re: By the numbers

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Now I certainly don’t consider myself an insider in any form of the word, but I have become very good friends with a HS football coach here in FL who from time to time gives me some good inside knowledge of different programs from around the State based on his experience.

Was at this coach’s house yesterday and for the first time I flat out asked him, “What do you think of Coach Mac?” He smiled and told me the following story. (I apologize for the lengthy write-up)
This coach is fortunate enough to have a stud QB at his school. The QB is a sophomore this season so recruiting is really starting to pick up. Over summer, the QB got a call from Alabama they told him they were very interested in him and wanted him to come up for a camp. Of course, he said yes.


When he arrived, he was greeted at his car by a Bama GA in a golf cart who took him directly to the IPF. There, he was greeted by Lane and proceeded to stretch/warm up for about 30 minutes with Lane talking to him the whole time. He was with a handful of other athletes at this time. After warm ups, him and Lane walked out of the IPF and to another practice field where he threw specifically for Lane. No other QBs were there. After about 30 mins of this, Saban walked up and watched the QB throw and started talking to him. He then invited this kid to his office where they spent the next 2-3 hours chatting one-on-one. Saban said this kid was his #1 target for class of 2019 but that he typically does not offer sophomores and therefore wanted to wait a little bit a see more film out of him. Saban told him that if he continued on the path he was on, he would be getting a Bama offer in the not so distant future.



part 2: Fast forward about a week and the QB gets a call from UF (not sure which coach). UF asks him to come up for a camp. The QB agrees but his family is not in town to take him so he asks his coach (my friend) if he would drive him up there, which he of course does. One thing to mention is that my buddy is pretty good friends with Geoff Collins and with our S&C coach due to past relationships. So when they get to UF, they park at the IPF and call the number they were given to call. No answer. They then try to call Coach Collins. No answer. They try for a few minutes and get no response.

So they decide just to walk into the IPF. When they walk in there are hundreds of “little” kids camping there. They find Coach Collins and he immediately begins to apologize to them that they forgot they had a youth camp there that weekend and it was crazy. (As a side not, personally I think it’s great that we are holding these youth camps, just not sure that you want to invite a stud QB to the campus on the same weekend.) So after talking for a few minutes with Coach Collins, he tells them to walk over to the stadium, speak with Megan (I think that was the name he said) at the desk and tell her that Coach Collins said you should be given a tour of the facilities. So they do just that. When they find Megan, they tell her what Coach Collins told them.


She looks at the list that she has in front of her and says that Coach Collins didn’t put you on the list so I can’t let you in. So disappointed, they ask if they can at least see the weight room as my buddy is interested in seeing if he can find the S&C coach. They are taken to the weight room, find the S&C coach and as they are talking to them a GA walks up and tells them that they need to register for the camp. He tells them that they need to go back upstairs, fill out the registration form and pay the $40 fee. The QB says that he has no money on him. So my buddy ends up paying for him. They then tell the QB that they need his physical to take part in the camp. Well, he doesn’t have one with him. They try to explain that they were invited by the coaching staff personally and weren’t told to bring anything, but they say that he must have one. So my buddy has to drive this QB to the nearest walk-in clinic and get him a physical.

Finally, they are part 3: They go back to the IPF and someone tells them that all campers have to do 30 mins of conditioning prior to throwing. The QB says that he really wasn’t prepared to condition for 30 mins and that he thought he was just there to throw a few balls. The GA gets Coach Nuss to come over and introduces him to the QB. Nuss says that everyone has to condition. So the QB conditions. Then Nuss separates the campers and the QB is placed with the freshman and sophomore group. Now mind you, this QB is already a grown man. And now he is throwing with a bunch of “average” freshman and sophomore HS QBs who he towers over by about a foot and he is throwing to a bunch of 5’6” freshman WRs. The QB asks if he could be put in the group with the juniors and seniors. Nuss says no. A few minutes later Coach Mac walks over and says “Are you the (insert last name) boy?” The QB says yes and Mac asks him why he is throwing with the little kids. The QB said he has no idea. Apparently Nuss had no idea who he was or he didn’t seem to care too much. Now again, it would be pretty easy to recognize that this kid is no normal 16 year old. Coach Mac brings him over with the bigger kids and watches him throw a bit. At one point he pulls him over to the side with him, my buddy and Coach Nuss and begins to tell him that he spoke with Saban and Saban thinks very highly of this kid as a QB. And he says that Florida is very much interested in him as well. Nuss steps in and says something to the effect of “well, we really don’t know that much about you so we are still trying to gather a bunch of information.”
My buddy said Mac was standing behind Nuss and looked pissed as hell when he said that. Anyway, the day goes on without much else to report.


At the end of the story, my buddy tells me that on the drive to UF that day, out of the blue the QB says that if UF offers today he was going to accept it because the QB wants to play in the SEC and wants to stay in-State. He has had a couple of siblings who went off to play different sports far away from home and it hasn’t always worked out that well or been easy on the family. My buddy is surprised by this comment, but doesn’t say much to try to change his mind. Well when the QB leaves he says, “I don’t care if UF ever offers me, I’m never going there!” He said that it was the worst camping experience he has ever been on and was absolutely miserable the whole time.


On a side note, one of this kids’ first offers was from UCF. I asked my buddy what he and the boy thought about Frost and he said they are both blown away by him. The QB even said that he would seriously consider committing to UCF is it wasn’t for the fact that he knows that Frost will be gone in the next few years.
My buddy said that he actually thinks that Mac is a good guy and could be a good recruiter but there it is very obvious that there is a serious disconnect between Mac and some of the other coaches.

He said that until they get stuff straightened out and all are working on the same page, it will be tough for them to pull the elite talent especially when going against a well-oiled machine like Alabama.

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