May 30, 2006
As Tom Lemming prepared to head out on his final trip of the season, he spoke with NCSA about several members of NCSA's 2007's recruiting class as well as the evolution of the recruiting process in general.
Each year, Tom Lemming sits down and sifts through thousands and thousands of student-athletes to determine which ones will make it into his Prep Football Report. This year, Lemming had a few things to say about several of NCSA's student-athletes. While he wasn't able to comment on each and every football player involved with NCSA, he did single out several student-athletes who he feels have greatly benefited from the exposure they gained through NCSA.
Lemming was quick to point out the first name on his list: Ryan Miller.
"Miller is an offensive tackle from Littleton, Colorado," Lemming said. "He might be the most recruited offensive tackle in the nation. In fact, he'll probably wind up with more offers than any offensive lineman in the nation. He's simply the best pure tackle to come out of Colorado since Tony Boselli. He is a great player."
Lemming didn't hesitate with the next name either. "Peter Lalich is another great player," he said. "He's already committed to Virginia and is one of the top two players in the state of Virginia. I saw him down in San Antonio last year and he really impressed me with his passing ability, his intelligence and his size. I didn't realize that he was such a big guy."
Going back to Colorado, but staying with the quarterback position, Lemming moved to the next name. "Anthony Perkins is a quarterback out of Northglenn, Colorado. I'll be interviewing both him and (Ryan) Miller on my way through Colorado. He's a big-time player and is already committed to Colorado. I like him a lot. As a matter of fact, I got a hold of some early film on him and, like I said, he's a big-time player. He's definitely one of the top five players in Colorado."
A player Lemming pointed out from his latest Midwest stop was Marion Central Catholic's, and recent Iowa Hawkeye commit, Brian Bulaga. "Oh he's a great player," Lemming said. "He's a top-five guy in the state of Illinois. He's also one of the more impressive looking players in the country. He already looks like he's ready for the NFL." Iowa got a good one in Bulaga.
Another Illinois player Lemming mentioned was Libertyville, Illinois' Sean Lees. "At Carmel Catholic, Lees plays both wing back and defensive back.," he said. "He's an explosive ballplayer and while he does have Division I skills, he's going to need help getting there because he splits playing time there at Carmel. So he needs help, but he's got great grades and has everything else going for him."
Lemming picked several other players who may end up relying heavily on NCSA to assist in their recruiting process.
Taylor Malm, a running back from Thousand Oaks, California, was one of those student-athletes. "He's a guy who I have on my list as a good ballplayer," Lemming said, "but he'll benefit a lot from NCSA in getting his name out to colleges. He's on the radar screen, but isn't being pushed over the edge just yet. I'm confident that, at this point, he'll benefit from NCSA more than some of the other guys I mentioned."
"Ana Tuiasosopo is another great NCSA student-athlete," Lemming said. "I think he was down in San Antonio. I know he's a good ballplayer and will probably end up with a good number of offers from Pac-10 schools, Mountain West schools, and Hawaii."
The final player Lemming mentioned was Derek Gotham, an offensive lineman out of South Lyon High School in South Lyon, Michigan. "He's a guy who is coming up the list strong," he said. "He wasn't there a couple of months ago, but NCSA has helped him a lot and now he's starting to get a lot of the MAC schools interested because he's a MAC-type football player."
After running through a few NCSA student-athlete football players, Tom Lemming addressed some of the issues of the recruiting process that those student-athletes, as well as their peers, are facing.
With early commitments becoming more and more common among high school juniors, many student-athletes are cutting their recruiting process short, and in doing so, may be cheating themselves.
"I really don't think there is a benefit (to committing early)," Lemming said. "The benefits are really for the colleges. They can get their guys done early and they can slow down recruiting. For the player, I think the key is making the right decision and realizing that a hasty decision doesn't mean it's the right one. The players really need to make sure they're comfortable academically, athletically and socially."
For guys like Lalich, Perkins and Bulaga, that decision has already been made. They've weighed all the factors and decided that those particular schools offer the best situation for them. But while Lemming definitely appreciates those student-athletes who make completely informed decisions, he doesn't know how many of the early commitments are made by informed student-athletes.
"A lot of the decisions are made because of pressure from colleges. They want the recruitment of some of these guys over with early. So sometimes the student-athletes want to get it done just so they can have a normal life again. But I really don't think it's a great idea unless you absolutely know that's the right school, because last year there were a lot of people who were switching schools. There were a ton of them. I think a lot of it had to do with them jumping into things way to early and then realizing that they made a bad decision."
With NCSA's guidance, however, those few players who have already made commitments to schools have done so with a complete understanding of the process and an unmatched comfort level with that school academically, athletically and socially.
For the rest of the players Lemming mentioned as well as most of NCSA's student-athlete football players, playing the waiting game could be extremely beneficial. The fallout from so many high profile high school juniors choosing their colleges at this point in the process will greatly assist the rest of the talent pool.
"I definitely think it will have an effect on the guys who aren't at the top of a school's list," Lemming said. "The pecking order will begin quicker. The ballplayers who are on that second and third tier will start to get an idea of where they belong more quickly than in the past. The early commitments will definitely help them."
