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Speaker 1: I read terrible things. Terrible things. I would sit and

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Speaker 1: there I think by myself, well, I wonder if they

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Speaker 1: went through this situation, how they will feel about making

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Speaker 1: a decision to go to one school.

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Speaker 2: That's Leon McQuay the second. His son, Leon McQuay the third,

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Speaker 2: was a sixth round draft choice by the Kansas City

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Speaker 2: Chiefs in the twenty seventeen NFL Draft, but before that,

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Speaker 2: he was a prize recruit from Tampa, Florida. Leon McQuay

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Speaker 2: the third was a five star blue chip defensive back.

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Speaker 2: Eventually he took his talents west to usc As you

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Speaker 2: might have guessed, the recruiting process was a process that

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Speaker 2: most fans won't ever know.

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Speaker 1: I wish that they could do it themselves, go through

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Speaker 1: the whole process, as far as from start to finish

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Speaker 1: and then making a decision to go to a particular school.

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Speaker 1: If they could experience that, they'd have a totally different

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Speaker 1: outlook on some of the stuff that they put on

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Speaker 1: those blogs.

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Speaker 2: Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football, but it's also

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Speaker 2: a bit of a mystery. That process gets distorted through

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Speaker 2: the lens of social media and message boards and sensationalized

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Speaker 2: tales of boosters, one hundred dollars handshakes. What really goes

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Speaker 2: on behind the scenes.

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Speaker 3: Let's find out.

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Speaker 2: From the solid verbal. This is a special production. This

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Speaker 2: is how recruiting works. I'm Ty hilden Brandt. He's Dan Rubinstein.

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Speaker 3: Hello.

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Speaker 2: Today, we want to talk about the ins and outs

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Speaker 2: of recruiting, and we know not everything is above board.

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Speaker 2: But if only for this one exercise, let's focus on

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Speaker 2: the real nuts and bolts from the player, parent, coach,

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Speaker 2: and media angles.

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Speaker 3: Recruiting is a matter of priority on many fronts. If

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Speaker 3: you're a coach, how do you choose to build your program?

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Speaker 3: If you're a reporter, how do you accurately cover teenagers?

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Speaker 3: If you're a player, what program makes the most sense

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Speaker 3: for your future? We could ask a million questions, but

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Speaker 3: let's start here. If you're a parent, how do you

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Speaker 3: guide your son through the process.

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Speaker 1: As a parent, you want to do more listening than talking.

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Speaker 1: You want to take notes. You want to again figure

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Speaker 1: out what that institution is trying to get out of

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Speaker 1: your kid, what the expectations are, and ride the.

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Speaker 2: Way you've already met. Leah McQuay the second, In addition

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Speaker 2: to being a father to multiple high level athletes. He's

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Speaker 2: also a seven on seven coach in the Tampa area.

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Speaker 1: It's turning into, you know, a business, and I think

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Speaker 1: parents need to understand the ins and outs of the business.

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Speaker 2: Leon isn't wrong. College football as a whole is more

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Speaker 2: a business now than ever before. Every aspect of the

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Speaker 2: game has gotten more coverage. High school games, recruiting camps,

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Speaker 2: even announcement ceremonies have quickly become a pretty big deal.

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Speaker 2: Parents are often caught themental.

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Speaker 1: With with coaches. They all want the same thing, right,

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Speaker 1: that's the ultimate result is to get your kid. What

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Speaker 1: I would listen for is, you know, if they're concerned

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Speaker 1: about them graduating at a lot of coaches now are

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Speaker 1: preaching three and out, you know, early leaving early for

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Speaker 1: the league. If someone is selling you that, you want

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Speaker 1: to go the other way, you know. And I've seen

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Speaker 1: where it's starting to turn with the you know, the

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Speaker 1: parents are asking for offers.

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Speaker 2: No, okay, so you don't want to ask for offers,

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Speaker 2: but like I think I get it.

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Speaker 3: It's clearly an emotional time. I asked Lindsey Theory from

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Speaker 3: the LA Times to break down how parents deal with

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Speaker 3: the recruiting process.

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Speaker 4: Well, I think there's like there's four different types of parents.

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Speaker 4: There's the parent you never see. There's the parent you

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Speaker 4: see but you know, really sticks to themselves, and I

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Speaker 4: would say, like that's a that's a pretty big majority.

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Speaker 4: There's the parent that is just totally normal, talks to

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Speaker 4: every reporter, says hi, hello, how are you, you know,

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Speaker 4: normal conversation. And then there's the parent, which I would

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Speaker 4: say is probably about twenty five percent of the parents.

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Speaker 4: Are the parents who come up to you wonder when

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Speaker 4: you're going to write about their child, why you haven't

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Speaker 4: written about their child lately, and want to talk to

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Speaker 4: you about their child's Star rating and ranking and how

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Speaker 4: their child's better than that other child, and did you

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Speaker 4: see that catch? And did you see that catch? And

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Speaker 4: it's like I saw the catch.

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Speaker 3: Lindsey is a veteran of the recruiting.

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Speaker 4: Beat for the recruiting World. I mostly tracked recruits who

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Speaker 4: were interested or who had interest from USC University of

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Speaker 4: Southern California, and my job really was to make contact

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Speaker 4: with those recruits, find out why they liked SC, find

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Speaker 4: out why they didn't like SC. And that really kind

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Speaker 4: of expanded into a whole kind of West Coast role.

