There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “There are three sports in (fill in the blank): Football, spring football and football recruiting. And recruiting is year-round.”
It used to apply to just the South, including Texas and Oklahoma.
Now, with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s satellite program passing NASA at full sprint the space race is on everywhere. There’s no such thing anymore as specific “recruiting territory” with the advent of Coaches Without Borders.
Except, apparently, the SEC and especially Alabama don’t cotton much to raids by outsiders.
The complaints voiced by Nick Saban and other coaches from The Greatest Sports Conference of All-Time Just Ask Them have the rest of college football crying a river … of tears from laughing so hard. This is especially true after the NCAA reversed its field to allow satellite camps (where a school’s coaches can basically work with and work on high school kids at any camp they wish, regardless of distance from the school in question).
That’s why Harbaugh is at Saint Louis School today for the “Summer Swarm.” He’s trying to get a khaki’d leg up on the University of Hawaii, dozens of other colleges and Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman High School in recruiting the best prospects from the state that has produced a Heisman Trophy winner and runner-up in the past four years.
It’s one of more than 30 such camps Michigan coaches are involved in, including later this summer in Australia and Samoa. If those other Wolverines in “Red Dawn” had this much range in 1989, Patrick Swayze’s squad could’ve taken the fight to Moscow. In the 2012 remake, it’s Chris Hemsworth and the battles are in Spokane, Wash., instead of Calumet, Colo.
Yes, things change over time.
The SEC was previously content with mostly regional recruiting, because that’s all it needed to dominate. So there used to be a conference rule against satellite camps. But incursions, especially by Harbaugh, and the NCAA’s rulings have changed the game.
The issue touched off a war of words on Twitter, with Harbaugh calling hypocrisy on Saban for playing the tired “what’s best for the kids” line. And Harbaugh is right, because more opportunities to show their stuff doesn’t hurt prospects (although they could put some delusional parents into major debt).
This is reminiscent of two years ago when Saban supported a rule to slow down fast-paced offenses because, supposedly, they caused more injuries.
It was as easy to see the agenda then (Alabama was built on brawn much more than finesse) as it is now (the SEC doesn’t want its best homegrown players going to Michigan or anywhere else).
Another Nick, UH’s Rolovich, has entered the social media fray … but strictly in good humor. It’s a fine line, but he’s walked it well so far. Rolo’s challenge to fellow former quarterback Harbaugh of some one-on-one passing competition hasn’t been answered yet. Who knows? Maybe today they will break out the old garbage pail Rolovich and Timmy Chang used to long-toss footballs into 15 years ago.
While you’d have to wonder about any recruit swayed by which coach can still throw, it would be a lot of fun — especially since the Warriors and Wolverines are set to meet at the Big House on Sept. 3.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
