Pat Dooley gives 12 reasons why football players choose a college these days (2024)

OZAN KOSE/AFP

This is what the suits in Indianapolis allowed to happen. Everybody says the market will settle, but if it is supposed to settle why are the women and children huddled in the barn? This is the Wild West and not the good kind.

The funny thing is that with the portal being such an easy out. Just because your money wasn’t good enough when a player was coming out of high school doesn’t mean I won’t be after his freshman year (see: McClain, Cormani).

NIL isn’t going to kill college football, but it is making it harder on the fans.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

All those stats about 2% of players making it to the NFL go in one ear and out the other. Everyone who signs at a major college school thinks they will go to the league. So, the second biggest reason for a baller to pick a school is the track record of the coach.

Not the winning and the losing but the ability to get you ready for the next level. It’s why Nick Saban kept getting class after class of high-level recruits.

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun

There was a time when this was the most important reason. Now, it is a distant third.

I remember being in the offices of the coaches at Union Co. High waiting for Gerard Warren’s announcement. On the whiteboard, Warren had listed the teams he was considering and the players returning at his position.

It mattered then and it still matters now. Now, of course, if you don’t get on the field you just go somewhere else.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Those were the words Mick Hubert used during the 1997 Florida-FSU game. And certainly the recruits in the stands were affected by the atmosphere.

Atmosphere still matters, but it does fade. Dan Mullen had a recruit commit on the field after a big Florida win and a couple of days later flipped elsewhere.

The atmosphere of the stadium is also a major factor in recruiting with faux announcements when young me come in for their visits.Touchdown, Bo Smith from 76 yards out!!!

Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun

There is a reason why college football seems like the same seven or eight teams fighting it out every year.

Winning begets winning. The more you win, the more NIL money comes in. The more you win, the more merchandising opportunities will be there. The more you win, the better you are treated.

Coaches used to be able to sell players on starting something new, kind of like Deion Sanders did at Colorado.

But eventually, even Prime needs to win some games.

Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun

Billy Napier and his crew of polo shirts have stepped up Florida’s game in this regard. Certainly, the affiliation with the Jordan Brand has helped.

You want to go somewhere that allows you the comfort of being able to only do one wash a month, but let’s face it – swag only goes so far when the players can afford anything they want.

Still, it does not help when you get nothing for Christmas because you were bowl-less.

Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun

And getting bigger. I’m talking about size here, people. Remember when Florida was getting hammered because it did not have the nice bells and whistles?

Now it’s so loud you can’t hear. You want whatever you build to wow the families when they walk in and Florida has done that.

Making the players excessively comfortable is a big priority. At least they have to see the potential for that.

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun

It’s not always that big a deal in the first cycle of recruiting. Some young men want to get away. Florida lost a great player one year because his family was fighting over his pregnant girlfriend and he wanted to be living as far away from the situation as possible.

But a lot of players do want to make it easier on their parents to travel to their games and that’s why the transfer portal is there.

You may start out at Oregon or USC, but eventually, some young men realize they miss their families and vice versa.

Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel

I’d like to tell you that it’s very important, but you know better. It still matters to some recruits, but many of them are simply looking for the easiest online courses.

Now, let’s be clear. There are tons of athletes in other sports who are choosing their schools totally based on the high standing of the school’s academic reputation.

And there are still football players who care about what they will do when they don’t make it to the league.

But it’s not as big a deal as the coaches will tell you.

Jamie Squire/Allsport

There are players who would prefer not to go to the same school that their parents went to, especially if they were athletic stars of their own.

Then there is someone like Tim Tebow, whose parents fell in love at Florida and inundated him with orange and blue blood early in life.

Still, for Tebow, it was a tough choice. In the end, he chose his family’s school.

Dads who had success in sports bring their kids up to be active and we see legacy signings all the time. None have been better to Florida than the Jackson family.

Syndication: Gainesville Sun

There was a time that FSU was killing it in recruiting and the theory was that the combination of a school that used to be a women’s college and a second university with a more diverse student body gave the Semis an edge when the recruits were out at the clubs.

Or, you could go with the theory that every player over there received cars when they signed, but that’s just an old rumor.

There was a time when the weather and the hot pants and halter tops and sundresses and cowboy boots were enough to make a red-blooded young man decide on a school.

Not as much anymore.

Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports

It is so important in recruiting to find out who is calling the shots. Mother, father, Urban Meyer’s legendary fifth cousins.

Who is in the ear if the kid you are recruiting?

We have seen it before when a player went against the wishes of a father or mother who threatened not to sign the scholarship players.

Everything depends on the young man and how important his family is. His choice could revolve around a girl or a friend or a sister going to a school.

Or it could have nothing to do with anybody.

12 Florida football season records that will not be broken any time soon

12 historical wrongs that should be righted for Florida Gators athletics

Here’s why Florida football’s 2024 schedule is not as hard as you think it is

Dooley’s Dozen: Ranking 12 top sports announcers who are Florida alumni

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 members of Florida football who must get better

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things that would fix college football’s problems

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 best quarterback duos in Florida football history

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things Texas, Oklahoma need to know about the SEC

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things that must happen for Florida football

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 New Year’s resolutions for the Gator Nation

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 best moments for Florida Gators athletics in 2023

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things we hope Florida football got for Christmas

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things that will be difficult to get used to in 2024

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 good Gators teams that should have played in bowls

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things that went right for Florida football in 2023

Dooley’s Dozen: 12 reasons why this isn’t the low point for Florida football

Dooley’s Dozen: Grading Billy Napier’s 2nd year with Florida football