How early is too early for colleges to recruit players for football?
Ninth grade? Middle school? The crib?
Last weekend, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier turned heads by offering a scholarship to one of the top middle school players from the Atlanta area. The projected star is Dominick Blaylock, a son of former NBA All-Star Mookie Blaylock and an eighth-grader at Cobb County’s Dickerson Middle School.
As awkward as it seems, colleges making scholarship offers to players who have yet to reach high school is a growing trend in football recruiting. LSU made national headlines last March for accepting a commitment from a Texas quarterback who was in the eighth grade. The Florida Gators offered an eighth grader from Orlando a few weeks ago.
How early is too early? Some of the nation’s top coaches weigh in:
Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss: "I'm going to answer it two ways. I think offering kids (in middle school or ninth grade) is way too early, but I will be guilty of doing the same thing because it's the world we're in. Does that make sense? If I had my choice, I'd say we don't offer anybody until after the completion of his junior football season. That would be my preference.
“I’ve been a high school coach and I’ve talked to the high school coaches. I just don’t see it being good for anybody by doing what we’re doing. But I am guilty. I’m not sitting here saying I’m not doing the same thing. But if I could draw up any way I wanted, I’d say we couldn’t offer anybody until after his junior season. That would best for all the high schools, the student-athletes and us in college. I don’t know if that makes sense to you. I’m not for it, but I’m guilty of it.”
Les Miles, LSU: "The young player, you question whether or not he will ever be good enough. If that player has very visual and easy-to-evaluate keys such as size, speed, strength and he's a physical player, it's easy to offer those guys. You also know that they're good students and a little bit about their family. You know that they are going to be motivated and move in the path that will give them great success. It becomes an easy thing to do, to be honest.
“You don’t do it very often because you can’t predetermine some guys. But the guys that you can? You didn’t make a mistake. You knew that that eighth or ninth grader could really play. … There have been some other guys that I can’t mention right now who naturally have instincts and ability that are going to project them as a very, very early player in college. When you combine that with what LSU does with them once we get them on our campus, if, Lord willing, they avoid injury, they’ll end up being NFL players.”
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: "We offered a high school freshman a few weeks ago. And I said I would never do it. But we had a kid … who fit for what we look for. We went ahead and made that offer. It was a little unusual for us. We like to stick with juniors because you really don't know how a young player is going to develop. Our concern and my concern is with the high school coaches and trying to keep the focus of their players on their team. …
“But unfortunately a lot of things going on out there are not going to change. Everybody is trying to be the first in the door. And I think it’s going to be the future. You’re going to see a lot of early offers because of the availability of video out there for these college coaches to access. It wasn’t as easy to access in the past. Now you can find video of young man even down to the eighth grade.”
Al Golden, Miami: "I thought we had rules that we couldn't do that before certain age in football. Don't they have to be in high school? Obviously, I think at the very earliest, they should be in high school (before getting an offer). It is moving up in recruiting, though. I think the proliferation of (Internet) information is moving up. For us to make those early offers, we really want to either have a previous connection or they are kids who have been around your program. They've come up through your camps and they've been around you a lot and you know enough about them."
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma: "I don't know. I don't think you can ever say for sure when (too early) is. What year was Myron Rolle coming out? I offered him as a ninth-grader in 2006. He ended up playing at Florida State. I don't you can set a limit on it. I think it's risky just because you don't know what's going to happen over that period of time."
Butch Jones, Tennessee: "Kids develop differently. They develop at different stages. It's easy to throw an offer out there. We try to guard against that. You know, you're looking into a crystal ball and you're trying to project the future. Like I've said, they are like our children. They all develop at different paces at different stages. I have an eight-year-old right now, and if anybody is interested in offering him a scholarship, I'm all ears. I'd love to listen to it."
