Recruiting game never ends
Player procurement is year-round process

The letters for Evangel Christian Academy's Dan Kreamer come in bunches -- three, four times a week. It has been this way since the end of last football season back in December.College football recruiting, you see, has no offseason.For every player like West Monroe's Shomari Clemons who ends the recruiting process early with a commitment (Clemons chose LSU late Sunday), there are others like Kreamer who go through the process.He received his first recruiting letter before the start of his junior year. - College Football -
Now, before the start of his senior year, he has scholarship offers from Mississippi State, Tulsa, Northwestern and Northwestern State. He is also hearing from LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma State."It's been OK. It's always been pretty crazy, as soon as last season was over,'' Kreamer says.Despite the initial craziness, Kreamer plans on going through the process -- the calls, the letters, the visits and finally the decision.The craziness extends not just to recruits, but to the college coaches as well. - College Football -
Seasons change but recruiting remains."I don't know if it ever stops,'' Northwestern State head coach Scott Stoker says. "I don't think it ever does.''SummerThere is no summer vacation in the football recruiting world. In fact, summer is often one of the most important times of the year in recruiting.Colleges have taken their camps and turned them into mini-scouting combines. Coaches watch players go through drills and physical testing. They get the players' 40-times, shuttle speeds and bench press reps."It's a chance for us to get to see them,'' Stoker says. "You have all of these other times and other stuff."There's been two or three kids every year we probably wouldn't have recruited if they hadn't been to our camp.''If coaches like a player enough, then they'll offer him a scholarship. - College Football -
Camps, though, aren't limited to just campus sites anymore.Louisiana Tech took its senior camps to Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans this year in addition to its camp on campus in Ruston.Northwestern State took a camp to New Orleans."It is probably more for smaller schools,'' Louisiana Tech offensive coordinator Conroy Hines says of the camps-off-campus trend. "If we want to go see guys in south Louisiana, it's a little difficult for them to come up to Ruston. It's a lot easier for 15 of us to get down there."We had 200 kids in New Orleans and 200 kids in Baton Rouge show up. .. - College Football -
It's been a good thing for us.''Campers often times make good recruits. Hines estimates about 50 percent of Tech's high school signees last year were also campers.FallWhile the season is being played on the field, there is another season being played off the field -- recruiting.In September, coaches begin making their calls to recruits and also evaluating prospects more closely.At Tech, the Bulldogs' coaches take Wednesday and Thursday nights during the season to concentrate on recruiting.The practice is common throughout college football."We take one afternoon where we put the stuff down and everyone is in their office making phone calls,'' Stoker says.This is the time when the recruiting board also gets whittled down.NSU's board has approximately 700 to 1,000 names on it now. - College Football -
It will be cut to "a workable number by December,'' Stoker says.Says Hines: "We start whittling them down on those Wednesdays and Thursday nights when we talk to them on the phone, see how their visits are set up. In the month of November, we really whittle it down even more.''WinterDecember and January are the months most fans associate with recruiting. Recruits take official visits. Verbal commitments become more common. Finally, signing day arrives in February."December is when you want to have your plan of attack and who you want to go after,'' Hines says. - College Football -
"For us, it's closing the deal."The big boys are going to bring in kids on official visits during the season. We haven't done that. December and January is the time to close the deal.''Even signing day doesn't mean recruiting is over."We bring our preferred list two or three weeks after signing day of players who didn't get signed that we think are good players and might be interested in coming to our place,'' Stoker says."Then you're right back on the board because you've already gotten your junior names. That's why I try to keep certain guys in certain areas because they know what is coming up.''SpringThe spring starts the recruiting process. The juniors list serves as a guide for coaches as they go on the road in April and May."In February and March, you start evaluating kids that are juniors and going to be seniors,'' says Hines. "You go out and see them in late April and early May and then you try to get them to come to your camps in the summer."And the cycle continues.'' - College Football -

Scott Ferrell