By Mark Pszonak
Recruiting for college football programs has drastically changed in recent years. As recently as five years ago, a majority of player additions came from the high school ranks, with a few transfers and junior college players sprinkled in. Now for many programs, the priority is the transfer portal. And because of that high school recruiting has taken a big hit. One high school football head coach from Texas shared his thoughts on the issue last night.
Your program signed 20+ portal kids this year, yet you beg us to send our hs kids to your camp?
You don’t walk in our building during open recruiting nor attend or spring ball. You don’t return messages…No thanks. Our kids money isn’t going to be your summer vacation bonus!
— Jake Griedl (@JGriedl) February 8, 2025
Along with being the head coach, Jake Griedl is also the Athletic Coordinator at Bastrop High School, which is east of Austin, Texas. And he is correct with his comments. Summer camps used to be vital for a college programs future, but now for many schools it just seems like a money grab. Yes, a few players will still earn offers, but that likelihood is diminishing by the year.
While Bastrop is not one of the elite programs in Texas, it does produce FBS talent. And most interestingly, two of the biggest recruits that they’ve had in recent years are currently at the school. Class of 2026 DT Tiki Hola is a four-star with offers from schools like Notre Dame, Texas, Oregon and USC, while Class of 2027 QB Weston Nielsen is a four-star with early offers from Miami, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Oregon, Arizona State and others. While these two players won’t need to attend camps, many of their teammates could use the extra exposure.
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This brings up the next question. Which is the program that Coach Griedl is referring to? It can be assumed that it is an in-state program, which still leaves plenty of options in the Lone Star State. Aside from Texas, most of the in-state programs are reliant on the portal. Is it Texas Tech? Houston? SMU? Texas A&M? Whoever Coach Griedl is referring to, will likely be an underdog for Hola and Nielsen, because relationships with high school coach’s matter.
Overall, this is just a sign of the times. Recruiting is very different nowadays and continues to change. And high school recruits are the ones that are being affected the most.
