THE ISSUE: HAS COLLEGE FOOTBALL RECRUITING BECOME WAY TOO MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING? Attention grabbers

College recruiting has given us another reason to point a television camera at the sideline during a football game.

During the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Under Armour All-America high school all-star game in Orlando, ESPN cameras cut to Atlanta’s Branden Smith sitting behind a glass coffee table, on which were caps with the logos of his final four college choices.

With family members behind him, the 5-star-rated cornerback from Washington High removed the caps of Alabama, Florida and Florida State before putting on the red-and-black of Georgia. Smith’s “national TV commitment” —- as some in the recruiting world call it —- was greeted with cheers and hugs and included an interview on why he chose the Bulldogs.

Five other live announcements were made during the game. Each time, the action on the field gave way to a player doing similar things with his own collection of caps.

It’s the latest result of the hoopla that is college football recruiting, and it’s being greeted with tears of joy and furrowed eyebrows.

“I turn that stuff off. I can’t stand it,” Brookwood High football coach Mark Crews said of the live in-game commitments on TV. “Football is and always has been a team game … but the idea that you take one person and you make him out to be better than others, I don’t like that.

“To me that sort of belittles the team-oriented part of the game. It’s fueling that fire that it’s all about ‘me.’”

“I love it,” said Westlake linebacker Dearco Nolan, one of the AJC’s Georgia 150 prospects, who has SEC and ACC schools among his suitors. “It shows that hard work pays off.”

College football recruiting has its own season, which ends on national signing day on Feb. 4; its own fans, who plunk down millions for online subscriptions and spend hours tracking where the blue chips will fall, and its own place firmly planted in the American sports landscape.

It has become so important (although it’s mostly conjecture because nobody really knows which celebrity high school stars will make it at the next level) that some prodigies are recruited before their first kiss. Earlier this year, the University of Hawaii scored a verbal commitment from a 13-year-old.

Some companies offer recruiting services that promise getting a kid noticed by college coaches for a fee that can be more than $1,000.

And the media —- newspapers (including the AJC), dozens of Web sites and the TV sports giants —- chronicle every step, as if high school football is only a precursor to signing a scholarship.

Some say this is overblown silliness that’s out of control and caters only to the top players while leaving the less talented players behind. Others figure it’s all good if it means more attention devoted to high school football.

“I think it depends on the maturity of the kids. Some handle it pretty well, but you’ve got to keep a level head,” said North Cobb coach Shane Queen, who coached his own top talent, defensive tackle Derrick Lott, a Georgia commitment. “I would like to think it’s a good thing, but again it comes down to the maturity of the kids. It’s getting crazy on the Internet. Kids get on the Web sites and read about themselves. But you’ve got to keep it in perspective. It’s all projections on how a kid will do in college.”

“I don’t think it’s too much,” Douglass coach Kenneth Barrow said. “What I like about it is it gives kids a chance to go to school and get a degree and have a chance to play college football.”

Crews, who has had more than 20 of his players sign scholarships the past two seasons and will have another handful this year, gets the idea that attention can be a good thing for high school football. He’s concerned, however, about where it’s headed. He noted an e-mail he received in which a group was promoting an elite youth football camp, costing $600, that will showcase some of the best sixth- and seventh-grade players.

“You see where it’s headed?” he asked.

TOO MUCH TOO SOON?

So the question: Has recruiting gone over the top? Here’s what some had to say:

Mickey Conn, Grayson coach

“I think the more exposure for these kids, the better. … The only thing I disagree with is a lot of major colleges are taking commitments from juniors, maybe even sophomores. I feel like some kids develop as seniors, and there may not be enough scholarship money left. I think some kids are being overlooked because of it.”

Dearco Nolan, Westlake linebacker

“I don’t think it’s too much attention. It shows that hard work pays off. To me, it’s good for the game of football to show other young men that if you work hard you can be in this position.”

Corey Jarvis, M.L. King coach

“I think it makes the job for us to promote the lesser-known players a little harder [because of so much attention on the elite players]. Sometimes those players get overlooked. … To me, I think it has worked against those in-between types of kids. I don’t know if I would say it’s too much. Anything that exposes our kids to the opportunity to go to school [on scholarship] is a good thing.”

Ron Gartrell, Stephenson coach

“This is a real busy time for me and a lot of coaches. In some cases, I’d rather be in the season than to go through this. We go out of our way to help our kids, and sometimes it’s looked upon as not being enough. … I think college recruiters should be a little straightforward sometimes and don’t mislead the kids. … I’m from the old school. You tell me the truth, I tell you the truth and we go from there. … Now if it [the attention] is going to enable your kid to get a scholarship, I’m OK with it. If they increase the hype, we have to step up as coaches and get that edge to get our kids recruited.”

Kenneth Barrow, Douglass coach

“The only downside I see with it all is that sometimes the parents have to understand that every kid is not going to play at the Division I level, but there’s always Division II, I-AA, Division III. All those levels play good football, too.”

Shane Queen, North Cobb coach

“I’ve got friends who check the Dawg Post [a Web site that covers University of Georgia sports] every day. People have to realize that these are 16- and 17-year-old kids trying to make a big decision. That’s what we need to keep in perspective.”

Mark Crews, Brookwood coach

“It’s becoming more and more of a business. … I don’t think there’s anything wrong with attention, but some of it is a dog-and-pony show.”