A recruiting fairy tale

Cautionary story emerges from a small town in Nevada

A small-town high school football player gained national attention recently when he announced at a news conference that he was signing with the University of California.

The feel-good story of a big guy -- 6-foot-5, 290 pounds -- from a small town -- Fernley, Nev. -- fulfilling his dream of getting a college scholarship went very wrong, though.

Cal not only had not offered a scholarship, it had never recruited Kevin Hart.

Nevertheless, Hart called the news conference and in front of television cameras and in the school's packed gymnasium sat at a table with a Cal cap and an Oregon cap.

He dramatically put on the Cal cap to a standing ovation.

Hart told the assembled media members that Cal coach Jeff Tedford had won him over by personally handling the recruitment.

In fact, Tedford had never spoken to Hart.

Cal didn't recruit him.

Oregon didn't recruit him.

No Division I-A school recruited him -- not Boise State, Nevada, Cal, Oregon, Illinois or Oklahoma State, the schools that were supposed to have made full scholarship offers.

Hart made it all up.

When the lie began to fall apart, he said he was misled by an impostor, but that fabrication quickly unraveled.

In a statement issued by the school system, Hart said, "I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn't going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be a reality."

Just like the fabled Pinocchio, Hart's lie kept growing until it dominated his life.

The sad tale shows how easy it is to fake recruiting or to misunderstand the recruiting process.

Hart deliberately misrepresented his recruitment, but there are plenty of high school players who think they are being recruiting, but aren't.

Major college football programs send out letters to hundreds of prospects, but 75 percent of the players never receive a scholarship offer.

Players sometimes mistake, "We're keeping an eye on you," and "Keep up with your academics," for a scholarship offer.

Even a "We'd like to see you here," isn't a scholarship offer.

If the words, "We are offering you a scholarship," are not used, a scholarship probably isn't being offered.

Further complicating the recruiting process is that sometimes the high school coaches and staff know nothing about a player's recruitment.

A college football coach might see a player at camp and offer him without ever speaking to anyone at the school.

A college coach might deal with a club coach, and the high school coach never know about it.

Sometimes the only way a high school coach can be sure a scholarship has been offered is to call the college.

Another complication is that colleges seldom can correct misinformation. College programs are limited as to what they can say about potential players.

Some players learn to manipulate the system well.

When players list schools they are interested in, many times schools that have no interest in the player are on the list.

Players have announced bogus recruiting trips and listed schools among their finalists that have never offered a scholarshp.

The Nevada case also is an example of how easy it is to fool the media.

The college can't comment. The high school coach may not know.

If a player tells a lie long enough and persistently enough, somebody will believe it.

Where is Jiminy Cricket when we need him?