College recruiting: Football’s grand courtship ritual

Michael Bowman and Justin Jones admit to having dream dates that aren’t their girlfriends.

Antonio Foster and Chaun Gresham were in committed relationships, but each has found another.

Branden Smith’s true love won’t be known it until he announces it on reality-like TV next year.

And Chase Vasser will let his classmates know Dec. 16 whether his 11-month commitment still holds true.

This is college football recruiting, where love triangles and flirting are just part of the game. It has become a big shell game, and the kids have learned how to play just as good as the recruiters.

The award for honesty goes to Bowman, the prized wide receiver from Ridgeland High in Rossville, who admitted at the time of his commitment to Alabama in September that “Georgia has always been No. 1.”

So what does that make Alabama? “My backup plan,” he said.

Jones, the tight end from Heritage of Conyers, wishes he had what Bowman had. Jones committed to Kentucky in June but insisted his heart was in Alabama, where he’s met with coach Nick Saban a couple of times without securing a scholarship offer.

Jones has since broken up with Kentucky.

Some breakups are for the best. Others bring tears.

“I was heartbroken,” Valdosta lineman Antonio Foster told Rivals.com last month upon hearing that coach Phil Fulmer was leaving Tennessee. “I actually had tears in my eyes.”

Foster had committed to the Vols in July. But a day after Fulmer was ousted, a new love came along, and Foster was committed to Georgia Tech.

The Jackets know what it’s like to have loved and lost.

In August, linebacker Chaun Gresham of Winder’s Apalachee High spurned Georgia Tech for South Carolina.

It was the very thing Gresham hoped to avoid.

“I don’t want to pick a school too early and miss out on another school,” Gresham had said during his junior season to the Athens Banner-Herald.

But he couldn’t resist. He picked Tech in March — too early. In August, he switched to the Gamecocks, and they have lived happily ever since.

Gresham and Foster are among a half-dozen or so top recruits in Georgia to break up. In the recruiting world, it’s called de-committing.

A couple of metro Atlanta players — tackle Camden Wentz of Lassiter and tight end Brock Sanders of Northview — de-committed to Stanford last month when they weren’t guaranteed admission into school.

Without other offers, Wentz is waiting by the phone.

“If a school comes and calls, I’ll go and visit,” he said.

California and Georgia Tech have called, so Wentz will be fine.

A third Stanford commitment from Georgia, Jamal Patterson, is sticking to his pledge, but he is seeing other people.

The AJC Super 11 pick from Henry County has attended games at Georgia, Florida, Clemson and Georgia Tech.

Another who is being coy is Smith, the cornerback from Booker T. Washington in Atlanta.

The No. 1 recruit in Georgia, according to many, Smith is turning this into reality TV. He’ll tell the world of his decision on Jan. 4 at the televised Under Armour All-America game in Orlando.

Even his parents and the school he’s picking won’t know, Smith said.

That’s if Smith can keep a secret. On Nov. 6, Smith declared he would not reveal his finalists until TV time. But four days later, he blurted them out: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia.

But that’s all he’s saying.

“Everybody asks, but they’ll just have to watch TV and see,” Smith said. “I really don’t know myself.”

Smith says he’s just having fun, and so is Vasser, who committed to Georgia in January.

Vasser, the linebacker from Chestatee in Gainesville, said the fear factor prompted his early decision. He was told Georgia would sign only two linebackers, so when the second player committed, Vasser became the third on the same day.

Now, Vasser has decided he needs to make a final decision. He’ll do it Dec. 16 in front of his schoolmates at Chestatee.

“I’m giving these other schools the opportunity to say everything they have to say to me, to go all-out, because once it gets to Dec. 16, my mind will be made up for good,” Vasser said.

Expect Vasser to enroll at Georgia in January.

But for some of the others, you can’t be sure.

Jonathan Atchison of Atlanta’s Douglass High is committed to Auburn, but he’s going out with Alabama on Jan. 17, two weeks before National Signing Day.

Brandon Jacobs of Parkview, also committed to Auburn, will take calls from anybody, especially Florida.

“It won’t hurt to talk with them,”’ he said. “I’m still 100 percent with Auburn.”

And it’s hard to blame them for playing the field.

Banneker linebacker Milton Patterson could have committed to Mississippi State last summer, but he wasn’t ready. When he was ready, the Bulldogs weren’t. They told him they had taken the scholarship off the table.

Some say Patterson blew it.

“They say I should have made a wiser decision,” said Patterson, who was “crushed” over the news.

But Akron still wants him. And if they don’t, well, there’s more to life than football, anyway.

That’s the perspective of Josh Elizondo, an excellent lineman from Naples, Fla., who had offers from South Carolina, Duke and Kentucky.

Elizondo last month committed to the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute of Orlando.

“I used to love football,” Elizondo said. “But I’m tired of it. I’ve got other interests now.”