GHSF Daily is expanding its Four Questions feature this season beyond head coaches to other voices in high school football. Today's interviewee is Jody Hill, volunteer recruiting coordinator at Carver of Columbus since 2005. Hill has helped 220 Carver players get football scholarships. Those include NFL players Isaiah Crowell, Jarvis Jones, Gabe Wright and Chris Hubbard.
Jody Hill, recruiting coordinator at Carver of Columbus
1. How did you get started in this? "I played at Carver in the 1980s. I walked on at Georgia in 1991 but never hit the field. I was never that good. When Dell McGee got the Carver job - he's the running backs coach at Georgia now - I started going up there and one day I said, 'Hey Dell, how can we get back to the old times when we were sending kids off to school right and left?' He explained what he needed. 'I'm going to need somebody to contact these coaches, and you've got the gift of gab. I'm going to need somebody to take a few kids to camp.' I said, 'That's nothing, Dell.' I made videos. There was no HUDL then. We had to make CDs. I sent them to every D-I and every D-II school in the nation. Out of every 200 schools, at least 20 would hit back. What I was doing then was a novelty. I took my first batch of kids to Mississippi State when Sylvester Croom was there, and two of them, Chris Hubbard and LeBron Furr, got offered on the spot. The rest is history. I did that out of my own pocket. I don't take a dime. I do it all on my own time." [Hill is a military veteran and former police officer.]
2. What are the main things that parents and players need to know about recruiting that most don't? "Hands down, academics. Once I see a kid can play on the next level, I tell the parents let's make sure your kid has the proper GPA. Prepare him academically. The second thing is a kid has to fit the system. If I've got a quarterback that likes to run, there's no way I'm going to send him to a pro-style offense. Same on defense. If you're going to put your hand in the dirt, you may want to look at a 4-3 system because in a 3-4, you're going to be standing up. The third thing is to have realistic goals. Lots of parents live their dreams through their child. You realize right off if a kid has the athleticism to play this sport. What brings tears to my eyes is seeing parents at camps go up to Nick Saban and say, 'This is my kid Johnny,' having the kid thinking he could go to Alabama, when that same kid could go to Furman or Elon or Alabama State and get recruited. Kids are destroying their kids with unrealistic dreams. Stop that."
3. What has made you successful at it? "Relationships. I can call Larry Fedora right now, and it won't ring twice. Kirby Smart. It won't ring twice. James Franklin. Dabo Sweeney. You name them. I was taking kids to their camps before some of them got popular. It's about treating people right, doing the right thing and not asking for anything in return. When I arrive at a camp, I ask how is their family, are they treating you right here. And it's sincere. That's how you build relationships, and it can only come from the heart." [Hill added that the talent pool at Carver has given coaches reason to pay attention. Carver's win total has declined since McGee's departure, but the Tigers are 6-0 this season: "We have a bloodline here. When coaches come to Carver, they don't look at wins and losses. The bloodline is not going to stop. When a pit bull is born, he's got that pit bull in him. They go off to college, they compete, they graduate. We produce athletes at Carver."]
4. Why do you do it? "I just wanted to help some kids. I wanted to do for kids what wasn't done for me. Nobody came up and told me to emphasize the SAT. Nobody took me to camps. Nobody showed me anything outside of Auburn and Georgia. Nobody took me up to Notre Dame in a car. We'll be gone for 10 straight days. We'll go to Indiana. Next day, go to Ohio State. Next day, go to North Carolina. I've had kids that have never seen a cow or a cornfield or the mountains. These kids are from the 'hood. When I played here, our parents didn't have the money or the time to take us there. Now, for a guy like Chris Hubbard, who just signed for $37.5 million, to write me a letter and say thanks for everything, that brings tears to my eyes. For kids to tell me things like that means everything in the world."
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