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Speaker 4: Because a lot of kids out here obviously aren't just

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Speaker 4: getting recruited by the Trojans, and in order to know

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Speaker 4: where they stood with the Trojans, you had to know

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Speaker 4: where they also stood with all the other programs. So

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Speaker 4: I spent about five years going to seven on seven

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Speaker 4: camps or tournaments every weekend, and during the high school

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Speaker 4: season going to high school games on Friday Night's really

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Speaker 4: really fun, fun existence there.

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Speaker 3: She also worked closely with Brandon Hoffman, longtime friend of

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Speaker 3: the podcast.

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Speaker 2: Brandon is the national college football editor for twenty four

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Speaker 2: seven Sports. He's been a guest on this show for

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Speaker 2: as far back as I can remember, and there isn't

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Speaker 2: anyone out there who knows more about recruiting than him.

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Speaker 2: So he said, shoot us straight, what's the one bit

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Speaker 2: of advice you have for parents who are going through

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Speaker 2: the recruiting process?

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Speaker 5: For me, I've been doing this for fifteen sixteen classes now,

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Speaker 5: and generally, as a rule, the second a parent starts

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Speaker 5: whipping another recruit to me to try to pump up

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Speaker 5: their own, I've lost all interest. You basically have made

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Speaker 5: your son out to be the next Joe Montana, the

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Speaker 5: next Walter Payton, the next Jerry Rice, because he's now

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Speaker 5: taking a kid who's very talented, who's got a lot

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Speaker 5: of ability, and you try to minimize his ability to

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Speaker 5: say your son was that much better.

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Speaker 6: So the bad parents are the one that go out

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Speaker 6: of their way to rip every other recruit.

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Speaker 5: And believe me, that happens on a daily basis.

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Speaker 3: Ty It's easy to understand how parents could get a

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Speaker 3: bit overbearing. There's a lot at stake, a scholarship, a

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Speaker 3: football career, maybe maybe a lot of money.

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Speaker 2: Sure, but Dan, you know the source of all recruiting evils,

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Speaker 2: don't you.

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Speaker 3: They're the star stars, tie the stars.

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Speaker 2: It's the stars, Dan. When recruiting services learn about a player,

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Speaker 2: they assign him a star rating. Five stars for the

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Speaker 2: cream of the crop, two stars if you could probably

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Speaker 2: play somewhere on the college level. It's an arbitrary system,

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Speaker 2: but it drives people out of their minds.

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Speaker 3: The thing is, even though it's not a perfect system,

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Speaker 3: it does end up working out. Here's Bud Elliott, recruiting

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Speaker 3: editor for RASP Nation.

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Speaker 7: I always tell people, look, I think rankings at the

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Speaker 7: end of the day are really good, especially at the

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Speaker 7: end of the cycle. They're in fact pretty predictive, and

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Speaker 7: I would take them over almost any kind of other

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Speaker 7: prediction method out there on the whole, especially at the

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Speaker 7: upper bounce. But early on rankings are a mess. They

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Speaker 7: exist in early March basically only to give context to

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Speaker 7: articles that are being put out for subscribers.

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Speaker 6: They're not I'm not.

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Speaker 7: Saying they're not intended to be accurate, but they're just

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Speaker 7: so or so incomplete at that point. And look, we

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Speaker 7: use them. We say, hey, this kid's a three star

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Speaker 7: as of now, and I try my best to put

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Speaker 7: like currently righted the three star because I know it'll

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Speaker 7: probably change.

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Speaker 3: So we'll hear more from Bud in a few minutes.

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Speaker 3: But let's talk a little bit more about the stars

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Speaker 3: with Brandon Huffman, Like, what exactly does it mean if

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Speaker 3: you're say a two star prospect to a.

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Speaker 5: Two stars a kid that has the ability to play

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Speaker 5: at the FBS level, whether it's he's gotten a ton

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Speaker 5: of offers, whether he's just gotten one offer, it's a

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Speaker 5: kid that we identify and say, at minimum, this kid

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Speaker 5: can play in.

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Speaker 6: A group of five school or at a service academy.

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Speaker 5: We think their skill set is there, we think that

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Speaker 5: there's some upside there but we think a two star

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Speaker 5: means we think he are at minimum and FBS level prospect.

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Speaker 2: Interesting, what about three stars?

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Speaker 5: And three star is probably the most maligned star. We

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Speaker 5: don't think you can't play college football if you're a

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Speaker 5: three star. What it means is, in a lot of cases,

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Speaker 5: you might not have just the right height, the right size,

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Speaker 5: the right speed, the right position to be an early impact,

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Speaker 5: longtime impact guy.

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Speaker 6: You might be a guy that it's going to take

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Speaker 6: some time to develop. There's some skill there, but it's

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Speaker 6: not going to be until your junior year. Ceior, we

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Speaker 6: really expect you to be an impact guy.

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Speaker 5: I think one guy that you know, there's a lot

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Speaker 5: of talk about, well he was only a three star

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Speaker 5: coming out of high school, was Eric Hendricks.

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Speaker 6: Is a guy that you know, he won the Buckets Award.

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Speaker 6: Eric Hendricks, you know, had to buy his time.

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Speaker 5: He was under a little bit of an undersized linebacker

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Speaker 5: coming out of high school, and his brother Michael was

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Speaker 5: the same way undersize, but it was the junior and

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Speaker 5: senior years, like you expect, these are guys that maybe

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Speaker 5: their first two years they're just still finding their way.

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Speaker 6: They're not necessarily the early impact guys.

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Speaker 3: And four stars.

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Speaker 6: That's a four star players.

