Friday, July 03, 2009
Doughty finds column in bingo parlor
Wily veteran Cavanaugh talks recruiting
Doug Doughty
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A tip that Virginia had received two football commitments Thursday caused me to run late for a bingo fundraiser I was working.
The bingo manager, who is a Virginia Tech fan with some knowledge of the recruiting scene, asked for the names of the two UVa recruits and then asked, “Why are these kids committing so early?”
The two UVa-bound players, Connor Davis and Henry Coley, bring to 21 the number of in-state players who already have committed to Division I-A programs for 2010.
Early commitments are nothing new, but I’m at a loss to explain what the attraction is.
“I’m at a loss, too,” said Virginia Tech recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh, who reminded me today that he was at VMI when I was getting out of college and beginning my tenure at The Roanoke Times.
(For the record, I began work at The Roanoke Times on July 15, 1974, which means I am about to “celebrate” my 35th anniversary at the newspaper, where I still have the same phone number despite working at three different desks. Cavanaugh had just joined the VMI staff as receivers coach after working at N.C. State as a grad assistant from 1972-73).
In any case, recruiting was a lot different in 1974, when, if I’m not mistaken, the signing date was in December – two months earlier than it is now. I’m not sure that there was even a scholarship limit at the time.
Back then, hardly anybody committed before their senior year of high school. Cavanaugh remembers Penn State as one of the first schools to push for early commitments. But they hadn’t really become widespread until the last five years or so.
“It’s just sort of snowballed,” Cavanaugh said. “Each succeeding class sees what happened with the class in front of them. I think [early offering] started with Penn State in the mid-‘90s or late-‘90s, then Virginia adopted that because of Penn State, then Tech had to adopt it, too...
“Now, everybody’s that way. It’s like there’s an unwritten law that kids have to have their school picked out before school starts and when practice starts for their senior year. It’s like they want to get it off their mind.”
Last week’s Notebook Plus column dealt with all the quarterbacks who have made early commitments, “but it’s not just the quarterbacks,” Cavanaugh said.
Tech has 11 commitments and Virginia, for its paucity of in-state commitments before Thursday, now has eight.
“I just think there’s an attitude that has permeated the high schools and you’ve got the recruiting services now, too,” Cavanaugh said. “I think that’s a huge, huge force on this stuff.
“Right now, I’ve seen more stuff about sophomores on the Internet than ever before. I think all the media, all the ESPN shows, has just moved things up. Look at basketball."
Whoever thought the NCAA would have to put in a rule for seventh- or eighth-graders?
“I just think it’s part of our culture. I don’t think it’s any one thing. As college coaches, we’ve got to go with the flow or we’ll get left behind.”
At my contention that more mistakes are being made in evaluation because of the early commitments, Cavanaugh responded, “I don’t think there’s any doubt. Quite honestly, what is happening when you make these early offers is, I don’t think every person who has been offered a scholarship has been seen in person.”
MANY DIVISION I-A PROGRAMS now hold one-day camps, mostly to see a prospect in person – not how he performs but to gauge whether he is as big or as fast as billed.
Matt Arkema, an offensive lineman from Midlothian High School, had been to Virginia Tech three times before he committed to the Hokies this week. There had been some early questions about Arkema’s height but, clearly, the Tech coaches have had a good look at him.
“One-day camps are invaluable,” Cavanaugh said. “You get to height and weight ‘em and you get to know them. I don’t even have to height and weight ‘em. I’ve got to look in their eyes. I want to see them. I want to be around them.
“I think our one-day camps have been a huge benefit for us, I would say in the last four or five years. But, I’ll be honest with you. I always go back and check the kids I did not offer in the spring. I think that’s important. I don’t everybody does that.
“Certain kids make strides. Like [current Tech back-up quarterback] Ju Ju Clayton with me. I saw him as a junior. I saw him on film early in his senior year. Then, I saw him live late in his senior year.”
MISTAKES ARE STILL BEING made, however. And, the earlier that players make commitments, the more mistakes there will be.
Cavanaugh and I didn’t discuss this, but I do think that the volume of early commitments corresponds to the high number of total commitments. The last time that I updated my list, there were 67 football players from Virginia who signed with I-A programs in 2008.
Our state has never been deeper in Division I-A talent but I can see the total number of commitments approaching 60 again this year. Heck, I can remember years when former sports editor Bill Brill rated the top 25 prospects in Virginia and there would be VMI signees on the list.
That was the late 1970s and early 1980s, when there was no separation between I-A and I-AA. But, if there are 21 early commitments at this point, that might be one-third of the total number of I-A commitments.
When Cavanaugh was overseeing Bob Thalman’s VMI wide receivers and I was still familiarizing myself with The Roanoke Times phone system, you might not have had 21 overall.
