Long post ...
OK, so nobody probably remembers, but in very early November, I was on this thread trying to figure out a way to get the PSU staff to pay some attention to a public school kid I "uncovered" up here in Massachusetts.
What's happened since has kind of left me utterly confused as to the entire college football recruiting process. And, honestly, while a large part of me is interested because I think this kid would do big things for PSU, I'm trying to figure the out the potential future road now, just in case my oldest boy continues on his path (he's only 6th grade, but he was the tallest/strongest/fastest kid on the field most times this past year, playing DE, and OT ... although he's a true WR)
The story goes ... I saw this kid at a local high school game, and he just looked special. His size looked P5 DI DE, his athleticism/strength was P5 DI DE. He was playing OT/DE, but he's only playing OT because we play big boy football (for this state), and we lacked size ... if the kid has any hands, he could be a stud TE, easy. Funny thing is, I had seen him before, but never really noticed him as exceptional. This game he had apparently switched jerseys from his usually 70's number jersey (OT) to a single digit, form-fitting jersey (jersey number announced pre-game, probably for the sake of scouts, looking back). Sounds weird, but he suddenly looked the part.
Anyway, so at the time I wrote this, the kid was a junior, nearing the end of his junior season and he had JUST picked up offers from Syracuse and BC. He wasn't even ranked by 247 or Rivals.
I just don't understand the process. How is a kid like this NOT noticed earlier? How are kids noticed, in the first place?
This was a kid on a very successful football program (almost winning state, or winning state, every year), and he has the size and the attributes, and he wasn't even ranked. All this money they pump into this industry ... how are they not finding these guys? It's not like he's from some rural backwoods Montana program. It's not like he was a late bloomer ... the kid was big and good the year prior (starting as a soph on a good program on which sophs don't often start).
It turned out, his half-brother (I think ... maybe his brother, but I think they have different dads) played on the youth football team with my son this past year, and I had talked to his dad during the season a bit, as he marveled at my boy out there. So that led me to think maybe I could get in touch with the dad, and try to connect him with Franklin & Co. and collect my finder's fee.
Just before his first commitment, I had written in this thread asking how to get him noticed by PSU. The only suggestion was camps (and tweeting at positional coaches). There has to be more available than that, no?
Anyway, so shortly after that he committed to BC after receiving only those two D1 offers.
The next time I checked rankings services ... and this is only like a week, or a couple weeks, later, he's finally ranked ... but in the 750+ range (maybe top 10 MA, maybe out of the top 10 ... I can't remember) ... so I think maybe I just don't know what I'm looking at, he's just some local kid, and I should let it go ...
So, how did he go from unranked to top 750? How/when are people noticing him, and reassessing him? There wasn't much time in between me noticing he wasn't ranked, and the time he was ranked (but ranked low).
Regardless, he was committed to BC, so I gave up on my "dream" of getting him in contact with Franklin, so Franklin could benefit from my amazing scouting eye and get this somewhat hidden gem.
Dec. 1, BC fires their head coach. A couple weeks later they hire their new coach, and after that, I see that this kid is still committed to BC, so, again, I let it go.
Flash forward to months later, well after high school football season is over, and the kid is doing things (as a starter) on a perennial state-title contending basketball team. High school basketball season ends, and I finally check the kid's twitter tonight, and ...
Since the kid basically recommitted to the new coaching staff at the end of December, he received an offer from Pitt (yawn), but then ... apparently, at the end of January, he picked up an offer from MICHIGAN!
So, he plans trips to Michigan, finally decommits from BC on Feb 12, and on that same day, he receives an offer from Univ. of Tennessee! He eventually gets a UConn offer (yawn), and an invite to the Future Phenom showcase (whatever that is), and then got an offer from UVA yesterday, and Nebraska today.
So, after all this:
1. Where the eff is Franklin? This kid is a beast. He makes Vanover look completely unathletic/uncoordinated, and he's about the same size.
2. How in the heck did any of this transpire? What's the process? There wasn't much about him that changed ... he was a big guy and a starter on a top team as a soph ... and he just continued that as a junior, and he still didn't get any love at all until during the football season, his junior year ... and even then, it was slow going. 247 still has him nationally in the mid 700's, but as #5 in MA now ... but how the heck are they ranking and adjusting their rankings?
As a junior, in the middle of the football season, he was only good enough to be mid-700's nationally, with "local" lower level P5 BC and Cuse offers. He plays basketball all winter and he's still somehow mid-700's, but is getting national offers, now, with Michigan, Tennessee, Nebraska all entering the fray.
How does that happen?
3. Where the eff is Franklin? If my kid continues on as he has been, and miraculously grows to be 6'3"/6'4" (fat chance, he'll probably top out at 6'0"/6'1" but who knows as he's on pace for 6'3"ish), I'd probably be directing him to Stanford, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern type schools if he's DI material (hopefully he's not that big and I can direct him to the Ivies), but I'd still like Franklin to be dropping him an invite ... so what's the deal with Franklin's recruiting up this way? He just doesn't give a crap, and it's all "southern speed"?
Just following this particular kid's process superficially has left me with gobs of questions about both the schools processes and the recruiting services evaluations. And, the timeline/system, generally. It really seems to be very inefficient and maybe even just downright stupid.
Long post ...
OK, so nobody probably remembers, but in very early November, I was on this thread trying to figure out a way to get the PSU staff to pay some attention to a public school kid I "uncovered" up here in Massachusetts.
