There was a time in the early days of the internet that I kept my own recruiting list complete with a list of my top 100 players from my home state. I did not write a blog, but I posted my list anywhere I could just for fun. I did it all for fun because it was a long time hobby for me. In reality, I kept my own top 100 lists years before the internet came along and I really can’t blame the internet for being a geek.
Did anyone else start with dial up internet? Those were the days, I remember the busy signals and actually being excited when I could get on. For a geek, I surely didn’t know a lot about computers and I really still don’t. Does that mean I’m really not a pencil necked poindexter?
Somewhere along the times of those early internet days, there was a guy that actually was paid for following and reporting on college football recruiting. That was before the days of Rivals.com,
247.com, scout.com and ESPN recruiting services and there was a place for this guy to use a pay site to write and talk about recruiting. I’m not sure those sites even exist any more, but they were strong in those years.
I always suspected the man was a fraud. I don’t even remember now why I thought he was not the real deal, but I had suspicions.
I also had my reasons for believing that this particular gentleman was stealing info from me, not that it really mattered because some considered me an expert in the field. I had some connections and was able to watch a lot of high school football and see the prospects in action for myself.
Just to be sure, I put out another top 100 list of the state’s top players. I did use a real player’s name, but he was not going to be heavily recruited, or maybe not even recruited at all by division 1 schools. But, he was a big boy that worked very hard every time I got to see him play, and he gave it everything he had on every play.
He was a local kid and I was able to see a lot of him and he just happened to be the lucky one I chose to place on my latest list.
Like so many others do already, I padded his stats a little and just made up a 40 time as I had no idea how fast he could cover 40 yards. Most of those 40 times and measurements are made up, anyway. I did not think placing him really low on the list would work out that well, but I did have him around 70 or 75. I was just curious as to what might happen after I posted my list on the internet. Would anyone even notice the young guy that gave his all on every play. Strangely, even though I am covering for the information stealer and will not reveal his name, I cannot even remember the young man’s name that I placed on my list. Age seems to do that to people, plus I tend to be horrible with names, anyway.
Sure enough, my recruiting expert guy who shall remain nameless, put out a new recruiting list, also. Just as I had expected, my big boy was on this other expert’s new list at the exact same height, weight and 40 time that I had written him onto my own list. Hmmm, very interesting.
Is it a problem to view somebody else’s list? No, not at all. But, a real guy will do some checking around and do the research before adding the player to his own list. If the big boy had shown up on the other guy’s list at his own height, weight, and 40 time, I would not have been as suspicious. This guy was clearly a fraud and he was getting paid for being that scoundrel.
For the record, the big boy eventually was accepted at West Point, but I lost touch with him there and I have no clue if he played football, or even graduated.
I have no idea how the following event took place, or who was responsible. No, I really don’t and I swear on a stack of Mormon Bibles.
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But, suddenly, an outstanding recruit out of the great Pacific Northwest began to emerge. High school football recruits coming from British Columbia are rare, but a big and talented tight end recruit from the area was discovered. This particular recruit had a very high interest in coming to the south and playing for a certain school whose fans paid this unnamed recruiting pundit for information.
The internet was abuzz with a young talent by the name of Gotch Yarbrough. Out of the clear blue, Gotch Yarbrough had the traffic piling up on college football recruiting sites.
This Yarbrough kid was supposedly in the 6-6, 245 range and could run like a deer. It was said, this
young phenom could run the 40 yard dash in an amazing 4.5 seconds which is obviously incredible for a high school kid of that age.
This young talent had always heard about how fanatical college football fans were in the south and he wanted to come play in front of large stadiums filled with crazy fans. Other than the NFL, this was Gotch Yarbrough’s dream, to play big time college football and play for national titles.
Suddenly, Gotch Yarbrough was all over this nameless guy’s updates. Poor paying customers were led to believe that this young super talented Canadian was a good bet to sign with their favorite team come the first Wednesday in February. He was tired of the cold Canadian winters and wanted to be warm the following college football season.
There was one small problem.
As you may have easily figured out, Gotch Yarbrough was the same as ‘got ya bro’. We all got a good laugh out of this practical joke. What a dope, who would fall for something like that?
Our nameless recruiting expert was caught with egg all over his face and the humiliation was enough for him to eventually disappear into the depths of the internet. Almost as fast as there was no recruit named Gotch Yarbrough, there was no more recruiting expert with no name. He must have gone into another line of work.
Once again, I had no part in the Gotch Yarbrough scam, but I wish I had thought of it.
That’s the way my feeble memory has it happening. Please comment if you have a different viewpoint.
The moral of the Gotch Yarbrough story? Always check your sources and then double check them again because it’s the internet and somebody could be pranking you.