The Recruiting Road Less Traveled
October 15th, 2009 - byThe College recruiting process can take an athlete in a lot of different directions. Unfortuanatley, recruits usually make the mistake of only looking at few of the many options available. Too many recruits narrow their search to only a handful of schools at the beginning of the recruiting process. By the time they finalize their scholarship offers they are lucky to have more than one full scholarship offer.
Now consider the opposite. What if recruits were open to looking at every school possible, even if it seemed a bit unconventional? Meet UNLV senior Kicker Kyle Watson. The Las Vegas Sun profiled his long strange trip to the historically black Texas Southern and then to UNLV.
UNLV senior kicker Kyle Watson doesn’t think of himself as a pioneer or a trailblazer by being among the first white players at historically black Texas Southern.
He just wanted to play football.
In the fall of 2005, he got more out of kicking for the Tigers and attending classes at the Houston institution than he could have imagined when he left Southern California.
At Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) High, Watson received scant collegiate interest. There were some form letters, but no college coach from the elite FBS (former I-A) saw him play or called him.
Watson’s high school coach convinced DeChon Burns, a Texas Southern assistant now at Texas-El Paso who had played prep ball for him in nearby Riverside, to look at film of Watson.
“He came to a game and liked what he saw,” Watson said of Burns. “He offered me a full-ride scholarship to Texas Southern and I jumped on the ball.”
Watson knew what he was getting into, kind of. He visited the campus, but it was during the holidays. No students were around.
He knew of Grambling and Southern, other HBCU programs in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, but only by their band battles he saw on television.
“I was kind of oblivious to the whole deal down there,” Watson said. “It was definitely interesting being a ‘major minority’ over there. It was a fun experience, a good experience.
“But I’m glad to have ended up here.”
Watson left Texas Southern after the fall semester of 2005. He was homesick, wanted to play in the FBS instead of the FCS (former I-AA) and, well, all that losing had taken a toll.
A semester later, Robinson followed him to Las Vegas.
“It wasn’t like I left because I didn’t fit in,” Watson said. “It was a fun time, but the program wasn’t what I was looking for in a Division-I atmosphere.”
Burns again helped Watson by steering him toward UNLV. Former Rebels assistant coach Kurt Barber had played ball with Burns at USC, and Barber arranged for Watson to walk onto UNLV.
Having done it himself, Watson helped Robinson navigate a transfer from Texas Southern to UNLV.
Home is only a three-hour drive down I-15 for Watson, who earned a scholarship and defeated 15th-ranked Arizona State with a 20-yard field goal in overtime a year ago in Tempe.
Watson became UNLV’s career leader in consecutive extra-point boots, at 49, against Hawaii, and he boosted that to 59 against BYU on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Two weeks ago, a late 53-yarder to tie Wyoming crumpled on a botched snap.
“You always remember the bad ones,” Watson said. “Those stick with you the longest and hurt the most. I finally got a chance to kick a long one, and it’s in the clutch moments. I was excited. I had the wind with me.
“I knew it would be no problem. I really wanted it, to help the team and to prove to coaches and teammates I could hit the long ball. It stung a little, but you have to move on.”
Watson looks back fondly on his brief but unforgettable time at Texas Southern.
Whether it’s the maroon and gray of the Tigers or the scarlet and gray of the Rebels, the most important football colors are on the jerseys.
“I learned a lot,” Watson said. “Of course, your team is your family. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is, where you were born or how you were raised, you’re all one on a team.”
So by looking at a school that was far from the norm, Watson eventually landed at a Division I college. Keep in mind though, that he only took the unconventional route because he had no other options. What if he had considered all of the options across the country?
While it’s obvious that this is the better strategy, the devil is always in the details. Most recruits don’t have a way to reach hundreds of college coaches. They certainly don’t have the relationships to make sure that the same coaches actually watch the DVD’s they send. That is where trusted sources like NCSA come into the equation. We have both the technology and relationships to help recruits properly target hundreds of schools. That’s the NCSA difference.
