Why I Stopped Obsessing Over Recruiting and You Should Too
National Signing Day is now two weeks away as hundreds and hundreds of high school football players will make their pledge to a respective university and coaches will hit the podium to tell their fan bases how this class is their best one yet, how this class will propel their program to the “next level” and how this class is without a doubt, a game changer.
While recruiting is uber important to a program, as it is the blood line to next year and the year beyond that – the panic, excitement and over reaction by fans and the media has caused me to become tired of the process and here are some reasons I stopped obsessing over recruiting and you should do the same.
We Really Just Don’t Know:
Picking out the top players in the country is an easy task as the cream does usually rise to the top. It’s easy for any Johnny come lately to watch a YouTube video and say “man that guys really good!”, but after the top 100-players in the country it’s difficult to judge just who will rise to the top at the collegiate level. If you don’t believe me, just look at Texas or Michigan for great examples.
These two programs have lived in the top ten in recruiting over the last decade, but failed miserably on the field. Obviously there are other factors on why or why not a program may succeed, but cherry picking the right talent goes a long way in that process.
At the end of the day none of us really just don’t know, we really don’t. You can watch YouTube videos all day long, but you cannot easily predict a players ceiling or truly know their attitude or their heart. You really don’t have a clue about their competition in high school unless you are from their area.
Are they a late bloomer or have they peaked because they were a man among boys in their high school region?
These are questions that only great recruiting evaluators can answer and odds are you aren’t one of them. If you were, you would be on someone’s staff, not posting on trustmeiknow.com or whatever message board you post on.
Social Media Stalking Is Weird:
Twitter, Facebook and about 100-other social media platforms has given Johnny Fan Boy instant access to just about anyone in the world and it’s making us all look plain stupid.
Use to, unless you lived in a community with a high profile player, you just didn’t get access to him. Now days, its 140 characters or less and you can ding anyone’s phone or mobile device and it’s out of control.
Normal everyday people begging a 16 or 17-year old to come to their university and why they should; random Joes slandering one fan base, to only praise another and the constant bickering over who is going where and why and how you know. Again, see above – you don’t know and social media has made me tired.
It’s Not Fair to the Players:
Players are like you and I, in that they are normal everyday people at the end of the day. Sure, the attention to them is fun and exciting in the beginning, but ask any player that has completed the process and they are glad when it’s over.
It’s like an exciting relationship that turned horrible. Oh it’s great in the beginning, but quickly it turns ugly, nasty and when you’re done, you’re glad.
More and more players have stopped talking to the media during their recruiting process and it’s because of you people. They are tired of the begging, the pleading and they just want to go home, eat a nice meal, play a video game, watch some TV or spend time with their families.
They are people just like you and me and deserve their privacy. They shouldn’t have to keep their phone on a charger because you are killing their battery life with your obsessive tweets. Let them be and leave them alone.
Tired of the “so called” Experts:
Don’t get me wrong, I still check the sites I subscribe to, to see who is on my favorite team’s hot list, but that’s about it. Writers for 247, Scout, Rivals do a great job because it’s their job, but then there is Johnny Fan Boy again rearing his ugly head.
You know the guy, the guy that knows he shouldn’t take information from a pay site and post it as public information? The guy that says he has “a source” and the guy who tells you he has “inside information”?
These people have just about ruined recruiting and , again,at the end of the day – you really just don’t know as you rip off recruiting website-X.
We Forget Them in an Instance:
It’s always funny to me to watch Signing Day unfold because again, after the coaches give their “State of the Union” addresses for their schools and tell you how great they are going to be, everyone forgets about the class that just signed and moves on to the next year.
Immediately Billy Bob is on twitter discussing next year’s great receiver he saw on YouTube and is proclaiming man this guy has IT.
It is not until one of the signees actually plays and shows promise do we remember him or his class.
Fan Boy says two years later, “man who’s this guy that’s showing out?” then realizes he was the Unknown Soldier in a class he told everyone he knew everything about.
Final Thoughts:
Yea, in a nutshell I just don’t follow recruiting like I use to. Don’t get wrong, I want my team to succeed and I want to see the next super star emerge at my school. But, I don’t need Johnny Fan Boy trying to convince me he’s the next Mel Kiper of college football and I don’t like seeing you people salivate all over these young men’s Twitter or Facebook page.
At the end of the day, these recruits are people just like you and I. They have enough going on in their lives without you bothering them.
Do like me and follow it all from a distance. You won’t even remember them in two weeks anyway.
You will be on to the next fresh crop of recruits, begging them to come to your school, telling everyone how you have evaluated the 2016 talent, when in reality, all you’ve done is watch a few YouTube clips and read a few articles.
You will be on to the next group of teenagers; making them wish it would just all go away as quickly as possible, all the while forgetting the lives you just salivated over. It’s truly become a vicious cycle that I cannot stomach.