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Speaker 5: A guy who's going to make an early impact, and

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Speaker 5: he may not come in and be, you know, the

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Speaker 5: immediate absolute superstar from the day he steps foot on campus,

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Speaker 5: but he's going to challenge for playing time as a

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Speaker 5: true freshman or a retro freshman. Maybe he's got to

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Speaker 5: maybe a quarterback who's going to school that's got a

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Speaker 5: senior but a guy that he's going to make an

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Speaker 5: early impact, be an All Conference caliber player right off

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Speaker 5: the bat.

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Speaker 6: And contend for All American honors pretty early on in

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Speaker 6: his career.

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Speaker 3: Let's close it out five stars.

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Speaker 5: The fash star is the one who he steps foot

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Speaker 5: on that campus. He's not only contending for the starting job,

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Speaker 5: but he's contending for potentially the best player on your team.

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Speaker 6: He's a difference maker type of recruit.

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Speaker 5: He's not only going to be a big time contributor

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Speaker 5: to a team, but he's going to make the other

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Speaker 5: players around him that much better. At a guy like

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Speaker 5: a Rashaun Gary, who you see him at the opening

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Speaker 5: going into his junior year, going to get senior lineman

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Speaker 5: and he was dominant against them.

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Speaker 6: So these are the guys that it's not going to

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Speaker 6: be a big jump for them. Once they get to college.

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Speaker 5: They're going to be able to handle guys three four

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Speaker 5: years older them lining up across from them, and they're

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Speaker 5: causing them problems, and they're making an early impact and

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Speaker 5: they're making a difference in games.

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Speaker 6: These are guys that we think they're going.

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Speaker 5: To be gone from college in three years because they're

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Speaker 5: going to the NFL. Their talent is that evident.

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Speaker 3: In other words, you want more four and five stars

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Speaker 3: than two and three's. But this is still a really

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Speaker 3: weird relative measure, so don't take it two too seriously.

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Speaker 2: That sounds right, but star ratings do have a huge impact.

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Speaker 2: At the end of the day, they're pretty good, and

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Speaker 2: you could make the case that they fuel the entire

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Speaker 2: multimillion dollar media industry built around recruiting. Let's throw it

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Speaker 2: back to bud for More.

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Speaker 7: You are acquiring information on kids, and because it's sort

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Speaker 7: of a proprietary niche market, you're able to sell the

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Speaker 7: information at a premium price. So actually subscription model, and

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Speaker 7: it's one of the few subscription model businesses other than

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Speaker 7: porn that actually works. Literally, what you say is the truth,

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Speaker 7: regardless of what it is or not, because people don't

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Speaker 7: know people are not at these recruit camps. You were

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Speaker 7: kind of the gatekeeper of information, and enough people who

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Speaker 7: are that big a die hard, we'll pay to read that.

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Speaker 3: And this is where it gets really interesting. Star ratings

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Speaker 3: from the outside are the bedrock on which the entire

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Speaker 3: recruiting world operates. Parents email about it. A cottage industry

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Speaker 3: is built upon it, and coaches will say that they don't,

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Speaker 3: but they absolutely care.

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Speaker 6: And if anyone says they don't, it's a lie. If

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Speaker 6: there's anybody who doesn't, maybe it's the service academies.

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Speaker 5: Because they don't typically put their list out of who

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Speaker 5: signed because their recruiting.

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Speaker 6: Process is so much different.

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Speaker 5: But just about every college coach cares. If they didn't,

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Speaker 5: they wouldn't have a signing day press conference. They wouldn't

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Speaker 5: have the press release that includes what their kids were

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Speaker 5: ranked in that class with Scout had them, what rivals

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Speaker 5: had them, what twenty four seven had them at ESPN.

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Speaker 6: That wouldn't show up in press releases. If they didn't care.

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Speaker 5: You also would see less and less college coaches calling

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Speaker 5: to complain about how we have one of their players ranked.

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Speaker 6: To row because a lot of these coaches have bonuses

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Speaker 6: tied into where the recruiting classes finished.

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Speaker 5: Where maybe some of these coaches aren't the greatest talent developers,

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Speaker 5: they're not the great exes in those guys, but they're

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Speaker 5: fantastic recruiters, and that's why they're on that staff. They've

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Speaker 5: got bonuses tied end. If we finish the top forty class,

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Speaker 5: we get X amount of dollars. I remember when Mike

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Speaker 5: Loxley was hired at Maryland a few years ago as

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Speaker 5: an assistant coach, The Baltimore Sun wrote an article about

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Speaker 5: what his bonuses were if he finished the top forty

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Speaker 5: class on Scout, if he finished the top forty class

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Speaker 5: on Rivals, and those monetary game for him.

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Speaker 6: If those classes were ranked high.

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Speaker 5: Well, the only way of those classes could be ranked

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Speaker 5: high is that those players had some shiny stars next

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Speaker 5: to their name.

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Speaker 6: So more and more.

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Speaker 5: College coaches have recruiting bonuses based on where their class

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Speaker 5: is going to finish, and so when you bring money

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Speaker 5: into the situation, all of a sudden, a lot of

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Speaker 5: coaches are caring about those stars and those rankings.

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Speaker 2: Dan We asked Lindsey Theory about this too, and she

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Speaker 2: told us that coaches follow the recruiting beat like no other.

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Speaker 2: It actually caught her by surprise.

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Speaker 4: It's probably the most fascinating part of recruiting to me,

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Speaker 4: was you know the coach is really anymore?

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Speaker 6: You know, who knows what?