What's happened since has kind of left me utterly confused as to the entire college football recruiting process. And, honestly, while a large part of me is interested because I think this kid would do big things for PSU, I'm trying to figure the out the potential future road now, just in case my oldest boy continues on his path (he's only 6th grade, but he was the tallest/strongest/fastest kid on the field most times this past year, playing DE, and OT ... although he's a true WR)
The story goes ... I saw this kid at a local high school game, and he just looked special. His size looked P5 DI DE (6'4", 240), his athleticism/strength was P5 DI DE (stud bball player on a stud bball team). He was playing OT/DE, but he's only playing OT because we play big boy football (for this state), and we lacked size ... if the kid has any hands, he could be a stud TE, easy. Funny thing is, I had seen him before, but never really noticed him as exceptional. This game he had apparently switched jerseys from his usually 70's number jersey (OT) to a single digit, form-fitting jersey (jersey number announced pre-game, probably for the sake of scouts, looking back). Sounds weird, but he suddenly looked the part.
Anyway, so at the time I wrote this, the kid was a junior, nearing the end of his junior season and he had JUST picked up offers from Syracuse and BC. He wasn't even ranked by 247 or Rivals.
I just don't understand the process. How is a kid like this NOT noticed earlier? How are kids noticed, in the first place?
This was a kid on a very successful football program (almost winning state, or winning state, every year), and he has the size and the attributes, and he wasn't even ranked. All this money they pump into this industry ... how are they not finding these guys? It's not like he's from some rural backwoods Montana program. It's not like he was a late bloomer ... the kid was big and good the year prior (starting as a soph on a good program on which sophs don't often start).
It turned out, his half-brother (I think ... maybe his brother, but I think they have different dads) played on the youth football team with my son this past year, and I had talked to his dad during the season a bit, as he marveled at my boy out there. So that led me to think maybe I could get in touch with the dad, and try to connect him with Franklin & Co. and collect my finder's fee.
Just before his first commitment, I had written in this thread asking how to get him noticed by PSU. The only suggestion was camps (and tweeting at positional coaches). There has to be more available than that, no?
Anyway, so shortly after that he committed to BC after receiving only those two D1 offers.
The next time I checked rankings services ... and this is only like a week, or a couple weeks, later, he's finally ranked ... but in the 750+ range (maybe top 10 MA, maybe out of the top 10 ... I can't remember) ... so I think maybe I just don't know what I'm looking at, he's just some local kid, and I should let it go ...
So, how did he go from unranked to top 750? How/when are people noticing him, and reassessing him? There wasn't much time in between me noticing he wasn't ranked, and the time he was ranked (but ranked low).
Regardless, he was committed to BC, so I gave up on my "dream" of getting him in contact with Franklin, so Franklin could benefit from my amazing scouting eye and get this somewhat hidden gem.
Dec. 1, BC fires their head coach. A couple weeks later they hire their new coach, and after that, I see that this kid is still committed to BC, so, again, I let it go.
Flash forward to months later, well after high school football season is over, and the kid is doing things (as a starter) on a perennial state-title contending basketball team. High school basketball season ends, and I finally check the kid's twitter tonight, and ...
Since the kid basically recommitted to the new coaching staff at the end of December, he received an offer from Pitt (yawn), but then ... apparently, at the end of January, he picked up an offer from MICHIGAN!
So, he plans trips to Michigan, finally decommits from BC on Feb 12, and on that same day, he receives an offer from Univ. of Tennessee! He eventually gets a UConn offer (yawn), and an invite to the Future Phenom showcase (whatever that is), and then got an offer from UVA yesterday, and Nebraska today.
So, after all this:
1. Where the eff is Franklin? This kid is a beast. He makes Vanover look completely unathletic/uncoordinated, and he's about the same size.
2. How in the heck did any of this transpire? What's the process? There wasn't much about him that changed ... he was a big guy and a starter on a top team as a soph ... and he just continued that as a junior, and he still didn't get any love at all until during the football season, his junior year ... and even then, it was slow going. 247 still has him nationally in the mid 700's, but as #5 in MA now ... but how the heck are they ranking and adjusting their rankings?
As a junior, in the middle of the football season, he was only good enough to be mid-700's nationally, with "local" lower level P5 BC and Cuse offers. He plays basketball all winter and he's still somehow mid-700's, but is getting national offers, now, with Michigan, Tennessee, Nebraska all entering the fray.
How does that happen?
3. Where the eff is Franklin? If my kid continues on as he has been, and miraculously grows to be 6'3"/6'4" (fat chance, he'll probably top out at 6'0"/6'1" but who knows as he's on pace for 6'3"ish), I'd probably be directing him to Stanford, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern type schools if he's DI material (hopefully he's not that big and I can direct him to the Ivies), but I'd still like Franklin to be dropping him an invite ... so what's the deal with Franklin's recruiting up this way? He just doesn't give a crap, and it's all "southern speed"?
Just following this particular kid's process superficially has left me with gobs of questions about both the schools' processes and the recruiting services' evaluations. And, the timeline/system, generally. It really seems to be very inefficient and maybe even just downright stupid. I get it ... these aren't the best and brightest minds, but they should at least be a bit better at their selected craft. This just seems like a mess ...
I think we’d take all of them. Don’t forget Clifford is committed already too. Safeties are needed and Davis might grow into an OLB.
I’ve lost track of this stuff for awhile. Wasn’t this kid committed to Penn State at one point?
According to Rivals he hasn’t visited Bama, LSU, Nebraska, Tenn, or PSU.
I trust Franklin and Seider to figure it out
Yea, saw similar rumors. Seems A&M is willing to take him. I will trust Franklin on this one.
Among the least surprising sentences in the world.
I agree that if any truth to this, he’s A&M bound. Jimbo Fisher could care less about character.
