MySpace and Recruiting

[Buckskin86]

Recruiters crowd Gainesville lineman

By ANDRE' L. SHANNON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 07/28/06

Tracking down old classmates and downloading music aren't the only things they're doing these days on MySpace.com. Now, the popular social networking Web site is even being used as a football recruiting tool.

"I had to turn off my MySpace page for a while," said Nick Claytor, a star offensive line prospect at Gainesville High. "Random people kept filling up my wall and leaving me messages, telling me to come to their schools."

Seems the 6-foot-7, 312-pound tackle can't hide from recruiters. The attention comes from everywhere — fans, scouts, even fellow players.

Claytor said he kept hearing from Georgia Tech recruit Kyle Jackson so much, "I had to block his number."

Jackson, a linebacker from McDonough, has even done a bit of recruiting on Claytor's MySpace page. In an area reserved for comments, Jackson includes a highlight reel of a Tech offensive lineman making a big play.

Claytor is getting courted in more traditional ways, too, seemingly getting a new letter from a new school every day. He already has more than 20 scholarship offers. Things got so bad with college recruiters sending him text messages, his mother canceled his service.

The bonanza will continue for at least another month. Claytor doesn't plan on announcing which college he'll attend until September. He does, however, have a top four in mind: Ohio State, LSU, Auburn and Tech.

Claytor lives in Gainesville, which is only about 20 minutes away from Georgia's campus.

"You know what that means," he said. "Everyone is like, 'Go to Georgia.' I mean, every day someone says to me that I should go to UGA."

The senior-to-be said he'll base his decision on three things.

"I want to go to a school that's going to win, has a good recruiting class and has my major," said Claytor, who plans on studying sports psychology.

There's one other thing that might factor into his decision. He said it would be nice to play with Charles Wood, his fellow lineman at Gainesville. Auburn and Georgia are among the schools interested in Wood.

http://www.ajc.com/uga/content/sport...28recruit.html

[LordJeffBuck]

Originally Posted by Nick Claytor

"I had to turn off my MySpace page for a while," said Nick Claytor, a star offensive line prospect at Gainesville High. "Random people kept filling up my wall and leaving me messages, telling me to come to their schools."

I know some BP members were guilty of such conduct. Now maybe you realize that it really does not help the Buckeyes' cause to pester the prospects. Let the coaches worry about the recruiting, just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[BUCKINYOUDOWN]

Plus we can get in trouble

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Originally Posted by BUCKINYOUDOWN

Plus we can get in trouble

Or worse, the school can.

Edit - maybe that's what you meant.

[bucknut11]

Originally Posted by Buckeyeskickbuttocks

Or worse, the school can.

Edit - maybe that's what you meant.

I think he was afraid of being banned from BP

[jlb1705]

That kind of thing can lead to secondary NCAA violations for the program. Kentucky Basketball recently had to report such violations involving fans and a recruit's myspace account. It's in the Recruiting Forum Rules thread.

Long story short, refrain from initiating contact with these kids over the internet. (Heck, I think the fact that fans are going out of their way to look these kids up on myspace is pretty creepy.)

[CleveBucks]

"I want to go to a school that's going to win, has a good recruiting class and has my major," said Claytor, who plans on studying sports psychology.

Fact is, there's only ONE school that can say they offer all three for Nick.

[RB07OSU]

I think it's horrible that adults would try to contact recruits on myspace and that they wouldn't give them privacy. That is borderline stalking/is stalking. But I still think our chances with Nick are pretty good.