Blessed to have my second offer from VT! Another D1 school !— Ricky Slade 3 (@NextBigThiing_) October 1, 2014
Hylton's Ricky Slade is just a freshman, but he's absolutely electric. Virginia offered him this week too. Obviously there's a long way between now and his signing day, but this kid's going to get a lot of press over the next 4 years.
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I'm annoyed that we did this but it's understandable. If other colleges are going to give offers to freshman, we have to as well in order to level the playing field...can we at least let these damn kids go through puberty first before colleges start offering scholarships?
I think the kid may have already run through puberty...
He seems to have made a habit of running through just about anything in front of him.
Whoa! A freshman? Wow
This wasn't just a speculative proactive offer. If this kid was a junior, he'd be getting an offer as well.
This remind anyone else of the Nintendo John Elway Quarterback cheat?
...did he score eight tds against that same orange team?
He's going to graduate from high school a decade after I graduated from high school...
Welcome to the ranks of the aged. Just don't tell Ben Stiller that your fingers hurt.
This clip is hilarious, appropriate, and depressing all at the same time
you will go to sleep...or i will put you to sleep....you're in my world now grandma!
And I have wardrobe items older than both of you.
yuuuuuch
Are all of these highlights from this season, or was he playing varsity football as a middle schooler?
First 4 games.
That kid is making people just look stupid. I like him.
We just offered a kid.. born a year after... we went to the National Championship...
Is he related to Chris Slade?
Damn.
@ 1:14, he makes the same guy whiff twice on the same play.
Great vision, see's cracks and squeezes through them.
"That aint no thing. If they put up resistance, just force your way into dem cracks"
- J. Winston
"Here here!"
D. Sharper
How young is too young in everyone's opinion to offer kids? I don't blame any specific school for it. I guess it's kinda like a fantasy draft. Once someone takes a QB everyone starts taking them. Next thing you know you're stuck with Cam Newton and you're 1-3.
Yes, my fantasy team is garbage this season.
LOL. That sounds like a personal problem and I know what you mean!
I took Peyton Manning with my first pic and just didn't worry about it.
Not all these young guys will pan out.
Same boat man. Beautiful roster except for QB and TE. I wish I could have filled them both with that one guy in Arizona but no....hes only one or the other
0-4. but yeah, I feel you.
To (sort of) answer your question, I think it's circumstantial, but should be merit based. It seems like skill position players are easier to project early. If a kid scores 8 touchdowns against HS varsity competition, that's probably worth an offer, even as a freshman.
Bobby Knight offered Damon Bailey as a 8th grader FYI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Bailey
I see nothing wrong with the offer. the kid has plenty of time to decide where he wants to go college. lets hope picks vt when all is said and done.
I am probably just too far under the influence from a four hour happy "hour", but what are the NCAA rules as far as recruiting kids this young. I thought for other HS sports at least there is a timeline where the student can reach out to the university but the university cannot contact the student directly. TIA for responses.
My lord we need to get this kid... He is impressive for someone that's only 14? years old. I wish I was that fast
This was all I needed to read up on him
He's tiny but honestly his film reminds me a lot of JC's coming out of highschool. Most of his highlights are of him running untouched past people through large holes in the offensive line. There are a couple of clips wherehe shows off his escapability, but in college, outrunning people doesnt always work. Good thing he has a few years to put on the poundage and grow a bit...
Yeah, he's, what, 14 years old? Plenty of room left to grow, and consider he's probably the youngest player on the field by a year or two.
I didn't keep track explicitly, but I think the last clip was the only one where he didn't end up in the end zone.
Looks like UVA was the first to offer, VT second... and guess who was third...
Indeed. It looks like Suburban Mire wants a piece too...
http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football-recruiting/2014/09/410...
That is if Urban is around in 2018 at OSU - 2018 will will mark the longest he has been with one school.
I think there needs to be some rules changes.
You see talent like this -- and you want it -- but at some point you've got to let kids be kids.
I think there shouldn't be any offers before junior year.
It's ok for a coach to recognize someone they meet in public, for example: Ok to say "hi, great job" if they are recruiting someone else and pass them in the hall or something. But absolutely not ok to actively recruit a kid until he is a junior.
Obviously at some point, the switch needs to be flipped to "salesman", but until then, I think we should be encouraging coaches to be mentors, not in the sense of coaching them to better play, but in the sense of "keep your grades up, and maybe you'll get an offer from us".
I think if a coach deliberately breaks the rules on contact with kids there should have an automatic minimum penalty of at lease one scholarship lost for a year. Repeat offender goes to 5 schollies.
Put some teeth into the punishments so that they are a deterrent.
Just let the kids enjoy the game for a while. There are plenty of stresses at that age. They don't need adults acting like fanbois and giving them a warped sense of entitlement.
Correct. This page seems to agree with what I've read before:
http://recruiting-101.com/how-does-a-college-coach-offer-a-sophomore-or-...
Also of interest, it seems that freshmen should not have any contact with college coaches (I can't imagine that the absence of a category means there are no regulations):
http://www.recruitlook.com/index.php?do=/public/ncaaRules#football1
I really think all of this needs to tighten up. I dislike the whole arms race going on now in recruiting, but if this is the way the game is being played, at least VT is staying modern and staying in it. As long as no rules are broken, I sort of have to relent. I just hope that the rules change. As you said, let kids be kids. This kid is a phenomenal talent, and if he continues to develop, I would love for him to be a Hokie. But he's 14. Let him have fun and grow up. Everyone knows that the recruiting process is stressful for all involved. He doesn't need that pressure at this point, nor does any 14-year-old need to get a huge go over the fact that he's getting this kind of attention.
2018??? Man i feel even older today...
Go get 'em!