What were you thinking about when you were in middle school?
Were you worried about passing your next algebra test? Were you scheming to impress your teenage sweetheart? Were you weighing scholarship offers from multiple colleges that are miles from home?
You probably didn’t have to think about that last question, but Dylan Moses, an eighth grade football player at University Lab School in Baton Rouge, has that inquiry on his shoulders. Standing tall at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, the multi-position prospect has received scholarship offers from LSU, Alabama, Florida State, Florida and UCLA, and he has yet to step foot in a hallway as a high school student.
In the race to be the next championship-caliber program, university football teams have turned their respective attentions to the fields where 7th and 8th graders compete during the fall, forcing an issue on athletes who shouldn’t be thinking about their college education yet.
At some point, a line needs to be drawn in the sand.
Last summer, LSU was the first to jump on the recruiting train, offering the 14-year-old Moses a scholarship after he attended one of their annual summer football camps.
Universities haven’t stopped at age 14, though.
Florida State, Louisville, Miami, LSU, Ohio State and Clemson have all “expressed interest” in 13-year-old Tyreke Johnson, a Trinity Christian 7th grade student in Jacksonville, Fla., according to MaxPreps.com. The 6-foot-1, 172-pound quarterback prospect has colleges drooling, and it may not be long before he receives the same treatment Moses is currently getting.
The view from the family of a young recruit is one of unlimited potential. Moses and his family have a plethora of opportunities lined up. The 8th grader can choose between five different football programs and educational institutions to further whatever career he intends to pursue, whether that be football or elsewhere.
But having a middle school athlete begin to ponder about college choices is too much pressure for a young teenager to deal with.
“I think it’s to the point where [college programs] don’t have a choice,” said Rivals.com Southeast recruiting analyst Woody Wommack. “When it comes down to it, you have to keep up with the Joneses, and in this case, especially with schools like Alabama offering kids that early, other schools have to jump in, too.”
It’s a problem, and the NCAA needs to solve it.
At some point, it needs to make an attempt to regulate the recruiting practices of universities to protect the well-being of these teenagers. It’s fine for programs to host camps and let the athletes show off their potential, but allowing colleges to begin offering scholarships is a completely different story.
“I don’t know how you can legislate it, but I really think coaches should do their best to try to stay out of it and make a gentleman’s agreement or something like that,” Wommack said. “Recruiting is so competitive now, and you’ve got to get on the kids earlier and earlier.”
The consequence is seeing middle school athletes making life decisions before they learn to deal with high school drama.
Lawrence Barreca is a 20-year-old mass communication sophomore from Slidell.