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Speaker 4: Coaches in everyday circumstance, just playing the sport if they

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Speaker 4: need to talk to reporters, right, I mean, they have

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Speaker 4: their own avenues with their own school websites and whatnot,

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Speaker 4: But when it comes to recruiting, coaches need reporters because

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Speaker 4: basically the kids the recruits, I should say, when a

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Speaker 4: coach calls them, the recruits will tell that coach a

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Speaker 4: lot of the time everything that coach wants to hear. Coach,

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Speaker 4: I love you, I love your school. You know, I'm

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Speaker 4: so interested. You're the only one I'm talking to whatever,

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Speaker 4: so on and so forth. However, when the kid talks

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Speaker 4: to a reporter, they also are smart enough to know

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Speaker 4: that all the coaches are going to be reading that.

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Speaker 4: So they don't want to tell me the reporter that

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Speaker 4: they're only talking to sc because what if they're also

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Speaker 4: talking to UCLA and they're also talking to Oregon and

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Speaker 4: watching whatever. So the coaches love talking to the recruiting reporters.

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Speaker 4: Because they get the more of the truth there, because

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Speaker 4: the kids will tell us more of the truth because

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Speaker 4: you know, don't we don't have a horse in the race.

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Speaker 4: So it was really interesting how much contact there is

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Speaker 4: between recruiting reporters and coaches.

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Speaker 3: A symbiotic relationship, that's how Lindsey describes it.

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Speaker 2: Dan, does this surprise you little?

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Speaker 6: Not?

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Speaker 2: Really, Recruiting is a game, just like actual football is.

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Speaker 2: Coaches scout however they have to. It's just the nature

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Speaker 2: of the beast. One thing I did ask, though, was

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Speaker 2: whether reporters ever get a little too close to the action,

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Speaker 2: a little too close? What do you mean, well, who

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Speaker 2: does a lot of the recruiting reporting? Uh, you mean

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Speaker 2: like actual team sites? Right, yes, exactly, I see.

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Speaker 3: Do those reporters ever get in on the game and

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Speaker 3: do a little of their own recruiting? Lindsay said, it happens,

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Speaker 3: but not not nearly enough to be actually controversial.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: You know, that's a really tough question because a lot

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Speaker 4: of these people who started these sites they started them

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Speaker 4: because they were fans of the school, right, and they

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Speaker 4: want their business to do well. Now, have I ever

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Speaker 4: seen a reporter like just go hard and like pitch

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Speaker 4: a school. No, I truly, I've never seen that firsthand.

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Speaker 4: I've definitely heard about it, but I've never seen it.

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Speaker 4: But there definitely is a way when when reporters who

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Speaker 4: cover a site or a team, you know, keep in

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Speaker 4: mind they also want to keep on the good side

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Speaker 4: of the staff, where they just kind of have this

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Speaker 4: way of talking very favorably, you know, about whatever school

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Speaker 4: it is they're covering and asking the kid questions and

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Speaker 4: phrasing them in a way that just are so favorable

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Speaker 4: to the school, where it's it's not just hey, what

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Speaker 4: are your favorite schools? It's like, hey, so UCLA or

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Speaker 4: USC or Washington, they're really building their program up and

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Speaker 4: they're doing this that and in these new stage like

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Speaker 4: don't you love that? And it's like, okay, that's kind

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Speaker 4: of a leading question, right, So.

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Speaker 2: What have we learned? Well? For one, parents can get

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Speaker 2: a little too aggressive during the process. Brandon Huffman says

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Speaker 2: that's not a good idea. The star rating system isn't perfect,

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Speaker 2: but it's better than you might think. We know what

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Speaker 2: the different star ratings stand for, that an industry has

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Speaker 2: popped up around them, and that coaches are definitely lurking

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Speaker 2: on your favorite message board.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, my favorite user is deaf, not urban Meyer forty

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Speaker 3: eight sixty seven.

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Speaker 2: Always seemed a little suspicious, right, what next?

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Speaker 3: This is the part that blew me away the most.

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Speaker 3: There's no doubt that recruiting is an important element for

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Speaker 3: any program, but most people don't know the infrastructure required

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Speaker 3: to compete for the best recruits.

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Speaker 2: Infrastructure. What do you mean by infrastructure?

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Speaker 7: Well, who's going to show the kid around when he

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Speaker 7: gets on campus. Golf carts for the rims on them,

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Speaker 7: you know, and fancy painted logos and the ability to

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Speaker 7: spend money to be flashy and impressed recruits because that

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Speaker 7: first impression matter so much. You have your on campus

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Speaker 7: director of recruiting. You have your in house recruiting guy,

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Speaker 7: you have your recruiting coordinator, your communications department, your social

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Speaker 7: media department.

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Speaker 6: Right.

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Speaker 7: I know, Clemson kind of set the bar there for

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Speaker 7: a while and it paid good dividends for them. The

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Speaker 7: ability to produce a lot of graphics on social media

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Speaker 7: and also the ability to track the happenings of the

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Speaker 7: recruiting cycle. Right. Like some of these schools, some have

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Speaker 7: people who sole job essentially it's just to follow a

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Speaker 7: couple hundred kids on social media. See what they're saying,

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Speaker 7: learn who they are. See when they say stuff that

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Speaker 7: the kids thinks the inside joke, Well, that the staff

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Speaker 7: actually gets it too.

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Speaker 2: Then that's that's insane.

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Speaker 3: And there's so much more. We could have talked forever

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Speaker 3: about the support staff that makes all of this work,

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Speaker 3: but we did want to get into the actual strategy

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Speaker 3: of recruiting players. How do you do that? What's the secret?

