For Rangeview (Colo.) High School lineman Biram Griffey, the phrase “blessed to receive an offer” felt like an understatement.
Earlier this month, Griffey shared a photo of himself and Colorado State University Pueblo offensive line coach Neal Davis on X/Twitter. And, as is often the case this time of year, Griffey told the world that CSU Pueblo had offered him a scholarship.
“You meet maybe 50-some coaches your whole time getting recruited,” Griffey said, “but half of them talk to you once, but they won’t talk to you again, [or] they won’t text you again. So having someone believing in you just means the world.”
Social media has made it easier than ever to learn which prospects schools are targeting, or are at the very least interested in. Sometimes, as with Griffey, it’s a post of the player and an assistant coach.
Typically, the athletes will share an image of the team’s logo, their stadium/arena, and maybe a player in uniform. Friends, family, and coaches offer their public congratulations. Fans and alumni respond with GIFs and provide reasons why they should pick that school. Reporters quote-tweet the offer. It’s a simple system that, for the unfamiliar, gets repetitive.
But the sense of gratitude and awe at the thought of playing in college — or getting to continue their career elsewhere — never goes away.
“It’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” Minnesota basketball prospect Malachi Hill told Legacy Library. “For a school to call and believe in me and give me the opportunity, I’ve always been grateful for everything.”
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Long before he arrived at UAB, defensive back Darrell Sweeting had plenty of attention as a high school prospect at The Benjamin School (Fla.). Pittsburgh, Marshall, and South Florida were among the notable programs to offer him.
Sweeting signed with Temple, then entered the portal after his redshirt freshman season. He spent last season at Marshall and, after initially intending to stay, officially entered the portal in January.
Having been through the portal twice, Sweeting has seen the modern recruitment process firsthand.
“Most of the time they try to go into the portal and grab a guy that’s already experienced and already been in the fire,” Sweeting said. “I was blessed, when I was in high school, to have a lot of offers, even by the big Power 4 schools.”
Not every player will have the blue bloods entering their direct messages or stopping by practice. But more often than not, the colors or the logo on the helmet aren’t the end-all, be-all.
Instead, as Hill reiterated, it’s the feeling of knowing that there are people who genuinely want them to be part of their program.
“I get excited every time I get a call or a message from any school: D-II, D-III, and Division I,” Hill said.
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