Booker Happy With Choice

Life has settled down for Lorenzo Booker in the weeks since he announced he would be playing football for Florida State next fall.

No more late-night calls from recruiters. No more questions about where he will go. And no more of the indecision that had him changing his mind shortly before he appeared on national television to make the announcement.

“I’m so happy,” the running back from Ventura St. Bonaventure High said. “Even if I made the wrong decision, it’s my decision. I can look back and say I did what I really wanted to do.”

The happy ending notwithstanding, Booker and those close to him say his story serves as a cautionary tale for any fan who thinks it is glamorous to be a top-ranked recruit, or any athlete who longs to be courted by every major college team in the nation.

This is the flip side to the anxiety coaches feel, waiting for a blue-chipper to decide.

“It was fun for a while but it started getting to him,” his mother, Sharon Hill, recalled. “He didn’t realize it would be so intense.”

Booker had long been a Florida State fan, watching a videotape of the Seminoles’ victory over Virginia Tech in the 2000 Sugar Bowl more times than he can recall. But as signing day approached, his decision wasn’t so simple.

Recruiters called with 1,000 good reasons to pick their schools. Some relatives and friends wanted him to stay close to home and attend USC. Others favored Notre Dame, if only because Booker’s cousin works for an airline in Chicago and could help the family visit nearby South Bend, Ind.

The process shifted from flattering and exciting to increasingly stressful. Booker awoke on signing day needing to make a choice. He settled on Notre Dame.

By early afternoon, reports of his decision leaked to Florida State recruiting coordinator John Lilly, who sent his assistants home, figuring they had done all they could do. Yet, half an hour before Booker was to appear on ESPN, Lilly picked up the phone.

“I wanted to give him a chance to tell me himself,” Lilly said. “So he could go on and we could go on.”

Booker had stopped taking calls but Lilly had a cell phone number for Booker’s cousin and hoped to pass along a message. He was surprised when Booker answered and wanted to talk.

“Coach Lilly had become more of a friend then a coach,” Booker said. “I could talk to him for hours.”With television waiting, Lilly kept it short. He told the young man to go with his heart. If Florida State was his choice, his family would find a way to visit, the coach said. As they hung up, Lilly recalled, “I had the sense he wasn’t sure what he wanted.... I really felt sorry for him because the whole thing had been so highly publicized and he was in a corner.”

Booker huddled with relatives and friends before delivering the unexpected news that he was headed for Tallahassee, Fla.

Afterward, there were tears in his eyes.

“I was crying because I gave up my family, my girlfriend, everything to go to Florida State,” he said.

Now, a content Booker figures the experience helped him mature. And loved ones--even those who favored other schools--have been supportive. Still, he has advice for players who follow in his footsteps.

“If you know where you want to go, commit early.”