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Speaker 7: Of course, in the end, the kid is going to

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Speaker 7: make the decision, but there's usually somebody who's going to

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Speaker 7: have an outsized influence on helping him make the decision.

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Speaker 7: So is that mom, dad, Is it grandma or grandpa,

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Speaker 7: or his brother or uncle or cousin. Maybe it's the

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Speaker 7: high school coach, maybe it's the seven on seven coach

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Speaker 7: or somebody in his community. To win big time recruiting battles,

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Speaker 7: you have to win the kid, but you also have

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Speaker 7: to win the influencer or the decision maker. So I

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Speaker 7: think that's one of the first steps that all great

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Speaker 7: recruiters are able to do. They're able to hone in

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Speaker 7: on you, Hey, maybe I need to get good with

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Speaker 7: that trainer, right. In addition to just getting in good with.

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Speaker 2: The kid and so sidebar, Yeah, I am struck by

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Speaker 2: how similar all this sounds to the time I bought

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Speaker 2: my last car. A little bit of an obsequious quality

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Speaker 2: to all this, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's part of the game, Bud says. The

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Speaker 3: process is long enough that most of the sleeves gets

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Speaker 3: boiled off, but coaches still have to play their cards

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Speaker 3: pretty close to the vest.

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Speaker 7: This is generally a pretty long process, so it's hard

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Speaker 7: to carry out just fantastical lies over the course of

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Speaker 7: twelve months.

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Speaker 8: Right.

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Speaker 7: Other coaches are going to get win to what you're saying,

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Speaker 7: and they're going to try to rebut some of the

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Speaker 7: stuff that you're presenting to the recruit. So you have

400
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Speaker 7: to be able to present a truthful argument and stretch

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Speaker 7: it some. But you can't just just completely lie of

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Speaker 7: the kid. In most situations, sometimes it works, and you

403
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Speaker 7: know that's unfortunate, but you have to be sort of

404
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Speaker 7: on the edge of honest, and you have to importantly

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Speaker 7: make sure that the kid trusts you, and in that regard,

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Speaker 7: a lot of it really is relationship building. You have

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Speaker 7: to build the relationship that the kid can trust you

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Speaker 7: can be in your program for the next three or

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Speaker 7: four years. And not only is that important with the kid,

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Speaker 7: but you've heard the phrase before. You know, when mom,

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Speaker 7: you got to win the moms. They have to trust

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Speaker 7: that you're going to take care of their young man

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Speaker 7: the best you can when she finally gives him the

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Speaker 7: okay to go away from home for school. And that's

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Speaker 7: especially true if you're trying to do more long distance

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Speaker 7: hype recruiting. If you're, let's say, a school in the

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Speaker 7: Pacific Northwest, trying to pull a kid out of Florida,

418
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Speaker 7: you go two three thousand miles away. That's a big deal.

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Speaker 7: So you have to really establish good relationships. You have

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Speaker 7: to establish trust, you have to be a good salesperson,

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Speaker 7: and then you have to be able to identify who

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Speaker 7: else is going to help make the decision other than

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Speaker 7: a young man.

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Speaker 2: The other variables are recruits that have already committed. Bud

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Speaker 2: said that coaches will sometimes, you know, send them graphics

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Speaker 2: and tips, stuff that might not be kosher coming from

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Speaker 2: a coach. Programs do whatever they can to leverage every

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Speaker 2: available asset, including commits that can recruit other commits. Basically,

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Speaker 2: anything that they can use to their advantage, they will.

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Speaker 3: And sometimes ty that includes talking down the competition. In

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Speaker 3: the college football world, negative recruiting is the practice of

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Speaker 3: essentially using another program's deficiencies to your advantage. Sometimes these

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Speaker 3: are real, sometimes they're kind of real, and on rare

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00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:38,199
Speaker 3: occasion clutch those pearls tie. They're just flat out made up.

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Speaker 2: So the one that comes to mind right away is

436
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Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin telling al Sean Jeffrey.

437
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Speaker 3: Super Bowl champion al Sean Jeffrey.

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Speaker 2: That he'd end up pumping gas if he went to

439
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Speaker 2: school at South Carolina. That would qualify here.

440
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Speaker 3: Yes, there's a whole spectrum of pitches that teams and

441
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 3: recruits need to be ready for.

442
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 7: Part of that is anticipating the negative volleys they're going

443
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 7: to come from other programs. Will another program try to

444
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,159
Speaker 7: talk about something that maybe your school is to fishent in.

445
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,600
Speaker 7: You really have to keep track of your negative recruiting foes.

446
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,399
Speaker 7: I think and everybody says they don't negatively recruit, and

447
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 7: to some extent, everybody does, whether that's like out and

448
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 7: out lying about another program or whether that's comparative type recruiting.

449
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 7: But I think a lot of it is anticipating and

450
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,639
Speaker 7: combating the likely pitches that other programs are going to

451
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 7: try to use to get a kid to flip.

452
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 2: You did, but provide any examples of how this actually

453
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:36,440
Speaker 2: goes down in the real world.

454
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, he did in a lot of cases. It's

455
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 3: just more subtle than fans might think.

456
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 7: I'd say Number one is probably depth chart. Right, Hey,

457
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 7: look at all these guys. The school is signed, you're

458
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,879
Speaker 7: not going to play there early. Early playing time is

459
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,439
Speaker 7: a big deal to kids, whether or not it should be.

