McD AAG: Players discuss dishonesty in recruiting

ATLANTA -- For college coaching staffs, making recruiting pitches to elite prospects can sometimes include white lies or bending of the truth in an effort to land a commitment. But in the era of social media and in a time where elite prospects often know each other for years, sometimes the wrong statement can end up costing a coach in the long run. At this week’s McDonald’s All-American Game, we caught up with several five-star prospects to get some examples of a few of the fibs they heard during the recruiting process.

“That’s definitely happened. A coach told me that he only sent a message personally to me, but he sent it to like three other players. He made it seem like it was exclusive but it wasn’t. The mistake coaches make is that they don’t know we all know each other and talk to each other. We’ll all be sitting around and we get a message from a coach one right after another. It makes you wonder if they have someone else sending the message for them to all the recruits at the same time?”

“For sure it happens. Some of the coaches were telling me from Day 1 that I would have the ball in my hands or that I wouldn’t have to earn anything I would walk in and have a spot in the starting lineup. And for me that wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

“I also had a coach, once I cut him from my list, call me a bum and hang up on me. That was something new for me, too.”

“They can be kind of deceiving or misleading. They will tell you that you’re the only guy we’re recruiting but us players talk to each other and one of your friends will tell you about how hard they are recruiting them. They do stuff like that all the time and I don’t think they realize the effect it can have.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve really been talking to coaches since I’ve been committed for so long, but it’s their job to go out and tell you what you want to hear so they can get you to their school. I feel like every school told me I was their top priority, whether that was true or not.”