ORLANDO — College coaches will say or do almost anything to recruit highly-ranked prospects. We asked the players during Under Armour All-America Game check-in what strange recruiting tactics college coaches used to try to land their commitment.
“Somebody called me, I’m not going to say their name, from a private plane and said ‘Your seat is right here.'”
*****
“On one of my official visits we actually got to ride in the head coach’s boat as a way of saying I’m part of their family now. That was a first. It kind of fooled me. Then I realized it’s just a boat ride and not the actual school so I snapped out of it.”
*****
“I had a school contact a girl from that school to be friends with me and kind of lead me towards the school. Her uncle worked for the school. I saw through that.”
*****
“At Kentucky, a coach decided to recruit me by bringing the type of women Kentucky, I guess, has going to their school. He tried to bring women into the equation when trying to recruit me, which I thought was a little weird. At Ohio State, coach Alford also called it ‘dating,’ as in recruiting me. He wanted to court me and he wanted my parents’ permission. I thought it was a little out of the ordinary.”
*****
“One was talking about NIL and how much my starting position would be making. I heard that from multiple schools and it didn’t make an impact on me.”
*****
“One school was talking about how they’ve got all the girls. I wanted to hear about football. The girls are going to be there. I ain’t worried about that.”
*****
“When other schools talked down about other schools. I didn’t get that. That made me feel like you don’t feel as confident in your school. I don’t really mess with that type of stuff.”
*****
“‘I call you more than I call my wife.’ That was weird to me. I’m not going to tell you which coach said that.”
*****
“Every week Maryland would come up to watch practice. After school coach Brew would go to our local wing spot to get some wings and pizza for everybody. We would all be in the coaches office talking about football and that kind of thing.”