460
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,280
Speaker 7: Some of them actually should probably sit in red shirt

461
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 7: and develop a little bit, but they they all seem

462
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 7: to want early playing time, and that makes sense because

463
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 7: they've all been studs pretty much at every level they've

464
00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 7: played at so far in her career. So early playing

465
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:06,880
Speaker 7: time negative recruiting. Hey, you can play here a lot

466
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 7: more early, and you can play there. The other thing

467
00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:10,680
Speaker 7: with the depth chart, which is kind of a subset

468
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,400
Speaker 7: of it, is hey, did you know they're also recruiting

469
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,400
Speaker 7: this kid at your position and they're not really done.

470
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:17,920
Speaker 7: They may have told you you're gonna be only running

471
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 7: back they taking the class, but we know for a

472
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 7: fact they're after this kid too, because we're fighting. We're

473
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 7: fighting this school for this other kid as well. That

474
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 7: type of thing coaches leading like speculation like that, Hey,

475
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:29,159
Speaker 7: you know he's not going to be there for more

476
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 7: than another year, so who are you really signing with?

477
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 7: That's one. Maybe lack of success at a position compared

478
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 7: to another school, that's certainly one. But that's to me

479
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,760
Speaker 7: that that third one is more comparative recruiting, Right, You're

480
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,800
Speaker 7: just comparing your track record compared to another school, and

481
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 7: if it's better, you should highlight the difference, just because

482
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,879
Speaker 7: that's that's what you do in any sort of sales

483
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:55,360
Speaker 7: type thing.

484
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,920
Speaker 3: Ty, there's a tendency to hear a term like negative

485
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:06,199
Speaker 3: recruiting and immediately think of the super negative. Sometimes it

486
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 3: does go there, most of the time it doesn't.

487
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:14,399
Speaker 2: It really does seem more comparative than negative in a

488
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 2: lot of cases, and I guess nobody should be fully

489
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,160
Speaker 2: surprised by that, because a recruiting pitch is essentially a

490
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 2: sales pitch.

491
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 3: That sounds right, and it all speaks to a larger

492
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 3: point that you find in all processes, whether it's recruiting

493
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 3: or podcasting. Eventually, if something is big or important enough,

494
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 3: a special we'll say vocabulary forms around it. A committable offer,

495
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 3: and this is a term that has sort of recently

496
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:46,119
Speaker 3: come to prominence. Committable offer is when a school offers

497
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:51,280
Speaker 3: you and they're actually willing to accept that commitment from you. Currently,

498
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 3: a non committable offer is kind of some nonsense, but honestly,

499
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 3: all schools pull this, or the vast.

500
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 7: Majority of ones that will do it. It's like, Hey,

501
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,720
Speaker 7: you have an offer from us pending you coming up

502
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 7: to camp and im pressing and confirming that what you

503
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 7: show on film is what you really do in person,

504
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,640
Speaker 7: or pending us having a spot for you.

505
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 2: Wow, Oh okay, how about some terms we're more familiar

506
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,240
Speaker 2: with but maybe don't fully understand.

507
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,640
Speaker 7: Unofficial visits. You can do a lot of the things

508
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,359
Speaker 7: that you can do on an official visit, except you

509
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,840
Speaker 7: have to pay for it. So for an official visit,

510
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,439
Speaker 7: right you go, not only does the school pay for you,

511
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 7: but it gets to pay for your parents, which is

512
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,880
Speaker 7: good as opposed to unofficial everybody's got to pay for themselves.

513
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 7: And then you can kind of visit unofficially. Whenever you'll go,

514
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 7: you'll get on campus, you'll probably meet with your area

515
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 7: coach and your recruiting coordinator, and he'll give you a

516
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 7: tour of the campus. Most likely they're going to try

517
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 7: to pair you up with some kids who are already committed.

518
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,199
Speaker 7: They're likely going to give you a student host as well,

519
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 7: who's on the team, and somebody who's going to speak

520
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 7: well of the team. You're going to have a meeting

521
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 7: with academics and if you don't know what you want

522
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,159
Speaker 7: to study in that's the case for a lot of

523
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 7: these kids, and that's fine because they're in high school.

524
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 7: They're going to show you a couple of different academic

525
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 7: advisors who might be able to help you out. They'll

526
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,200
Speaker 7: probably show you their academic tutoring center, the weight room,

527
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,880
Speaker 7: the indoor practice facility. You're going to get a tour

528
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,640
Speaker 7: of the stadium, and you're going to get to meet

529
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 7: all the coaches at the schools that emphasize family a

530
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 7: lot are going to have you meet a lot of

531
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:33,960
Speaker 7: people within the building to really emphasize, hey, this is

532
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 7: the first name basis this guy and this girl and

533
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 7: that guy and all that. You're going to If you're

534
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 7: on campus for a game, you're going to get to

535
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 7: go to the game. You'll sit in the section with

536
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 7: other top recruits. Oftentimes you will go out to dinner

537
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 7: with the other recruits on campus, and that's generally either

538
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 7: at a restaurant or at the coach's home, sometimes both.

539
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 7: You know, maybe they'll go to cookies or something at

540
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:05,560
Speaker 7: the coach's house. Afterwards, you'll oftentimes stay either at a

541
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 7: hotel or with one of the players, and then they

542
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:11,199
Speaker 7: will take you out and kind of show you the

543
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 7: night life. That's a part that I think does matter

544
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,600
Speaker 7: more than maybe the casual fan recognizes. And then you'll

545
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 7: generally have breakfast on the Sunday morning when you leave

546
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 7: with the head coach, and he's going to put the

547
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 7: not the hard sale, but he's going to let you know, hey,

548
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 7: we want to we want to have you as part

549
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 7: of our program and we really think you can help

550
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 7: us in these ways and we love to grow with you,

551
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 7: and blah blah blah, and everybody have a safe trip

552
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 7: back text when you get back. And that's that kind

553
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 7: of wraps it up.

