'Street agents' are sliming the system: I've got a high school star, and the bidding starts at $10,000. Who wants in?

Sporting News, The, Feb 11, 2005 by Matt Hayes

At some point next week in a courtroom in Memphis, college football will take one giant leap backward when the gavel strikes and a trial ends. From then on, it's only going to get worse.

It's easy to turn apathetic because of the monotonous annual stories of rogue boosters infiltrating college campuses. Now the same, slimy corruption has found its way into high school football, soiling the system before it ever takes root.

In the week that we celebrate national signing day and the anticipation of another season, we also finally must acknowledge the seedy underside of recruiting.

"It's enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up," says Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. "We can't overlook it anymore."

We can't overlook it anymore.

Especially after a high school football coach in Memphis, Lynn Lang, went on the stand last week and admitted to offering a player, Albert Means, to the highest bidder. Seven schools offered money for the big defensive tackle; the winner, Alabama, paid $150,000 to the coach, who auctioned off a 17-year-old kid without a hint of remorse.

We can't overlook it anymore.

Especially after Miami coach Larry Coker stood up at last month's AFCA annual meeting and demanded something be done to curtail what many call "street agents."

That's right; these brokers are so slippery, so sleazy, they've been tagged with their own disparaging nickname that sounds like something out of a B movie.

Here's how it works: A high school coach or a "longtime friend" of the family--or wait, how about scumbag?--leeches onto a young kid in junior high school. This child--because that's what he is at that age--usually is being raised by a single mother. Her son, who can run faster than anyone on the block and is 3 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than most high schoolers, is desperate for a father figure.

So the scumbag, err, street agent, forms a relationship with our junior high schooler. Buys him a shirt or lunch here and there, feeds his head with grandiose dreams. By the time our young star is a high school senior, the scumbag--who now magically becomes our star's "mentor"--is brokering deals with colleges.

"It's disgusting," Coker says.

And it's not just in Memphis--and it's not just in college football. College basketball has similar problems with AAU coaches who wrest control of players from their parents and high school coaches. Street agents have been around for years in college football, that annoying noise rattling in the closet that no one wants to acknowledge. After last week's trial slapped a price tag on it, it no longer can be ignored.

The scumbag testified he bought cars and went to strip clubs with his loot. Meanwhile, our star left the school that paid for his services after one year, returned home to Memphis and spent the next three years on the University of Memphis' football team. He now is a potential late-round pick in April's NFL draft, and although he has the ideal size for a defensive tackle, scouts say he's lazy, has weight issues and takes plays off.

No wonder.

When Coker brought up the street agent issue at last month's AFCA meeting, he said it could develop into something that could seriously damage the sport. Coker won't state publicly his reasons for initiating the discussion at the meeting, but sources say he is upset because he believes recent high-profile recruits from Miami were steered away from the Hurricanes by a street agent who once coached high school football in South Florida.

South Florida or South Dakota, what's the difference?

We can't overlook it anymore.

Three's a crowd

Unless Brent Schaeffer makes significant strides in spring practice, Tennessee's two-quarter-back system will end in April,

Although Schaeffer hasn't publicly spoken about the Vols' quarterback situation, he likely will transfer at the end of spring drills if he doesn't win the job. Erik Ainge, one of the nation's top freshmen last season, is the projected starter, and Schaeffer and Rick Clausen are the backups.

The hurdle for Schaeffer--a gifted and dynamic quarterback--isn't necessarily his ability. It's Tennessee's offensive philosophy. The Vols want to run the ball and throw off play-action, and that doesn't mesh with Schaeffer's ability to break containment and make plays. That's why Clausen fared so well as the starter last season, when both Ainge and Schaeffer were injured. Clausen isn't necessarily the most gifted player, but his skills fit what the Vols want to do on offense.

If Schaeffer leaves after spring practice, he will have to sit out next season but still would have two years of eligibility remaining. N.C, State and Kansas State were high on his list last year when he chose the Vols on signing day.

speed reads

FOX announced that the BCS bowls will be further separated on the schedule beginning after the 2006 regular season--the season in which "double hosting" of BCS games begins. The national championship game that season won't be played until January 8, 2007. But the Rose Bowl still will have a game on January 1, no matter what, after 2006. Here we have the first of many future chinks in the BCS: The bowls are bickering amongst one another. The Sugar, Orange and Fiesta think the Rose is running the show. Uh, gentlemen? Without the Rose, you have no BCS. Deal with it.