Editor's note: Each spring and summer, ESPN.com football recruiting analyst Tom Lemming travels thousands of miles to every region of the nation to visit hundreds of the nation's top rising-senior high school football prospects and their coaches. In an exclusive ESPN.com feature, Lemming chronicled his journey every week with postcards from the road, giving users the advance word on the blue-chippers to watch in the recruiting class of 2001. Here are Lemming's most recent postcards, from southern Georgia, Atlanta, western South Carolina and Charlotte, plus his final postcard of the 2000 road trip, Indiana
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I must admit that the logistics of actually planning and mapping out this kind of trip into such a relatively short period of time are mind-boggling. On paper it may seem like a fun, easy thing to do, but believe me, traveling in 44 of the 50 states in just four months is an extremely difficult task.
To many observers, this may seem like a completely illogical way to approach college football recruiting. But it's still my belief that if you represent yourself as a recruiting expert, the best way to establish and maintain a reputation as such is to see the players in person and on film.
Since the beginning of my Prep Football Report publications, I have taken to the road visiting just about every high school and college in the nation. At the end of each trip, I feel more qualified to speak about the top prospects.
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ABOUT TOM LEMMING
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Tom Lemming is editor of Prep Football Report. For information on how to subscribe to Prep Football Report's three yearly magazines and five newsletters, fax your request to 847-842-1313 or write to P.O. Box 59113, Schaumburg, Ill. 60159. For year-round recruiting updates, call Tom Lemming's Prep Football Hotline at 900-860-9888. Calls are $1.79 per minute, and callers must be 18 years old or have parents' permission. |
Over the years, I've been asked many times why I do what I do. To most people, the idea of spending more than 120 nights a year on the road, eating three meals a day either in the car or at a convenient greasy spoon, driving between 12 and 18 hours a day, and suffering through snowstorms, rainstorms, tornadoes, flat tires, and delayed or canceled flights sounds abhorrent. To me, however, it's still an exciting and enjoyable way to earn a living. I enjoy it as much now as I did when I started the magazine.
My love of history, travel and geography complements my football obligations perfectly and makes the time fly by. My extent of travel has made me something of a travel expert, and I've been asked many times which cities in the country I would recommend traveling to. Well, No. 1 would be Boston, No. 2 Seattle, No. 3 Orlando, No. 4 San Antonio, and No. 5 the duck capital of the world, Gueydan, La. Another good part of traveling by car is that I'm able to attend a number of college football summer camps. In fact, it's always good public relations for me to stop at every Lemming-friendly college football office I can.
To say that times have changed would be understating the fact. When recruiting magazines were in their infancy, the last thing college coaches wanted to see in their reception area was a recruiting analyst. Some of my most uncomfortable moments were spent in these reception areas. Nowadays, since most of the head coaches spent time in my basement film room as assistant coaches, I feel much more comfortable visiting them at their college offices. Over the years I've visited nearly all of the Division I-A football schools, with annual trips to at least 80 of them.
I hope the 2000-2001 recruiting season will be as enjoyable for you as it will be for me, and I look forward to writing these postcards so you can join me on my travels over the next few months.
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ALSO SEE
Wisconsin
Missouri
Alabama
Memphis
Nebraska
Arizona
Michigan
Ohio
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
New England
New Jersey
Colorado
Washington
Oregon
Los Angeles
San Diego
Las Vegas
Oklahoma
Shreveport, La.
New Orleans
Houston
Central Texas
Dallas, Part I
Dallas, Part II
Chicago, Part I
Chicago, Part II
Cincinnati
Maryland
Northern Virginia
Norfolk
Eastern N.C.
Jacksonville
South Florida, Part I
South Florida, Part II
Tampa
Tallahassee
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