554
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 2: Oh, and an important note from someone who would know

555
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:45,800
Speaker 2: about official physics.

556
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: Then a kid on a visit with a parent or

557
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: with the uncle or with someone, because I've seen it

558
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 1: over and over again, they put them in a room

559
00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: and the kid comes out. Because the kid comes out

560
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: out the room committed, gets on the plane, goes home.

561
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 1: Next week, he's decommitted. It's a bad look because now

562
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 1: that's telling everybody in the whole world that you can't commit.

563
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 6: The sucking these.

564
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 2: Coaches, man, they are cooking up quite a scheme, aren't they.

565
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: Yup With Leon he got his first offer from Vanderbilt

566
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:30,560
Speaker 1: as eighth grader, so they really recruited him for like

567
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: five years, and we thought he was going there, but

568
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 1: he changed his mind and she kicked USC.

569
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 3: When coaches see a potential target, they act. College football

570
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 3: fans will remember the story of Blamee Kiffin offering a

571
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 3: scholarship to a thirteen year old quarterback from Delaware. It

572
00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 3: doesn't start that early for everyone, but it's a tiring process.

573
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 5: Back to Brandon, I think it's really in the spring

574
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 5: of their junior year where you start to see guys,

575
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 5: especially the ones that are really blown up during that offseason.

576
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 5: I think that's when they go from hey, this is

577
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 5: a lot of fun, too, my gosh, this.

578
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 6: Is draining, and it really.

579
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 9: Ramps up into the summer when you have some of

580
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 9: the big national showcase events, and then eventually into the

581
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 9: fall when you go on an official visit and you

582
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 9: got all these college age kids and the fans at

583
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 9: the school rooting for you, saying, hey, come here, we

584
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 9: want to take a picture with you.

585
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,320
Speaker 6: That attention is still great, but it's the constant calls.

586
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 5: From the coaches, it's the constant text messages from the coaches.

587
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,320
Speaker 6: The media wanted to know where they're going. And I

588
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:32,240
Speaker 6: think by the time.

589
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 5: They get around to their senior season, they're just completely

590
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 5: done with the recruiting process, which is why I think

591
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 5: they're seeing guys make earlier commitments, while you're seeing guys

592
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 5: being more willing to graduate early because the sooner they

593
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 5: can put that part of the picture out and just

594
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 5: focus on being a college football player.

595
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 9: I think these guys are part of this generation now

596
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 9: that they just want to get.

597
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 6: This over with because the attention is so overwhelming.

598
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 2: I remember I was terrified Dan when I made my

599
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 2: college selection. I went to Penn State all time because

600
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 2: I knew the most people there and I wasn't sure

601
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 2: about what I wanted to do when I grew up.

602
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 3: That seems reasonable, Ty, that seems very normal. I went

603
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,479
Speaker 3: to Oregon. I wanted to stay on the West Coast.

604
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 3: I was pretty sure I wanted to do journalism, broadcast journalism,

605
00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 3: production kind of thing. Didn't really want to stay in

606
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 3: La went to Eugene. Liked it, seemed nice, seemed like

607
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 3: I could make a home there. So that's where I went.

608
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 2: You also saw it before the cold, rainy weather came in.

609
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,080
Speaker 3: I was conned, Ty, I was conned.

610
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 2: Here's the thing, though, we both made our college selections

611
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 2: without the spotlight of recruiting media, or any media for

612
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,120
Speaker 2: that matter, breathing down our necks. We didn't have a

613
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 2: potential multimillion dollar career speak for yourself, at least not

614
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 2: on the football field. We didn't have nearly the degree

615
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 2: of pressure that so many of these recruits have to

616
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 2: deal with.

617
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 3: That's true. It was just thinking about ourselves, and that's it.

618
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 2: We talked to Lindsay about the toll that that added

619
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 2: pressure takes.

620
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 4: On recruits, so highly recruited kids. You know, it's really

621
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 4: kind of hard to just simplify that just because some

622
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 4: kids handle it really really well. These kids who are

623
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 4: receiving all this attention from all these coaches, all these reporters,

624
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,719
Speaker 4: some of the kids, you know, they're very young. They're like,

625
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 4: we're calling them kids because they're still kids, and some

626
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 4: of them had a hard time handling all the attention

627
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 4: because it was just it's so much, and it's weird

628
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 4: because you know, we're talking to sixteen and seventeen year

629
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 4: olds and they're receiving an offensive lineman is receiving a

630
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 4: ton of attention like long before, are way more than

631
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 4: they'd ever receive, you know, as an offensive lineman once

632
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 4: they get to college.

633
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 3: Here's the gist. Some kids deal with it better than others.

634
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 3: Some will get it over with and move on to

635
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 3: a new normal or whatever. Some will basically harvest as

636
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 3: much social media attention as they possibly can get.

637
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 2: My sense is the attention is both a blessing and

638
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 2: a curse because on one hand, it really can spot

639
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 2: like kids from smaller schools that wouldn't otherwise be on

640
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 2: the radar. But on the other hand, when you get

641
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 2: fan bases all ginned up like this, it's not always

642
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 2: a great result. Here is one story we got from

643
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 2: a former blue chip recruit.

644
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,280
Speaker 10: But I remember I went up to Ohio State my

645
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 10: junior It was Ahili stay versus Michigan, and I remember

646
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 10: all walking I had my Ohio State stuff on because

647
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:29,000
Speaker 10: it was at Ohio State.

