Recruiting- How the times have changed…
As much as I try to remain unbiased in a lot of ways, it is hard for me to not to show my love for the University of Illinois. I was brainwashed at a young age by my father to love most things Chicago and it stuck. I’m a die hard Illini fan living in Utah where I shed tears of joy when Deron Williams was selected by the Jazz a few years ago. What does this have to do with recruiting? I want the Illini to do well. I want them to get the next Deron Williams. Recruiting has changed since I was in high school.
When I was in high school the methods were simple. I’m 34 years old but there was no internet in 1991. We didn’t have cell phones in 1991 that were worth anything. We would play high school basketball and summer ball was just starting to get big. Things have changed with the internet in a number of ways starting with websites and companies completely devoted to the recruitment of players in all sports. I subscribe to an Illini website that I love to get all the latest updates there in basketball and football. Coaches used to write letters and call the players. Now the coaches write letters, call on the phone and text message like crazy. Recently text messaging came into question by the NCAA and is probably going to be regulated. Some players were saying they get texts in all hours of the day, so much so that they have handlers or people who handle their recruitment for them.
Shoe companies, who were once smaller players, have taken over college athletics. Nike and Adidas have camps and sponsor traveling AAU teams in the summer and have an influence on kids decisions whether they push it that way or not. It is a factor in recruiting.
Something that I think has the largest effect are the message boards that are out there. These free message boards allow people to post opinions on certain players and recruits and are accessible by anyone with an account. If a kid is being recruited by Illinois he can go to the message board and see how much he is either liked or disliked and that has an obvious effect on recruiting. I cringe when I go to the Illinois site that I subscribe to because people type things in there that could really turn a recruit off to the school and the program. Disparaging remarks about a coach can be made and other recruits that are coming in. Vice versa, good comments can help in a positive way.
These are just some of the ways that recruiting has changed in college athletics and with each turn in technology it changes more and more.
August 4th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Speaking of the Illini, how is it that they don’t land Dunigan and Humphrey? They go all the way to Oregon? You’re right about the change in recruiting. I subscribed to a college recruiting site for many years. I became overrun with the kind of fans you hate to sit next to at games. Heckling a pitcher in the majors is one thing, but saying a 19 year old college athlete sucks is another.
August 4th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I agree the whole recruiting process these days are completely different. I couldn’t even imagine what the top recruits are going through, having highlight footage put on Youtube. They become celebrities before they even play a college game. There cell phone bills become outragous, and they have to put there numbers as unlisted in hopes to not get calls every sec. of every day. I was glad to hear that the NCAA banned coaches from texting recruits.
Years ago when I was a senior in High School, I remember being annoyed when I would hear from coaches that were recruiting me every single day. That was me, and I was in no way a high recruit. I mean I had two schools basically gunning for me, and I would hear from them everyday. So again I agree, things have changed.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am
I don’t know how the Illini didn’t land Dunigan and Humphrey. They have played ball together for years growing up and had decided that they were going to go to the same school. Illinois wanted both but apparently they felt more loved in Eugene. I won’t miss Humphrey personally, but Dunigan will be a very good player. Like Dal said, you can you can go to youtube and pull up videos of these kids or subscribe to sites and get footage of these kids.
My least favorite thing about the site is reading the fans just tear these kids for choosing certain schools or not choosing certain schools. Most of these players nobody has ever even seen play including myself.