10 Basic Commandments of Following Recruitment

Following recruits as intensely as we do is humbling, exhilarating and addicting. It can make you punch a hole in the wall and do cartwheels (in Bud Foster's case, probably within 24 hours of each other).

After really getting into recruiting for the past two years, I've developed some rules for handling it so I don't go overboard and/or lose my sanity. Here's my list (feel free to add more):

1) French is always right. Never disagree with French unless you're prepared to defend your argument to the death. If you choose to debate French, know that you're always be wrong but you'll gain respect for trying.

2) Stars are like SAT scores. There are a standardized, quantifiable and uniform way to judge a high school student-athlete and they do a decent job of predicting success in college. Using a star rating in substitute of a holistic evaluation is ignorant and foolish.

3) Stars don't measure intangibles. A prospect's intelligence, work ethic, sense of humility, competitive nature, dedication to team success and ability to lead his peers is just as important as his 40 time.

4) These kids are 16-18 years old. Their decisions won't always be rational.

5) Twitter is a double edged sword. It's cool to follow a recruit on twitter and send him general tweets like "@PlayerX would look great in Maroon and Orange!" Never negatively tweet, never feed the trolls from other schools. Nothing is gained from trashing other universities...the only exception is UVA. Fuck UVA.

6) There are only 11 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense. Recruits generally want to play right away and want to take the path of least resistance to do it. However, it's never cool for a recruit to demand early playing time. It's always cool that a recruit wants the ability to compete for playing time early in his career.

7) The same argument for Player X to come to Virginia Tech will not always work for Player Y. Every recruit is different. Some use football as means to pay for college and/or go to a school they couldn't get into otherwise. Some just want to get shitfaced for 5 years. Some are willing to sacrifice everything to make it to the NFL. Some want to leave college as a national champion.

8) A commitment is not a commitment until a recruit shows up for the first day of class.

9) The world won't come to an end if we don't get a specific recruit. We're not going to the national championship because we got a specific recruit.

10) Coaches have more invested in recruits than fans. They spend way more time on recruiting. They have a higher football IQ than 99% of fans. Tech coaching staff uses their own methodologies when it comes to evaluating recruits. They know good players when they see them. When in doubt, always defer to the person who's livelihood is on the line.