The Modern Recruiting Trail
By 
The Athletic has a nice collection of quotes from top level high school football recruits. The stereotype of the lunkhead football player dies hard, but these kids seem to have a pretty good grip on the system, on their place within it, and on their own personal value. A few of the Qs along with a few of the As…
On the money:
Did you sign with the school that offered you the best NIL deal? If not, how much did you leave on the table to sign with where you ultimately decided to go?
• It wasn’t a big difference for me in terms of the total package. All the schools offered about $300,000 to $400,000 per year with the ability to earn more.
• I left some money on the table, about $50,000. But I signed with my dream school.
• The dollar figures were similar so NIL wasn’t a priority for me. I’m worried about the big bucks later. My relationship with the coaches, watching them practice and seeing it was really was the biggest factor.
On the attention:
How many calls a day did you get from reporters about your recruitment on average? Did you ever let someone else — a family or friend — do an interview for you because you didn’t want to deal with the media?
• Usually two to three calls a day, and I always did the interviews.
• I did about four or five interviews a day and now I wish I would’ve thought about letting somebody else do it for me.
• I did 10 to 12 interviews a week, and I usually spread them out with two to three a day. My dad taught me that if you take an interview, you do it.
• I didn’t respond to all of them, but it was about six or seven calls/texts a day. In the beginning, I didn’t know how to do them. I had my coach do it. Then, my mom took over. She wasn’t happy with some of the things I was saying.
And there’s fun to be had…
Did you partake in any trolling of fan bases with comments on social media for your personal enjoyment?
• A little bit. I’d put out photos of myself at a school I wasn’t visiting just to see what people might say. There were times I’d put out like statements — like you’d do if you were decommitting — to scare people. You just need to have fun sometimes.
• I loved messing with fan bases. I did that to the school I almost signed with.
• I trolled people indirectly. Usually it was our rival. As far as adding followers, I added teams to my list at times and it worked.