combines judge athletic ability and potential. Coaches have their fanny on the line, and can’t afford a recruiting mistake. So they come to these things to find kids and also eliminate others. It’s big business. High school football throughout the country is too much. The kids don’t have a chance to be a kid.”
Do you think the day is coming when we’ll see a star athlete choose to sit out his senior year?
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