Recruits and Parents of Recruits Financial Relief

Many recruits and parents had a feeling of relief in their wallets when the NCAA banned text messaging. Parents and players are already paying enough for their cell phones and plans, but they had to deal with the constant texts from coaches. Early in a player’s recruiting process they are considering so many teams that they feel obligated to text back the coach to show him that he might have some interest. This obligation makes players text to the maximum of what most people do. Throughout the whole process, which for many starts during their junior year, the expenses pile above what the kids or parents can afford. Of course the time when the coaches text the most is when signing day comes around. Coaches want to make their last push on as many recruits as they can. The recruits, if undecided, get numerous texts from numerous programs just like they did at the beginning of their recruiting process. These costs are many times overwhelming to whoever has to pay the bills for the cell phone and plan. When the NCAA banned text messaging many recruits and parents of recruits pockets got to fill back up to where they were before the text messaging era.

Text Messaging Ban

The ban of text messaging by coaches to players is a fair and just rule that the NCAA plans to uphold. If text messaging was not banned by the NCAA then coaches would be constantly on their recruits. I have a friend who was being recruited when text messaging was a legal form of recruitment. I remember him coming out of school at the end of the day checking his phone and having fifteen new text messages all from college football coaches recruiting him. It’s funny that he always complained to me about how much they were always on him but the year after he went to school the NCAA bans text messaging. Text messaging by coaches was too much. The phone calls that these athletes have are plenty to handle along with their schoolwork and practices trying to finish the last year or two of high school that they have. Text messaging is the one form of media that I disagree with in college football recruiting.

NCAA to keep text messaging ban in place (article on ESPN)
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2967872

The Change of College Football Recruiting by the Media

College football recruiting has evolved into a public affair. In the early ages of college football recruiting the public was not as aware of what teams were offering what players. Today you can look on sites like rivals.com and espn.com to find out what the website ranks a high school football player. A person can view a player's pictures, statistics, even many of their highlights from high school. People can view what teams are offering the player and the order of schools that the student-athlete is considering to go to school and play football at. Today, someone can follow a player throughout his whole process and be aware of everything that happened. The media has completely changed the recruiting process. In the past people had no idea about players, but today they can find all the information they want on someone by the quick click of a mouse.
Following players that you have heard of and seen play is interesting, especially when the player you follow is a person you know well or even a teammate. I’ve had the opportunity to follow a family member through his whole process and viewing all of his information on statistics. I was always informed with the latest news of what was going on with him. Even seeing a player that you’ve never heard of is fun when you see what amazing statistics they have put up in the past. Simply going to a recruiting website and looking up a player and watching videos and kind of scout him yourself is a very popular thing to do. Other players also like viewing what their peers are doing in the same process that there in. The information people can obtain about these players is almost as in-depth of a pro football player. I could stay on websites like rivals and espn to look at recruiting for hours.