A New Porter on the Way

As I have learned and continue to learn, the world of "Internet Media," and me do not always agree. Their goals and my goals are sometimes not the same. Their job is to get the recruiting tidbits. Mine is to provide colleges with information. Mark Porter is doing a really good job of promoting high school talent in Ohio. But behind every good man is a better than good woman.

Stephanie Porter is a bright light on a sometimes very busy sidelines on a Friday night. She takes pictures and pictures and more pictures. And she is everywhere, weaving in and out, of novice camera people. But the nicest thing about Steph is that she always has that big smile. Now, it is not the "used car salesman's" smile. It is the "glad to see you" smile. She lights up the whole field, plus is everywhere on the field with her tripod and camera.

Now the even better news. Steph and Mark are soon to have a lifestyle change for the better. Hopefully, the baby will arrive in the next two and half weeks. I wish them the very best and know that they are going to be wonderful parents. Can almost guarantee that whether boy or girl, the baby will have a drive to be the best. The best to the Porters.

Vannet Can Play

Watched Nick Vannet(TE from Weesterville Central) play hoops last night and came away impressed.Kind of reminds me of Brandon Carozzoni(TE from St Ignatius) who will attend Pitt this fall. Tall and long, with the potential to add strength and weight. Good ball skills. Catches and throws really well. Good feet. Got up and down the floor with little effort. Like his self confidence and his coachableness(new word).

Where does he play? Really til I see him in camp it is hard to say. Big Ten player potential. I have heard O-State has offered, but did not ask him. Needs to get stronger as a blocker, but he makes the effort to block. Most definitely has pass catching skills. Right now he is the best TE prospect that I seen in the 2011 Class.

Talked with him a few minutes to wish him "Good Luck," and came awayed impressed with his presence and class. To me, that is very important in the evaluation of a prospect.

Football Players on the Hardwood

After getting all of the Ohio Prospect Diectories mailed out and getting all of the promo done on the OHSFCA/MSR Devolopmental Combine c0ompleted, I need some relax time. How better to than to watch some tournament basketball in Worthington. Really looking forward to watching Nick Vannett from Westerville Central.

Vannett will be one, if not the top, TE in Ohio next fall. Solid year, last year, but with strength and weight, should really blossom. Excellent hands. Athletic enough to flex or even move to the slot. Good speed. Could be a DE, but best position is on offense. Veteran coach, John Magistro, has done him well and will continue to make him better.

Also, looking forward to watching Olentangy Orange, and Hilliard Davidson tonight. Always a challenge to get a program and see if I can recognize any football talent that I was not aware of before. Watching b-ball, you get an upclose and personal view. I learn alot about a football prospect who also plays basketball. Of course, I watch prospects play in other sports as much as I can. I will be at the State Indoor Track Meet this March. Always good to see how guys I rank carry themselves in other sports. Naturally I spend time during football season up close and personal along the sidelines. For some reason at 61, it is more fun sitting on a bleacher in a warm building.

Mentioned combine earlier. Yes, I have committed myself to a combine. Try to get something on tmy next blog about my true feelings about combines. From what I have heard, there must be speed, speed, and more speed this fall. A dad told that his son ran a 4.45 last weekend in Cleveland. He went on to say, a prospect ran under 4.4. That is flying, people. I do not think that I have ever seen some high school player run that fast indoors in February. Good job.

Take care. Alex Huextel, from Pick North just text me that he received a verbal frm Toledo. More verbals will be comimg for that young man.

MSR Branching Out

Last Sunday had the priviledge of talking "football recruiting" with parents and players at Streetsboro High School. Head Coach John Arlesic told the audience that I had about a 15 minute presentation. Fifteen minutes on any area of football. Yea right!!!

With daughter Kristy's construction of a Power Point, I was "bigtime." All of this time, I thought a "power point," was when you really jammed your finger at someone. But I did provide the information and she provided the visual.

Honestly, my presentation lasted for about 45 minutes. After that, there was Q&A time. Many good questions were asked. Coach Arlesic provided insight from the head coach's viewpoint.

Talked about the positives of football recruiting, including visits, unofficial visits, meeting coaches, and recognition. Also spent time on camps, combines, visits, self promotion, videoes, academics, recruiting services, internet media, and guidelines to parents, prospects, and coaches.

Over the years, I have listen to recruiting talks, and so much time was spent on statistics, on how to study, on how to select schools, and the role of the parent. This is really good, but nobody ever got or gets to the meat and potatoes. People need to hear the real world. They need to hear some real examples about verbal commitments and recruiting services among other topics.

Hopefully, the parents and players learned something. If something like this sounds interesting, contact me. Anytime that you want to talk "football recruiting," is time well spent. Trust me, it will be more than 15 minutes.

Poor Buckeyes

Recently, at the Ohio High School Football Coaches Clinic I was joking around with Coach Tressel. I told him that I would know longer being sharing recruiting opinions with him. As Coach Tressel often does, he gave me the raised eyebrow look. I told him since Rivals and Scout and some of the "self-annointed experts only rated O-State 17th that I could no longer learn anything from the O-State staff. But doesn't that make sense? They are the experts and know exactly what Ohio State needs.

Obviously, there are some that can evaluate, but some collect information. Never look at video, never go to camps, and never are on the sidelines. A few years ago there was a guy here in Ohio that would evaluate propects. In fact, I heard that he still has a cult. The sad thing was that he NEVER left his house to attend a game or a camp. Another guy with a lot of clout was a former mailman. Tremendous at taking pictures and collecting information. But he collected his information from colleges in exchange for lists of names. More recently, a guy was laid off from his factory work. Wrote a couple of articles and now he is guru. Of the course, my friend the Frito Bandito, has convinced his cult that understands evaluating prospects.

This not to really be negative about talent evaluators. Bill Conley, now the Head Coach at Ohio Dominican, is really good. The point is do not get caught into what guys like John McCallister says. Get your son into a camp this summer and let him compete. Non verbal actions by a college coach will tell what the coach thinks. They are the ones that matter.

Over and over, I tell people that I am a "kid's guy," almost to a fault. Because when it is all said and done, the prospect is the one who either is "the statue or the pigeon." I do not want young high school prospects being the "statue." Parents. high school coaches, and internet media that is their problem, but the kids are what it all about. By the way, colleges pay me for information, not the kids.

In closing, just be honest with prospects. If it is too good to be true, it probably is. My diectories are done and ready to be picked up.