http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/2009/06/21/the-street-agent-%E2%80%93-here-to-destroy-your-college-football-soul/The Street Agent – Here to Destroy Your College Football Soul
Posted by CloseToJumping on June 21st, 2009 under Football, Recruiting
Some folks that read this site probably aren’t even old enough at this point to remember a time in college basketball when it wasn’t dominated at a recruiting level by the AAU programs. Hell, I might be one of them. What I know and don’t need to have recollected to me is that AAU and the shoe companies have effectively sullied the recruiting landscape for college basketball in ways that are probably irrevocable. That’s another post for another poster, hopefully at some other point down the line.
Why do I bother typing about that anyway? Well, it’s pretty simple. College football is currently being ruined at the recruiting level in much the same way, albeit by a different deathdealer than the AAU programs. No, what’s happening in college football revolves around individual men dealing with individual players in very unseemly ways that is beginning to look a lot like human slavery. I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but if you think about the scenarios playing out at this point, maybe you can offer a different term.
What is a street agent, anyway?
We’ve seen this term pop-up a lot over the past few years. Really, the concept here is pretty simple and rarely varies.
A street agent is a person informally representing high school football players, ostensibly present to help the athlete ensure that he is selecting the right college for himself. Usually, the agent is involved with negotiating which schools the player will camp at, unofficially visit, officially visit, commit to, and ultimately sign with through the entirety of the recruiting process. Were it all altruism, this might sound like a pretty good deal for the players, especially those without a good father figure around to help them make the right decisions.
Unfortunately, altruism has very little to do with the process. Street agents are shrewd, street smart guys and they’re not doing this for anyone else’s good but their own. They’re usually paid for each step of the way by individuals associated with schools that will deal with them. They ingratiate themselves with the athletes by finding their targets, feeling them out about their family and values, and working their way in. Social aspects matter in this set-up and these guys are preying on the athletes without strong paternal ties, portraying themselves as father figures, for their own betterment and little else.
Why is this a big deal, now?
Up to this moment in time, few entities have been more powerful in the ranks of college football recruiting than the Texas high school football coach. He’s held the hands of players, run off the bad elements, and counseled the mommas. Yeah, there are exceptions that can be pointed to, but those are exceptions proving the rule.
Now, the game is changing. Specifically, the 7 on 7 tournaments in the summer time, the camps in the summer time, the elite camps in the summer time, these are all giving people more access to players than they’ve previously gotten. Beyond that, communicating with players has become unfathomably easier within the high school world than just a decade ago. High speed & wireless are everywhere. Anyone can afford a wireless phone. Chat, Facebook, texting, etc., all make it easier for the insidious to infiltrate. As these guys dig further into the Texas ranks, the power of the legitimate entities that clean schools like Texas rely upon in the players’ lives, such as the coaches, is dramatically weakened. As that starts to unfold, it becomes harder to recruit and win on the level.
The Street Agent does more damage to Texas than almost any other school
It is happening right now, this very summer. One of these guys in particular is based out of Houston and he’s been a player for a while now. He’s the answer to many of the questions surrounding various mysteries in the recruiting realm over the past 5 years. Not all of the players involved have hailed from Houston, as his reach is certainly expanding.
Remember RJ Jackson’s recruitment?
How about Brandon Lafell’s?
How about Terrance Toliver’s?
Michael Goodson’s?
How about Trent Richardson’s recruitment, then? How’s that for recent?
I wonder where the recruitment of Tony Hurd and Shaun Lewis goes from here forward?
Is this getting any closer to home for you?
Ok, well, remember that tournament in Las Vegas a month or so ago?
Lewis was there. So was Ahmad Dixon.
The Lache Seastrunk recruitment has certainly had its ups and downs. The ties with Travon Reed are certainly myriad. They really might wind up in the same spot.
Understand that the players themselves, in any situation with a street agent, usually doesn’t know much of anything. They’re happy for the help and the guidance. Do their families benefit? Sometimes, you’d have to think. A lot of times, a mom is just happy to have a paternal figure helping their kiddo out. Just know that the underhandedness in any of this usually does not come from the player’s direction. That’s not always true, of course, but it’s often the case.
Understand, I’ve never met the dude and everything is just hearsay, to be certain. But there are guys out there who have heard of him and know him well. Coaches, gurus, players, parents.
If you want to know who is rumored playing the game with the street agents, you don’t have to look very far.
Honestly, how well do we really believe programs can control boosters? Some schools don’t even want to control them, or the coaches.
LSU, could be playing the game.
Alabama.
Auburn.
USC.
Tennessee.
Who signed some of these guys?
Yes there are others, but these places have embraced the game.
Going rates at some places are rumored to be $3000 for a camp visit. $12,000 for a commitment. $36,000 for the signature.
That may sound extreme, but you have ignored the SEC if you doubt it. Spend some time around a big time kid’s high school games in a place like Houston, or talk to some folks that are involved with the whole recruiting game, and pictures can become pretty clear.
I’m wondering why a good school like Texas, doing things legitimately, and there are others like them, doesn’t go out and hire a private investigator and have this stuff looked at. It is endangering the lifeblood of the program. If payments happen, does the IRS know? Does the involved school know? These are all interesting questions.
We could always look at things and think to ourselves, “Well, Texas will always get its fair share.” We’ve thought that before.
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