When it comes to recruiting high school football players, the roles reverse in a hurry.
The teenage blue-chip prospects who have scores of college coaches clamoring for their services now hold the upper hand. They have leverage, weighing scholarship offers against one another and setting up home visits. Some top players across the country even try to dictate depth-chart positioning and which jersey number they will wear.
When players sign the binding letter of intent on Feb. 1 each year, college coaches usually insist that paperwork be faxed immediately. Once that student is on the campus, the coach suddenly has the upper hand and the player drops in the pecking order.
In these final frantic days of recruiting as Wednesday approaches, everyone has their best game face on.
When Cosumnes Oaks cornerback Marcus Rios gave a verbal commitment to Jim Mora of UCLA, the coach asked Rios to become a recruiter of sorts and woo area players such as Grant's Shaq Thompson and Pleasant Grove's Arik Armstead via text.
On Thursday, Cal and Washington coaches had home visits with Thompson – not at the same time, since they aren't chummy after the sudden departure of assistant coach Tosh Lupoi from Cal to Washington last week.
Oregon coach Chip Kelly was at Armstead's home Thursday and will visit Thompson today, and you can bet everyone will be smiling.
What to watch
Golf, PGA Farmers Insurance Open, noon, GOLF: Elk Grove's Spencer Levin shares the lead after an opening-round 62.
Today's poll
Where would you like to see Shaq Thompson and Arik Armstead go to college?
• Cal
• Oregon
• Washington
• UCLA
• Other
Vote above or leave your comments in the comment field; Or, go to www.sacbee.com/sports
Thursday's results
What's your take on Tim Lincecum's two-year, $40.5 million deal?
• It's just about right: 42%
• It should have been a longer deal: 29%
• It's too much money for a pitcher: 29%
Total votes: 224
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Contact Joe Davidson at jdavidson@sacbee.com.
• Read more articles by Joe Davidson
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.