Thursday June 07, 2007

A New Advantage

A New Advantage
As I have mentioned many times on the blog, recruiting has changed so much in the last two or three years and one of the biggest changes is the unofficial visit process.

In the past, prospects would camp at a few schools and may take a couple of unofficial visits but the official visit was a major part of the recruiting process. In football, players would wait until close to signing day to make their commitments and a late January official was the optimum date. If you had the last official visit you probably had the best shot. Schools would have to wait until the cold of winter to get a majority of their recruiting class.

The recent trend is for prospects in all sports to take many unofficial visits before his senior season and commit before the official visit process can begin. Now prospects do more research on their prospective schools much earlier. They know more about each school than ever before which means they are more educated about their decisions earlier.

I know I am biased but I think this is good for Clemson. In the past schools could negative recruit and a player had little information on their own. Sometimes they only knew what coaches told them. Today they have the internet to gather information on majors, depth charts and statistics. The prospects get to know more about the recruiting process earlier. In other words it is hard to fool kids today.

The reason I think this is good for Clemson is that I think kids like Clemson. I believe in our community. I believe in our people. I believe in Clemson.

I know Clemson is not for everyone. Some like urban environment and the faster lifestyle. But many kids like what you and I love about Clemson. When they get here on their unofficial visits they find that they like the people. They like the lake and the mountains. They like the campus. They find out that Clemson is not what some others have told them it was. They find out that it is special.

A few weeks ago I had one of my best friends tell me a great story. He is a Gamecock. He went to South Carolina and has always been a Gamecock. He has a relative that is 13-year old who lives up north that has never been to our state. My friend took the young man to Columbia and showed him the campus. They toured the baseball, basketball and football facilities. They toured Columbia. He showed the teenager the classrooms and the Horseshoe. The day ended with a $200 trip to a store to buy the young man a ton of Gamecock apparel.

The next day they went to Clemson. The 13-year old got his first look at our campus, the lake, the mountains, the athletic facilities and everything that makes Clemson Clemson.

Late that afternoon the teenager tells my Gamecock friend, “Please don’t mad but I don’t like USC. I really like Clemson and the Tigers.” The family walks into Mr. Knickerbockers with the teenager wearing Gamecock stuff but he leaves with $300 of Clemson gear.

Not everyone feels the same way as that 13-year old. Not everyone feels the same way that you and I do. But many do. Joe Sherman did and thank goodness we have “There’s Something In These Hills” to remind us every day.

Don’t get me wrong, others have it too. Athens, GA is awesome. I love Gainesville and Tuscaloosa. I can see why a kid chooses to go to school in Chapel Hill or Baton Rouge. But I also understand why a kid sees Clemson for the first time and falls in love with the place. We really do have something special here and we need to get out of our own way to let it greatness happen more often.

Today and tomorrow Clemson is hosting basketball prospect Iman Shumpert. Scout.com calls the Chicago, IL native the nation’s number 15 player in the Class of 2008. Clemson does not sign the nation’s number 15 player. If it did it would have more tradition in the sport. However, Coach Purnell and Shaka Smart have done the hard part. They have gotten Shumpert to campus. Now Clemson has a chance. In the past prospects would have to judge from what they have heard but Shumpert will get an early look.

I am not saying Clemson will sign Shumpert but they have a better chance now. By getting Shumpert on campus they can compete against Florida, Illinois, Duke, North Carolina and the other powers that are recruiting this superstar.

And it’s not just Shumpert. As I mentioned in a blog a few weeks ago Elliott Williams and Scott Suggs are also in the top 100 and interested in Clemson. Catalin Baciu and Cashmere Wright made unofficial visits and committed. In the past when Clemson signed a national type of prospect in basketball they may have had to cheat like in the 1970s. They had a chance at some in-state prospects but many of the top 100 players in South Carolina have left the state. But this is different. Shumpert is from Chicago, Williams from Memphis and Suggs is from St. Louis. Baciu lives in Fletcher and Wright is from Savannah. Their recruiting came down to hard work by the staff and the unofficial visits.

In football the Tigers have nine commitments and I know that at least eight of the nine players have already been on campus and I think the ninth one has also. Nine football commitments before football camp. Nine before the end of their junior year in high school. Nine commitments partly because of the unofficial visits.

Maybe it won’t be Shumpert, Williams or Suggs. Maybe it will have to wait until some other national-type prospect in another year. In football maybe a national top 10 player will see what James Davis and C.J. Spiller saw. I like the fact that they see it earlier than before and get educated to what Clemson is all about at an earlier age.

864-834-6060

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency