Richmond Times Dispatch: Holland Fisher says he remains committed to Virginia Tech

From Eric Kolenich of the Richmond Times Dispatch
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/high-school-xtra/2012/oct/25/8/tdsp...

In February, linebacker Holland Fisher attended Virginia Tech's junior day and promptly committed to the school, nearly a year before he could finalize his decision in ink. Just a week later, Ohio State offered him a scholarship. Later that spring, Alabama did the same.

So Fisher scheduled official visits to the two football powerhouses. Questions swirled as to whether he would turn his back on Virginia Tech for a more glamorous destination. But Fisher said he had no plans to leave. He simply wanted to explore all his options.

"Everybody who offered me, I took a visit to," Fisher said. "Alabama offered me, so I'm not going to waste their time trying to recruit me."

Late last month, he took his official visit to Tuscaloosa. Alabama made its recruiting pitch, which included inviting Fisher for breakfast at coach Nick Saban's luxurious house.

A few weeks later, Fisher journeyed to Blacksburg for his second official visit. He watched the Hokies rally from a 20-0 deficit to beat Duke and enjoyed the trip so much that he canceled his plan to see Ohio State. Fisher says he's firm in his commitment to Virginia Tech.

"The Tech visit just solved a lot of problems," he said.

Fisher's case isn't unique, and it raises a question central to the turbulent world of recruiting: What does a player owe the school to which he has committed?

Don't flip-flop

When Fisher agreed to play for Virginia Tech midway through his junior year — very early for a football player — he was urged to make the decision only if it was the right one. Hunter Bottoms, a former Clover Hill assistant who still works with Fisher, asked if he was sure he was making the right decision. Fisher said yes.

"I don't want you to be one of those kids who flip-flops," Bottoms told him.

Recruits are allowed up to five trips where the school covers all expenses, but can make as many unofficial trips as they want on their own dime.

When a football player makes a verbal, nonbinding commitment to one school, only to reverse course and pick another, he usually is not seen in favorable light. His loyalty may be questioned, and the player may be viewed as not knowing what he really wants.

So high school coaches preach to their players: Take your time. Don't make a decision until you know it's the right one.

In 2006, Varina sent five players to Division I FBS teams, including Davon Morgan to Virginia Tech and Andre Branch to Clemson. Branch now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

All five continued to get recruiting interest after they made their decisions, according to Lee-Davis coach Zac Hayden, who was an assistant at Varina at the time. Unless there was an extreme circumstance, they were told to stick with their commitment. All five did.

When Shane Beamer, the Virginia Tech assistant coach who recruited Fisher, discovered the player had prepared other recruiting trips, he wasn't happy. Recruiting is so much about developing a rapport with athletes that college coaches often take it personally when things don't go as planned.

Fisher told Beamer he still was committed to Tech. He simply wanted to explore all his options. The coach was understanding and told the player ultimately it was his decision to make.

"I think (Beamer) has taken it well," Bottoms said.

College coaches are not permitted to comment on high school players until they have officially signed with the team.

"I don't think any school would feel comfortable with one of their top recruits visiting another school, because there's always the chance they could change their mind. I think he's handled it as well as you can handle it."

Things change

Virginia was the first school to offer Fisher a scholarship, way back in his sophomore year. Virginia Tech soon joined the list, along with Maryland, N.C. State, Tennessee, Purdue, North Carolina, West Virginia and Illinois. He visited all of them.

When he committed to Virginia Tech in February, he was only starting to become a national-level recruit. The next week, a coach from Ohio State called Bottoms and said that Fisher, who will play safety in college, was the No. 1 player at that position as far as they were concerned. Ohio State had to have him, the coach said. So Fisher took an unofficial visit to Columbus.

In the months that followed, Fisher gained muscle and performed well at camps, raising his profile. That's when Alabama threw its hat into the ring. In the summer, he transferred from Clover Hill, where he was on waiver, to Manchester, his home school.

"A lot of things have happened between now and (when he committed to Tech) to make him think about this decision a little bit more," Bottoms said. "It's kind of hard to turn down official visits to Alabama."

While it's important to keep your commitment, it's even more important to make sure it's the right one. Football players are only 17 or 18 years old when they decide where they will spend the next four or five years of their life.

"I told him, any school that he's interested in, he owes it to himself to go see these other schools," Manchester coach Tom Hall said. "You don't want to ask yourself, 'What if?' "

Meanwhile, college recruiters promise kids the opportunity to play in front of tens of thousands of fans and compare their playing style to that of NFL players.

"There are a lot of promises all over the place," Bottoms said. "We've been trying to weed through them."

Plus, some argue the recruiting process is designed to protect the school, not the player. Scholarship offers aren't written in stone. Colleges can rescind them for any reason. So why should a player be more bound to his agreement than the school is to the player?

Schools often are undeterred by the act of a verbal commitment. Many of them will continue to recruit a player even though he has made a declaration to another school. It goes against recruiting etiquette, but if somebody else courts your players, you have to do something to keep up.

Ultimately, Fisher says he doesn't regret his decisions. He simply wanted to know what he was being offered by each school. Kids can't be blamed if they change their mind in the face of so much pressure from college football programs, Hayden said.

"The kids are in a tough spot," he added. "They're 17-18 years old."