Recruiting Story

Here is a recruiting story that I pulled from the Crimson and Creme (OU) site:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/sports/ncaafootball/26recruit.html?_r=1&ref=sports

The OU fansite is much better than the story, but thought you might find it interesting nonetheless. It is about prized recruit Jamarkus McFarland, an alleged "honor student" from Lufkin High in east Texas, although he appears to have difficulty with the english langauge (based on the quotes in the story).

The article exposes everything that is wrong with recruiting as Texas and Oklahoma do battle for the top rated defender in Texas. The kid's mom sounds like an attention whore, influencing her son based on how the two schools treat her. Although she does not attend her son's football games, she was heavily involved in the recruiting process and obviously knows what is best for her kids, since McFarland's older brother is in the pokey. McFarland seems to be following in mama's footsteps - calling OU's DC at 12:01 am on Christmas Day to commit because "isn't that what you wanted for Christmas?"  Uh, no Jamarkus, I wanted a national championship, but I guess you'll do....

Recruiting sounds like a miserable process. I don't envy the coaches who have to spend countless hours making people like this believe in a university which is probably too good for them to begin with.

Go Gators!!!