Crushed Recruits : Some Hot Prospects Get Devastating Reality Check on Signing Day

Satisfaction for some arrives with a 32-cent stamp, but for others it doesn’t come at all.

Hopes built through years of high school football culminate in the letter of intent, a magic form offering a free education in return for playing in Division I.

And then there are players such as running backs Patrick Duffy of Hemet High, Mike Vanis of Loyola and lineman Brandon Elliott of St. Bonaventure. They have practiced, led their teams to victories, worked and achieved, in many cases, excellent statistics and accompanying honors.

They flip through the mail, hoping for the letter. Another promising handwritten note would be appreciated. A letter of rejection is anticipated.

Instead, there is nothing.

“College recruiters love to keep you hanging,” said Duffy, whose suitors once included Nebraska, Penn State, UCLA and Notre Dame. “They keep telling me to keep in touch--something may happen.”

Time has run out.

On Wednesday, the college football signing period began. Fax machines at colleges across the country spat out responses from blue-chip star players who have returned their letters of intent.

Other high school standouts wait, hoping their offer just got lost in the mail.

“I still go down to the mailbox with a little hope that I will find something,” Vanis said.

He’s not alone.

Judged a step slower, an inch shorter or 10 pounds too light by Division I standards, many players discover a recruiting process that can be cruel and learn they must take a different route to play college football.

They turn to the back of their scrapbooks or dig through trash cans to track down phone numbers for Division I-AA coaches who might have scholarships to offer, though not the prestige of Division I.

“You are led to believe the decision is yours to make, but it’s not,” Duffy said.

Duffy, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound fullback and linebacker, was touted by one recruiting magazine as one of the top Western Region players. When the recruiting process began in March of his junior year, he was invited to 26 summer camps and attended four: at Nebraska, Penn State, UCLA and Notre Dame.

“I received letters from the top schools in the country,” Duffy said. “Each of them, every day for a long time. They don’t tell you everything there is to know. What are their plans? How they really feel about you.”

Although he led the Southern Section with 148 tackles as a senior and rushed for 1,074 yards, Duffy’s stock apparently has dropped significantly. Although he scored 1,100 on the Scholastic Assessment Test and received mostly A’s in the classroom, Duffy has discovered what it is like to be on the “B list” at the elite schools.

“I was sort of the No. 2 guy at schools that were getting commitments from their top picks,” Duffy said. “I don’t think size was a factor.”

Duffy still hopes to sign with Iowa or Stanford, but even that might be only a dream. He has received interest from several Division II schools.

Other players do not have as many options.

Vanis, a 5-11, 180-pound running back, had more than 2,500 all-purpose yards during his senior season and helped Loyola reach the Division I finals. He was named the offensive player of the year in the Del Rey League and selected to the All-Southern Section Division I first team.

“He’s a step too slow,” Loyola Coach Steve Grady said.

Vanis is being recruited by the University of San Diego and St. Mary’s, neither in Division I. And San Diego does not offer athletic scholarships.

St. Bonaventure’s Elliott, a 6-4, 235-pound offensive lineman, was convinced he was going to get a scholarship offer from Nebraska. Then the national champions stopped calling.

“It’s hard to realize that there are people out there better than you,” he said. “One day, I’m on top of the world because I think I’m going here or there.”

In December, when college coaches are permitted to contact players daily, Elliott received regular messages from Nebraska, Southern Methodist and Colorado. Boise State, Nevada Las Vegas and Brigham Young also called.

“I found myself checking the mailbox closely for letters,” Elliott said. “I made sure I was home weeknights. Every time the phone rang, I checked to see who it was. My hands would get sweaty while I talked on the phone.”

But Elliott was not invited to take a recruiting trip outside California. He visited Cal State Northridge and UC Davis, a Division II school, before signing with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“I’m just happy to be staying close to home and getting a scholarship,” Elliott said.

Cal Poly SLO Coach Andre Patterson estimates that about 350 football players will contact his office, hoping to get a scholarship to his Division I-AA school.

“My phone rings off the hook,” said Patterson. “I get calls from parents saying, ‘Hey, my kid took a visit to Penn State, what do you mean you’re not interested?’ They think because their kid rushed for 1,200 yards or threw for 2,000 yards and 35 touchdowns, he’s destined to play in the Pac-10. It doesn’t work that way. Productivity is important, but if he’s a 5-10 quarterback or smaller--and in some cases 6-1--his chances of going to Pac-10 are very slim.”

Although Division I-AA schools can give as many as 63 scholarships, Patterson said his program offers only 35--an average of seven per class.

“I think parents and high school coaches have to understand that more kids are offered campus visits than there are scholarships available,” Patterson said.

Division I schools can give 85 scholarships, usually spread over five classes. The NCAA also permits 56 on-campus visits each year. According to Ed Kezarian, a UCLA administrator and former assistant coach, the Bruins invited 40 players to make on-campus visits. Of those, 33 were offered scholarships and UCLA signed 19, its largest recruiting class in four years.

Several recruits went home empty-handed.

“The worst thing that can happen to a recruit is that a school stops calling,” Kezarian said. “Coaches are allowed unlimited calls after Dec. 1, and they should be calling at least once a week.

“Another bad sign is that when you are on a recruiting trip, you don’t receive a scholarship offer.”

Recruits waiting by the mailbox are wasting their time, said Cal assistant Wayne Moses.

“Sometime late in the signing period, people are still going around checking to see if any rocks are left unturned,” Moses said. “They take one last sweep. They put together a film or a tape and try to sneak in through the back door. Kids are calling all the time. I say, ‘OK, let me see some film.’ ”

The signing period comes and there are no scholarship offers. What options are available?

Kezarian suggests they try to walk-on at the Division I school that showed the most interest. UCLA invites as many as 20 walk-ons to fall practice. New York Giant wide receiver Mike Sherrard and Colorado Coach Rich Neuheisel walked on, as did former Bruin Coach Terry Donahue.

They are exceptions, but there are exceptions.

Occidental Coach Dale Widolff often finds himself delivering the bad news to disappointed recruits who don’t understand the process and wonder why the phone no longer rings.

“It’s an awkward situation,” said Widolff, whose team competes at Division III. “You don’t want to be the guy to bring the bad news and get your head chopped off. But I’ve been around long enough to know when a player is being misled. We can tell that if a player is not getting home visits from the head coach or assistants by January, he’s not going to get a scholarship.”

In Division III, there is financial aid and an opportunity to play football.

“If they are not hung up with the bright lights and they like that Saturday afternoon thrill to play, then Division II or Division III ball is the route to go,” Moses said.

Often seen as the last resort, many high school players continue their careers in community college before trying to get a scholarship to a four-year school. For athletes who failed to meet NCAA eligibility requirements, it’s their only choice.

After leading Long Beach City College to the national junior college championship, Coach Larry Reisbig had 21 players receive scholarships to Division I and Division II schools.

“I think four-year schools make mistakes all the time,” said Reisbig, who previously coached at Long Beach State. “They think a guy is too short, doesn’t weigh enough or runs a 4.7 and they want a 4.5.

“I think the JC level is the best place for guys to come in and show that the Division I schools made a mistake and they really can play.

“At the JC level, they can work on their academics and polish up their skills and they play 10 games. Most freshman don’t get the opportunity to play their first year at the Division I level.”

And there is the satisfaction that you are still playing football.