Football Recruits Should Take It Slow

In two weeks, the college football recruiting process will mercifully end when high school seniors sign letters of intent.

Sympathy should go out to elite players such as Matt Grootegoed of Mater Dei, Travis Johnson of Notre Dame and Alex Holmes of Harvard-Westlake who haven’t made a final decision.

They are being bombarded with phone calls from Internet-based recruiting services and magazines determined to please their football-crazed net surfers with the latest information.

“I probably get 30 or 40 [calls] a day,” Holmes said.

Added his father, Mike, “This is Grand Central Station over here. Even our mail man is asking.”

A word of warning to every player: Choose a school for more than football.

That’s the advice of John DiSante, a former offensive lineman from Notre Dame High who committed to Colorado in 1991 before changing his mind and signing with Washington.

“I fell in love with Colorado and gave them a verbal commitment before I even came back to talk to my mom,” DiSante recalled.

A former Notre Dame coach joked that DiSante committed to every school he visited. DiSante denies it, but acknowledges the recruiting process makes it difficult to say no.

“When you’re a young kid, you get so excited all these schools want you,” DiSante said. “They tell you, ‘You’re going to be a starter, you’re going to be an All-American, you’re perfect for their scheme.’ It’s easy to say, ‘I want to come here.’ ”

DiSante is thankful his mother told him to slow down and weigh his decision.

After giving it some thought, DiSante concluded there were real differences in the schools he was considering.

“As a recruit, you have to make sure schools do their homework about you,” he said. “Colorado came in talking about putting me in remedial study. I went, ‘Hey, wait a minute. I have a 3.4 GPA, I’m an honor student.’ ”

He might have been able to play sooner at Colorado than at Washington, but DiSante took a risk in choosing the Huskies, who were a more established program with a higher level of competition for playing spots.

“You have to be realistic about your ability and if you can play at that program,” he said.

DiSante didn’t break into the two-deep depth chart at Washington until his junior season. But there was no second guessing.

He played under legendary coach Don James and was part of a program that won one national championship and played in two Rose Bowls.

“I learned a lot about not just being an athlete, but being a person,” he said. “I got a lot of great life tools.”

Most important, DiSante earned a degree in political science and became a sound engineer for ABC.

“I have been involved in the Rose Bowl as a fan, as a player and as a professional, because I’ve done six Rose Bowls as a TV person,” he said. “I’ve got the best seat in the house.

“I’m right on the 30-yard line hearing Keith Jackson in one ear and I’m hearing all the hitting on the field in the other, and I’m watching it.”

DiSante, 27, said high school seniors shouldn’t simply imagine what life will be like as a college starter but what happens when the cheering stops.

“You don’t think of the days when you’re not going to be a football player,” he said. “You don’t think of the contingency plan, ‘What happens if I don’t make it to the pros?’ You need to be equipped for the rest of your life.”

DiSante doesn’t receive phone calls from college recruiters, but his phone stays busy with friends calling to inquire about his latest experience as a sound technician on the set of the ABC soap, “General Hospital.”

“They want to know what’s going on with the story line,” he said. “I tell them, ‘I just work on the shows.’ ”

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Completing a remarkable year for quarterbacks, Jason Winn of Granada Hills committed to Texas Tech last weekend. He’s the seventh quarterback from the region to receive an NCAA Division I scholarship.

Johnson and Holmes remain the most-honored players who haven’t committed before the Feb. 2 signing day. Johnson has a visit planned for Tennessee next weekend. Holmes is visiting UCLA this weekend and Notre Dame next week.

One player whose phone hasn’t been ringing much is receiver Jared Bazar of Hart. In the last three seasons, he has been an invaluable target for quarterbacks David Neill, Kyle Boller and Kyle Matter. Neill’s now at Nevada, Boller’s at California and Matter has been offered a scholarship to a Pacific 10 Conference school despite being only a junior.

Bazar faces concerns about his size and speed. But he runs a 4.6 40, possesses the best hands in the region, has terrific grades and will help some Division I program if they give him a chance.

His big decision is whether to accept a scholarship to a Division I-AA program or walk on at a school like UCLA or California.

Either way, Bazar is a player who’s too good to let his football days end. He just needs an opportunity to prove himself.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.com