Customer Reviews

Football's Second Season: Scouting High School Game Breakers

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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).

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.

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.