I've had many a player tell me all through high school and right up until signing day that they were coming to Alabama, then they signed with somebody else.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.
I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Washington even though I was all-city in basketball, even when I signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Washington State.
It's very rare that Georgia and Alabama are the only two teams recruiting a kid.
You got guys now declaring they're ready to play pro ball in their second or third year of high school. It's crazy! They're missing so much.
Our players get scrutinized pretty hard at Alabama.
It was part of my recruiting to go to Cal because they knew I loved to play baseball. I don't know if I was good enough to make the team, but I worked out with the guys, and it was a lot of fun.
I'm convinced I got signed because of who I am. And it makes me sad.
In life it wasn't what you know, but who you know. I had people who were trying to buy teams and had they bought the teams, I would have gotten to coach because they wanted me to coach. But the people who have the teams hire their friends.
As a player, I can tell them they don't want to rush to become a coach, because there is a lot that goes on. This is all something new to me. You can talk to a lot of the coaches... and they can tell you. Until you go through it, then you can understand what it's all about.
I've never asked a player if they would sign my shoe.
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