One highly sought after teen recruit from down in Florida is Torrance Gibson who is a top rated quarterback prospect for the 2015 NFL Draft class. Now this guy is still only 16 or 17 years old and already he is a nationwide sensation. Young prospects have even taken to the social media such as Twitter to keep us posted as to which college they are favoring this week. Ain’t that just great?
Gibson has let it be known that his top five picks are Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Ohio State & Clemson. He listed 10 others ranging all the way to Michigan, Nebraska and even Oregon. This kid is looking all over the place!
When I Googled Torrance Gibson I found a whole page of references and the guy has not even started his senior year of high school as yet. The truth is there are a lot more young athletes like Gibson who are taking to the Internet to find a good university to attend or perhaps looking for the best scholarship deal available.
And it’s not just the young players who are active in this early recruiting scheme. Every major University across the country has a staff of dedicated professionals who look for top talent and actively recruit it as well. It’s standard practice. Both LSU and Alabama has made preliminary offers to a kid from Baton Rouge still in the tenth grade!
These days all the top prospects know that they are being watched by pro recruiters and they are taking to the Internet and posting lists of their current favorite college destinations. Of course these change regularly like most kids that age, but they are an undeniable sign that the times they are a changing.
There are even websites now dedicated to recruiting high school aged athletes for colleges and Universities. One of the major sites is called 247Sports.com and they go so far as to rank the prospects and then rank the prospects for the prospects. Speculation reigns supreme on these sites. There is even a section called ‘The Crystal Ball’ which seems to change with the weather or perhaps it’s the stars.
High school seniors are not the only athletes under scrutiny by colleges. Gibson had offers from Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State and Nebraska when he was just a sophomore, in other words, when he was about 15 years old.
The Internet has brought us a new age of communication and transparency which is going to take some getting used to for the older generations.
