Football's Second Season: Scouting High School Game Breakers [Paperback]

Tom Lemming (Author), Taylor Bell (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2007

Tom Lemming wasn't college football's first "recruiting analyst", but he definitely perfected the role. He began in 1978 - one of the first prospects he interviewed was a promising quarterback from Pittsburgh named Dan Marino - and filed his first report in 1979. In his first year, he had only one subscriber to his newsletter. Since then, Lemming has become the most celebrated, controversial, and influential player in the business. Competitors describe him as the "Godfather of recruiting." He annually travels 55,000 miles, visits as many as 47 states, and personally interviews the top 1,500 players in the country to produce the Prep Football Report, a 300-page must-read for every college coach. This book chronicles Lemming's journey and his passion for his profession, warts and all.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom Lemming created a unique approach to the recruiting process in 1978, pursuing an up-close-and-personal look at the top 1,500 high school players in the United States. He published the first copy of his magazine, the 300-page Prep Football Report, in 1979. He has served as a contributor to USA Today since the national newspaper began publishing in 1982, co-hosted a national recruiting show for the Sunshine Network from 1992 to 1999, worked for ESPN and ESPN.com for nearly 20 years, and is currently host for "Tom Lemming's Generation Next", a weekly look at national recruiting on CSTV (College Sports TV). Lemming resides in South Barrington, Illinois.

Taylor Bell has covered high school basketball in Illinois for more than 40 years, including every state tournament since 1959. He worked at the Champaign-Urbana Courier, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Chicago Daily News, and Chicago Sun-Times until his retirement in 2001. He was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1971, the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2002 he received the IBCA's Buzzy O'Connor Award for contributions to the game and received the Ring Lardner Award for excellence in print journalism in 2006. Bell resides in Chicago, Illinois. Past titles include Glory Days Illinois: Legends of Illinois High School Basketball (Sports Publishing, 2006) and Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe: High School Basketball in Illinois (University of Illinois Press, 2004).

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC (August 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596702095
• ISBN-13: 978-1596702097
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,871,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lemming's Story, February 11, 2008

By 

Jon Johnston "Corn Nation" (Chaska, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Football's Second Season: Scouting High School Game Breakers (Paperback)

The bottom line on this book is that it's Tom Lemming's story, that is, it isn't as much about college football recruiting as it is about Lemming. Through it he describes who he is and how he came to be in college recruiting.

Lemming felt that he needed to set the record straight about himself, and what he does that's different than [...] - the other big-name recruiting services.

It's interesting in that Lemming has a decent story about himself to tell, but you shouldn't read this book believing that you're going to learn about player evaluations, how to find a good college athlete or any of that.

It might be helpful if you are a recruit, a coach, or the parent of a recruit as Lemming does provides tips about what to do (and what not to do).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars where's the beef?, December 12, 2007

By 

M. Bechtel (Plainfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Football's Second Season: Scouting High School Game Breakers (Paperback)

A neat account of Lemming's life on the road prospecting players... but I was let down with the lack of detail on the evaluation methodologies themselves. Perhaps that's his secret sauce, and I respect that, but I hoped to come away with more of an ability to myself recognize or at least describe, the critical talents of players at each position on the gridiron.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I am shocked..., December 26, 2007

By 

Frank Johnson (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Football's Second Season: Scouting High School Game Breakers (Paperback)

I am bit shocked that any serious journalist could be ignorant enough to write a book with Lemming. Lemming has been a joke in the recruiting world for about a decade now. That is when it started becoming apparent that Lemming has no ability to evaluate talent (he gets his evaluations from others for the most part) and he is unethical to say the least. He has no background in college admissions or administration yet he thinks giving advice to high school kids on admissions and academics is right up his alley of expertise. Choosing a college for a high school student is one of the major life decisions. Throw in football etc. and it can get complicated and confusing. Any worthwhile advisor would tell a student to find a good fit and to try and envision if they would feel comfortable away from home for 4 or 5 years. It has come out over and over through the years that Lemming has tried to push kids to one school over another and he uses skewed, fraudulent information to do so. Notre Dame isn't for every kid, Tom.

Oh and I find it comical that anyone would try to convince you that driving across the country every year interviewing players and coaches helps you to evaluate prep talent. If that technique worked I think college coaches may have tried it. Instead they watch film, lots of it for many long hours. Most of the players they offer scholarships to have yet to see the coaches in person and the ones that do usually attended a football camp where they could display their athletic ability.

That's okay Tom, enjoy that cuppa joe with those high school coaches! Amazing evaluation!

In closing, know that I am a college administrator with past experience in scouting high school players for a major BCS school. One national title ring in my safety deposit box.