Zips on the Cutting Edge of Recruiting

[Captain Kangaroo]

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

From his seat inside Detroit's Comerica Park this past July during the Major League Baseball All-Star game, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis bided his time by sending text messages to prospective football recruits.

Never mind that it occurred during the NCAA "quiet" period, when coaches are not allowed to talk to high school prospects unless they are on campus.

Under the definition of NCAA rules, electronically transmitted correspondences such as text messaging, e-mail, Instant Messenger and facsimiles do not constitute a telephone call and are permissible.

As a result, college football recruiting has gone high-tech. And coaches are now keeping their Blackberries and Sidekicks next to their whistles and clipboards.

"We text every single day, and it is a very, very integral part of recruiting now," Weis said, "because it counts as an electronic message rather than a phone call and I would say that we talk to several recruits every single day by text."

One of those text messages is designated for Woodland Hills senior Darrin Walls, the nation's top cornerback. Although Walls doesn't have his own cellular phone, he finds the Electronic Age of Recruiting a convenience for recruiters and recruits alike.

"My top schools - Pitt, Notre Dame, Michigan and Florida - they text message my dad and I receive them," Walls said. "And they all e-mail me little quotes, ask how things are going. If they want me to call them, they'll e-mail me.

"I think it's better because they don't call as much. They can get in contact with me without having to talk to me on the phone. I think it's a better way to recruit."

Several WPIAL recruits experienced the difference firsthand last Thursday, when they were besieged by phone calls during the start of the NCAA "contact" period.

"I just kept getting calls and calls and calls," Walls said. "It was crazy. I would be talking to one coach and another would call. I'd tell him to call back in 10 minutes. Then another would call, and I'd tell him to call back in 15 minutes."

Franklin Regional senior Brad Phillips actually informed Northwestern's coaching staff by text message in July that he was ready to make a verbal commitment. He contacted assistant James Patton, who text messaged back a time when head coach Randy Walker would be in his office.

"It opens up the communication a lot more," Phillips said. "Calling them, you don't know if they're going to be in the office or not. And they can't call you until after Sept. 1.

"From hearing what my dad (Duane) went through when he was getting recruited in high school, it's a lot different."

Penn-Trafford's computer-savvy quarterback Tyler Huether receives e-mails on a regular basis from Akron, Louisville, North Carolina State and Toledo. Huether said he sometimes prefers the electronic communication.

"They send e-mail or text message on a cell phone," Huether said. "The messages say, 'We want to keep in touch.' Or 'keep working hard.' You get it right away and can call right back."

Kiski Area senior Mychal Skinner receives interest in a variety of ways. He keeps a Scout.com recruiting analyst updated by IMs. Skinner receives e-mails from Akron, Connecticut, Eastern Michigan and Pitt. And he also gets text messages from schools on his cell phone.

"It is an easier way, truthfully," Skinner said. "You don't have to deal with it. You just get on the e-mail. If they send you something, you just send it back."

Even the simplest forms of communication can open new doors for some prospects. Perry Traditional Academy quarterback Desmond Brentley has a cell phone and is proficient with text messaging, but he had never used e-mail before until a college recruiter mentioned it.

"I got e-mail just for that purpose," said Brentley, who receives them regularly from Buffalo and Illinois. "They sent a schedule, a few comments here and there."

Akron assistant coach Joe Moorhead, a Central Catholic graduate, appears to be one of the more aggressive recruiters when it comes to e-mail and text messages. He has contacted Brentley, Huether, Baldwin cornerback Cart Kelly and Woodland Hills receiver Wes Lyons that way.

"I like the text messaging," Brentley said. "It's easier and quicker. It's a convenient way when they can't talk to you. Mail takes a couple days. You can send a text and let them know they're thinking of you.

"They say something like, 'Think Akron.' It does work, like they're really thinking about you. If he took time out to text message me, it lets you know how they feel."

Lyons, in fact, said he received a text message from Moorhead following the top-ranked Wolverines' 48-28 victory over No. 2 Gateway last Friday night. Instead of calling back, Lyons simply text messaged the score.

Electronic contact also is used to set up phone conversations, which are permissible year-round if initiated by the prospect. Coaches can skirt the rules by sending a message for a recruit to call them at a certain time.

"It is kind of easier because you can talk any time you want," Kelly said. "There are regulations with talking on the phone. If you want to say something, you just text and it's done. It doesn't turn into a half-hour conversation."

And Weis, who is new to the college game, is among the coaches already mastering the art of keeping conversations to a minimum while keeping contact at a maximum.

"Any time you have an opportunity to let the kids know you're thinking of them when they would not think you were thinking of them," Weis said. "You either text them before a game, and then you text them after a game to follow up on what happened. I'm not doing anything that everyone else isn't doing. I just think that it's become just part of what you have to do."