Despite the lagging economy, college football staffs are spending millions of dollars nationwide to seek out the best high school football players for their schools. But many of the players who are being recruited are cutting back on their own spending.
"You don't see kids taking nearly as many unofficial visits," said Miller Safrit, a recruiting analyst for the Web site Scout.com. "And it was very plain last summer that the players aren't going to as many college camps. Attendance at the college summer camps was down almost everywhere."
Colleges spend their recruiting budgets visiting high schools, gathering information on prospective players, and bringing athletes in for official visits.
The process for many players culminates today when they sign national letters of intent, officially binding a player to a specific school and obligating the school to provide scholarship assistance. Players have been committing to colleges and colleges have been offering scholarships to players for months. But until the national letter is signed, none of the agreements is binding.
In recent years, college football staffs have relied on their summer camps to see and evaluate players. Prospects are limited to five expense-paid official visits, but players can make an unlimited number of unofficial visits at their own expense.
Gabe Henderson, Southeast Raleigh High's quarterback, said he didn't take as many unofficial visits last summer as he expected. Nor did he spend the summer travelling to far-away college camps. He went to camps at Tennessee, N.C. State, Georgia Tech and East Carolina, the schools that were showing the most interest in him.
"I did a lot of research online," he said. "We're in a recession and the finance for travelling everywhere is expensive."
Henderson, who passed for 2,416 yards and rushed for 1,005 yards, committed to Kent State, but later decided he didn't want to go there. He is now considering Appalachian State, Elon, Liberty and Toledo and is waiting to see if there is interest from the new coaches at Kansas and East Carolina.
"It wasn't the distance to Kent State that was the biggest problem - Toledo is farther - but I didn't feel comfortable there," Henderson said. "They changed offensive coordinators."
Comfort important
Kareem Martin of Roanoke Rapids, one of the state's best defensive players, concentrated on in-state schools, eventually choosing North Carolina over Duke and Virginia Tech.
"He wanted to play in-state," Roanoke Rapids coach Russell Weinstein said. "He got calls from everywhere, but he wanted to be close."
Mike Farrell, an analyst with Rivals.com, expected to see the economy have a bigger impact on the prospects than what he's seen.
"I expected I would, but I didn't," Farrell said. "And one of the best examples of this, I think, is when you're looking at in-state kids, Alfy Hill [of West Brunswick] I thought would stay home. I thought he would go to North Carolina. But he decided to go away. And it's a fairly long drive to Alabama.
"Some of the kids I expected to go elsewhere decided to stay at home, but it had nothing to do with finances. David Amerson [of Greensboro Dudley] I thought was going to go to Notre Dame, but he just felt more comfortable at N.C. State."
Farrell said some players in North Carolina come from families that are not well off financially.
"It hasn't affected them, at least to my knowledge, whatsoever in any of their choices," Farrell said. "I think the guys that stayed home decided to do so because they felt more comfortable at those schools or for other reasons. And I think the ones that wanted to get away, just got away."
But for whatever reason, in-state schools are doing a much better job getting the top players in North Carolina. Nine players on Scout.com's Top 10 list have made commitments. Seven of the nine have announced for North Carolina or N.C. State.
Duke has commitments from three of the top 30. Wake Forest has two and East Carolina one.
And the in-state total may go up.
Top-ranked Keenan Allen of Northern Guilford is expected to announce his decision today. He is committed to Alabama, but nothing is official until he signs the national letter. Ethan Farmer of South Columbus is uncommitted, but is expected to sign with either North Carolina or Clemson.
Jerry Petercuskie, the recruiting coordinator at N.C. State, said the Wolfpack's summer camp attendance was down a little bit last summer, and the program is making adjustments for this summer.
"We're going to concentrate a little bit more on the one-day days," Petercuskie said. "Obviously, it's less expensive for a family."
State plans to have a two-day camp and a couple of one-day camps, Petercuskie said.
Petercuskie said State wasn't cutting back in its recruiting but was being more frugal.
Safrit said most colleges are identifying specific spots to pursue players.
"Very few schools right now are recruiting nationally," he said. "The colleges are still spending the money, but they aren't flying all over the country."
