High
School Football Coaches Making Calls
Recruiting season busy for coaches and players
trying to find the “right fit.”
Eric J. Gilmore
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Photo by Robbie Hammer/Gazette Packet
T.C. Williams’ Jamal Ford is waiting on a ruling that will determine whether
he can play another season after being reclassified from a sophomore to a
senior.
|
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Photo by Louise Krafft/Gazette
Packet
Because T.C. Williams head coach Dennis Randolph was hired in April of 2007,
he missed helping his rising seniors get hooked up with college recruiters
last spring.
|
The
high school football season might still be seven months away, but Bishop Ireton
head coach Tony Verducci still spends hours after
school analyzing tape. In the peak of recruiting season, Verducci,
like many others, is inundated with sending out highlight reels and trying to
find places for his soon-to-be-departing seniors.
While the crop in Alexandria doesn’t tout a blue-chip recruit like West
Potomac’s Jimmy Bennett, who is set to sign with the University of Connecticut
on National Signing Day, area high coaches are still busying dealing with
college recruiters.
“It’s certainly not a down time,” Verducci said.
“It’s just a different time.”
Since there isn’t a bona fide Division I recruit — outside of possibly Ireton’s
Andrew Rodriguez — finding schools willing to take a senior who might be a step
slow or possess a poor transcript can sometimes be tough and time consuming.
“We spend a lot of time putting together highlight films for college coaches
and acting as liaisons,” Verducci said. “You want to
make sure that your players wind up in a good situation where they are a good
fit at the school.”
Such is the life of a high school football coach, who sacrifices his time so
that the departing seniors to have an opportunity for college. For instance, Verducci, like many others, has teamed with assistants
Frank McCallister and Matt Shea to form a
three-pronged recruiting attack. Shea, who was the defensive quality control
coach with the Washington Redskins in 2006, assists the seniors in selecting
10-12 plays, while the coaches choose an individual’s best half.
“When you’re busy trying to look through 12 games of film, there’s a lot to
watch,” Verducci, who is hoping to land 12 seniors
with colleges, said. “That’s a good problem to have.”
And according to Verducci, it’s an almost
never-ending process — even after National Signing Day, which is Feb. 5.
“I probably spend an hour or two a day, whether it’s
e-mail contact or phone calls with coaches,” Verducci
said. “Coach Shea probably spends another 30 minutes at school, when the
coaches visit.”
And no recruitment seems to be the same. One college assistant may think that
the player doesn’t fit their system, or maybe doesn’t have the frame to add
weight, while the very next recruiters may covet an undersized player with a
strong work ethic or be more apt to take a chance on one with a risky academic
background.
In the case of Ireton’s Rodriguez, a projected linebacker, his stellar
academics interested several Ivy League schools, including Princeton, as well
as Army, where a sibling attends.
In choosing between the two elite institutions, Rodriguez could join Bishop
O’Connell’s Matt Dillon, who verbally committed to Army earlier in the season.
“[Matt] wanted to go to a nationally recognized institution,” said O’Connell
head coach Steve Trimble. “He wanted to go to a high academic institution with
great facilities and great prestige.”
But Trimble, who has two sons already at West Point, insists that he didn’t
sway Dillon one way or the other. He merely introduced the two parties, and
made sure there was an open and candid communication.
As the son of a high school coach Verducci agrees,
knowing that the truth is sometimes glared when speaking with impressionable
17-year-olds.
“I’m not just trying to sell a young man to a school,” Verducci
said. “I’m trying to wait for the school to sell itself to the young man.”
For the public high school coaches, the process can often be tougher. Trying to
place a kid with a lesser-known school, whether it is Division II, III, a prep
school or junior college, often can be tougher to open the lines of
communication.
For instance T.C. Williams’ Jamal Ford is waiting on a high school ruling on
whether he could play an additional season after jumping from the sophomore
classification to a senior because of his age.
“We’re really kind of just waiting and seeing right now,” Randolph said. “In
another month, we’ll know a lot better.”
Ford, after the ruling, could explore several options, with possibilities
including junior college, prep school, a grayshirt season or enrolling at a lower-level school.
“I think JUCO’s are awesome,” said Washington-Lee
head coach Josh Shapiro said. “They are a great
solution for a kid that wants to get the grades, loves football and wants to
get a degree. You can turn that into a four-year opportunity.”
But Shapiro knows that despite all of his efforts, the athletes
is the ultimate responsible party.
“High school is great, but college is a higher level,” Shapiro said. “It
doesn’t matter if you go D-III, II or I, you’ve got to be that much more
committed. It’s all about these kids growing up and maturing and realizing
they’ve got to ante up and work a little harder.”
However, the recruiting crapshoot can also often depend on the coaches, who
serve as influential gatekeepers between the parents and recruiters.
For Randolph, who replaced Greg Sullivan in April of 2007, it meant that he’d
already missed the college assistants visiting schools during the spring
“When you come in, in April, you’re just a little behind the eight-ball,”
Randolph said. “You haven’t seen the kids play so you don’t know what kind of
talent you have.”
For Verducci, a fellow first-year coach, it means his
program is on the line.
“What’s critically important for me trying to build a program is to develop
credibility with college coaches so that you hear the good, the bad and the
ugly,” Verducci said.
“I will not oversell anyone because at the end of the day, when it becomes May,
I want coaches to come back and look at my rising seniors. I want them to call
back next year.”
Quotables:
“What’s critically important for me trying to build a
program is to develop credibility with college coaches so that you hear the good,
the bad and the ugly.
—Tony Verducci, Bishop Ireton head coach
“It’s certainly not a down time. It’s just a different time…I probably spend an
hour or two a day, whether it’s e-mail contact or
phone calls with coaches.”
— Tony Verducci, Bishop Ireton head coach
“I think JUCO’s are awesome…They are a great solution
for a kid that wants to get the grades, loves football and wants to get a
degree. You can turn that into a four-year opportunity.”
—Josh Shapiro, Washington-Lee head coach
Photo by Robbie Hammer/Gazette Packet
T.C. Williams’ Jamal Ford is waiting on a ruling that will determine whether he
can play another season after being reclassified from a sophomore to a senior.
Photo by Louise Krafft/Gazette
Packet
Because T.C. Williams head coach Dennis Randolph was hired in April of 2007, he
missed helping his rising seniors get hooked up with college recruiters last
spring.