648
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 3: It's a Michigan fan that just came up to me.

649
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 10: It was just yelling and like I had a hot

650
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 10: dog in my hand. I slapped the hot dog out

651
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 10: of my hand and like the little recruiting ladies, he

652
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 10: was like, we were just looking at you other, like

653
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 10: what just happened? You feel me?

654
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 2: Is it any wonder that so many of these kids

655
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:46,520
Speaker 2: just want to get it all over with?

656
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 5: Dan?

657
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 2: Recruiting is a complex, exciting, is sometimes monetized process. Let's

658
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 2: chat again with our friend Leah McCoy. The second he says,

659
00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 2: don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

660
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 1: You see all of these offers, but he should start

661
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 1: cutting those offers down as time goes on, depending on

662
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: you know, when you're actually gonna make it, You're gonna

663
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 1: have to make a decision. And that's something that I

664
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: talked to with Leon. You know, he had forty plus offers, man,

665
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:32,040
Speaker 1: and it's like, how do you decide between forty You

666
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 1: cut them down? You put in the work, and it

667
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 1: is work. It's work, you know, from the parents' standpoint

668
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,200
Speaker 1: and from the kids standpoint, because you got all of

669
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 1: these coaches calling, why are you trying to do your

670
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 1: homework while you're trying to complete papers. That doesn't stop,

671
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,040
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So, you know, just witnessing

672
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,359
Speaker 1: you know the stress, the amount of stress that's put

673
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 1: on these kids. You know, you want to make it

674
00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 1: easy for them. Start eliminiting, you start cutting down. But

675
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,680
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Most kids now, they love the attention.

676
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:09,400
Speaker 1: They they love the attention. And once you start cutting

677
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,720
Speaker 1: schools now you know you don't go to that attention anymore.

678
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 1: So you know, and that's all again in structure and

679
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 1: having someone there to explain why you don't do this

680
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 1: or why you do do this, you know, And again

681
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 1: it's a big it's a big process. It's a lot.

682
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 8: It's a lot that goes with narrow down that feel

683
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,239
Speaker 8: pick the best school for you and not necessarily pick

684
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 8: the best school in terms of, hey, this is the

685
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,040
Speaker 8: largest name that has offered me.

686
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:43,960
Speaker 6: Uh.

687
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 7: So often we see kids make a switch and you're

688
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 7: kind of like, I guess that is a better school

689
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 7: than the school to which you're previously committed or maybe

690
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 7: the school we expect you to go to. But on

691
00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 7: the flip side, you know that's not a good for you.

692
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,879
Speaker 7: You pick the school that fits your talents, that fits

693
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 7: your personality, that fits what you want to do academically,

694
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,040
Speaker 7: not just the biggest name. I think that's a real key,

695
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,320
Speaker 7: narrow down that shield.

696
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:16,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just wish that kids would stop worrying about

697
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 4: the number of offers they have. It's like a competition

698
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 4: just to get offers. Like if you get the offer

699
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 4: you want or you don't have the offer you want,

700
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,920
Speaker 4: just keep working. And it's not a game of like,

701
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 4: let me see if I can get thirty offers, like

702
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 4: hone in on the schools you're interested in or you

703
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:34,799
Speaker 4: think you have the ability to play at. And it's

704
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 4: fun to be competitive, we're all competitive, but it's this

705
00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,680
Speaker 4: like sick game of offers and there's so many kids

706
00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 4: out there who don't have a single offer, who are

707
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 4: more than worthy, but it's just this you know, game

708
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 4: of how many offers can Bobby get? And I just

709
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 4: wish that people would focus more on like, Okay, we

710
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 4: got the offers we want, like you know, let's we'll

711
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 4: let the other schools know and go from here, versus

712
00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:01,000
Speaker 4: making it this drawn out game and this this whole thing.

713
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:02,879
Speaker 4: But I think that's also part of the media's fault.

714
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 4: I mean, the media has made this such a bigger monster,

715
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 4: you know, with all these kids and it ever probably

716
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,000
Speaker 4: dreamt of being. But I just wish that recruits and

717
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 4: their parents would focus on the schools they want. Okay,

718
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 4: you get those offers and now start moving on with

719
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:20,000
Speaker 4: your life versus just almost being greedy and asking for

720
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:20,799
Speaker 4: so many more.

721
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,959
Speaker 3: Plain and simple, go where you want to go, don't

722
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 3: waste your time seeking approval, and make a good decision.

723
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 1: You know, he could have played football anywhere, but that

724
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 1: was where he wanted to go. So you raise your

725
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 1: kids to be independent, and he got out of it

726
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 1: what he wanted. And would that be a said I'm

727
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:48,360
Speaker 1: happy I didn't like the flights. I definitely didn't like

728
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 1: the flights. You know, he got out of it what

729
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 1: he wanted.

730
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 3: So keep this in mind. These are humans just like us,

731
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 3: struggling with the biggest decisions of their lives. And no,

732
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,439
Speaker 3: they might not always handle it perfectly, but you wouldn't either.

733
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:10,040
Speaker 3: I wouldn't either. Our advice just be cool.

734
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 2: This has been a special production from the Solid Burbo

735
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:29,720
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Bud Elliott from ESP Nation, Brandon Hoffman

736
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 2: from twenty four to seven Sports, Lindsay theory from the

737
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:38,239
Speaker 2: La Times, Leah McQuay, the Second from Tampa, Florida, and

738
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 2: as always Bill Hancock.

739
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 3: NPR is able to bring these types of stories because

740
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 3: of listeners like you,