I will preface my detailing of recruiting expenses by clearly acknowlinging that ERod is in line to receive a college scholarship worth well over $100,000. ANY amount of money spent promoting his talents and getting his name out there in front of "decision-makers" is money well spent. But it is a COST that must be incurred and it is something I mentioned early in my blogging that I would come back to.
It can be said that ERod's recruitment started years ago. However, for accounting sake, I'll concentrate on costs over the past 2 years. Even though ERod is a a top-level player, we have always pushed to have his name out-there in the public. And that costs money.
When this all really started to take off, I was concerned with what was being written about ERod on both a local and National level. While we can't control all of it, we can control some of his related media.
So let me tell you about rivals.com. The cost to be a member of a recruiting website such as rivals.com is $100 for the year. Rivals.com is a national network of recruiting websites run as a franchise business. If I am a huge fan of football in Texas, I could pay to run the University of Texas/rivals website. I would get most of my information off of the rivals network but I would also do my own interviewing of top recruits within the state. Probably, 75% of my information would be from the national rivals network. I would make my money by selling ad space to local companies to post on my site, and I would charge members a fee for access to all the recruiting information (like player profiles, local/national ranking of players at each position, etc). We wanted to know what was being written, so we paid the $100.
The local outlet for rivals in NJ is tow-fold...our State University, Rutgers, is represented by a site called scarletnation.com. Then, there is a NJ-specific site called njvarsity.com. I took issue with the two sites when I found photos I had taken on their site with "rivals.com" on them. I questioned where they got them from and was told ERod had sent the pictures to them. I told them what I thought about my pictures having their tag on them since they are MY pictures. Just because a 17 year-old, which he was at the time, sends you pictures, it does not mean you can't be questioned about how you will use them, especially when I identified myself as the photographer of those pictures.
I was told I was the first person that ever questioned them about such a thing, and then my future postings on the njvarsity.com Bulletin Board were blacklisted as a retaliation. My $100 was already paid, and since the site is locally owned, I could not get my money back from the National rivals. This local "gentleman" running njvarsity.com is a 4th grade teacher in his other life and one of the many sleazy characters that make college recruiting what it is. He'll Instant Message ERod to get personal information about him, his season, and recruting, and then sell it off to anyone interested. It's a business, I understand that. But, apparently, the means by which this sleaze gets his information and pictures is beyond reproach. His holier-than-thou attitude is repulsive and the reason so many parents involved in recruting look at these scheisters as being repulsive. Nonetheless, we paid and so we read the material. If our experience is any indication - I would believe about 50% of what you read in their material online.
With any recruit, the highlight tape/DVD is another expense. After putting together a highlight tape of ERod's career, we had a local business change the format from VHS to DVD, and then run off some copies. The cost was around $100 (total: $200). We were helped by a friend of ERod's who made subsequent copies gratis. Of course, over 50 DVds had to be sent. Add $120 (total: $320).
Highlight reels alone do not a recruit make. They must attend football camps to show what they have in person. In 2005 ERod attended one at Penn State. With the cost of the camp, the trip up to drop him off, the trip up to pick him up....food, gas, tolls, etc., the cost was well over $500 (total: $820). And he actually visited PSU for a football game in 2004, add another $300 (hotel, food, gas, ; total: $1,120).
ERod went on to attend the Boston College camp in 2006, and that was a total cost of about $300 (total: $1,420).
He visited UConn ($50 - went with a coach; total: $1,470), Temple ($100; total: $1,570), and Maryland ($150; total: $1,720) as well.
A top player always needs to look like a top talent, which means UnderArmour shirts (2005 he got 2 shirts, $70, and four in 2006 $140; total: $1,930), two OAKLEY face shields ($40 each, $80 altogether; total: $2,110), and assorted wrist bands/socks/chin strap pads ($60; total $2,170).
Which leads me to the $450 Ishoulder pads that he wears. They were offered free-of-charge through a local recruiting company which told him, "all the Top 25 guys in NJ are getting them as a gift." With recruiting violations a possibilitiy, I demanded to know not only how they could be a gift but also I requested an invoice to pay for them. We didn't want ERod losing eligibility because a company was giving him gifts that others don't receive. An invoice was sent, but we cannot divulge the total amount of the pads we paid. Suffice it to say, it was not full price.
ERod attended the Elite Recruits Combine in Randolph, NJ in May 2006 but the trip out includes gas/food...add $50. (total: $2,220). To prepare for the combine (an assessment of players on the D1 level) he needed to prepare. So he attended "speed school" to learn how to run the rediculously-"important" 40-yard dash and 5-10-5 shuttle run. He attended 6 sessions for a total cost of $445 (total: $2,665). He also spent 3 months prepping for the 2006 season at the local Dumbbells gym for $150 ($2,815).
Pictures have been processed to send to media outlets and assorted schools....add $30 (total: $2,845).
There are probably any number of other small expenditures associated with his recruiting which I missed. But this is just to give you a general idea of what it costs to be recruited - even when they want you! Imagine what a parent will spend if their child is NOT a top recruit and needs much more training, many more school visits, the hired help of a recruitment professional, etc.
So our total is roughly $2,845 and that does not include the full price of the shoulder pads. Much more than I originally expected.
