Fantasy Football Cafe Forum

by **Cowboys 4 life** » Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:40 pm

13-year-old 'commits' to USC, and pancakes for breakfast

Last year, a fairly ridiculous story made the rounds wherein Lane Kiffin, then the new head football coach at Tennessee, reportedly offered a scholarship to 14-year-old Evan Berry, younger brother of UT All-American Eric Berry and soon-to-be high school freshman, who reportedly accepted. Now at USC, Kiffin apparently figured on Thursday that was setting the bar a little too low -- why target eighth-graders, after all, when you can get to them in seventh grade:

According to the Wilmington News Journal, Bear, Del., seventh-grade quarterback David Sills committed Thursday night to accept a football scholarship from USC.

The 13-year-old, who attends Red Lion Christian Academy, told delawareonline.com "my heart was beating so fast" when he talked to Kiffin.

Red Lion high school varsity coach Eric Day confirmed that Kiffin recently offered the teen a scholarship, and that Sills committed, according to the Wilmington paper.

Where do you draw the line? I don't think kids should be able to be recruited until they are in their senior year.

Pretty soon it will be "if you (Usain Bolt) and you (fastest women on earth) breed and have a kid I will offer you a scholarship at USC a month before conception"

by **Free Bagel** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:26 pm

Are you sure this wasn't posted on The Onion?

by **scottaa1** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:32 pm

Cowboys 4 life wrote:
Pretty soon it will be "if you (Usain Bolt) and you (fastest women on earth) breed and have a kid I will offer you a scholarship at USC a month before conception"

why not? that's more or less how it works with race horses, and in the end, shouldn't our athletes be treated like the property that they really are? ;-7

I'm with Bagel on this. That story sounds like a parody site article. How could Kiffin recruit a kid in Jr. High when the kid runs the risk of getting injured in high school? :-]

by **steelerfan513** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:42 pm

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4891901

It's real guys.

by **Cowboys 4 life** » Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:22 pm

Free Bagel wrote:Are you sure this wasn't posted on The Onion?

Not sure It was from Yahoo. Maybe I'm gullible but I'm pretty sure its real.

Was the story last year about him trying to recruit a 14 year old true?

by **AquaMan2342** » Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:17 pm

I don't see the big deal. As long as it's within the rules (I'm not sure of this), who cares? College football is big business. If he wants to recruit kids that young, that's his choice. If anything, the kid will get a big head, not work hard and become a bust anyways.

EDIT: Might as well rename this thread "Is this ethical because Lane Kiffin is doing it and I don't like Lane Kiffin". Almost any other coach in the country and the criticism is non-existent. Again, that's if this is actually within the rules. If it's not, I retract my points.