Character Becoming Big Key on College Football’s Recruiting Trail

Each year as the NFL Draft you begin to hear the same story time and time again as the league does its best to “Protect the Shield.”

As the pressure is increased, NFL organizations do slide prospects down their board and remove some all together over character concerns of prospective athletes. