High School Football Recruits Are Not Celebrities

Brett In Chicago8 years ago

Let me start by admitting that I am an unabashed follower of college football recruiting. The kids committing or signing with your team out of high school are the future and obviously play a large role in whether or not your team will be any good. Thus, I monitor it closely.

However, an increasingly annoying trend among these high school recruits has developed in recent years. The advent of Twitter, coupled with the widespread coverage of recruiting, has elevated many of these kids, in their own minds, to celebrity status.

When I originally began following recruiting back in the early 2000s you would hear about X recruit having a dozen or so offers and then eventually he would commit somewhere. Or, he would let whichever recruiting site that was interviewing know which schools were at the top of his list.

Now, thanks to Twitter, these cocky fucks are releasing their “Top 15” or “Top 10.” I even saw one the other day where a middle-tier prospect from Independence, Mo. released his “Top 11.” A top 11, really? You can’t take off one more team and at least make it a nice even number, you schmuck?

And the way they reveal these lists is the most obnoxious part.

It’ll be a tweet that says some variation of “No interviews please. Respect my decision.” And it’s usually accompanied by a photo of them with the logos of the schools who made their list surrounding them. Some will even add a screenshot from their Notes in which they’ve written a paragraph explaining how hard of a decision this was for them. See below.

No interviews? What reporter is trying to contact one of these kids after they release a list of the top 11 schools they are considering? I want to slap that person in the face. And why on earth do I care about who your top 11 schools are? You only get to pick one, kid. How on earth does it take many sleepless nights and hours of praying to release a list of 12 schools you might attend.

Get the fuck over yourself.

Unfortunately, these things are retweeted and favorited by thousands and plenty of pathetic fans are all up in these kids’ mentions begging them to choose their school. Which is the desired result of the recruit, to get as much attention and love as possible. To have people fawn over them. It’s why so many release multiple lists of schools they are choosing from.

The other element to this is the recruits being incredibly touchy if they are criticized. Hence the “respect my decision” phrase each one attaches to their list. While I don’t endorse threatening a 17-year-old or wishing them harm because he doesn’t want to play football at your school, I think it’s precious that these kids don’t want to take any flak whenever they release these lists. If you don’t want to be told you’re a no-talent pussy who won’t see the field somewhere then don’t release a list on a social media platform. With the adulation comes some hate. That’s life.

Now please, stop pretending like you’re about to find a cure for cancer each time you’re ready to let the world know what schools you’re considering catching passes at. You’re only a year or so away from carrying the starters’ pads..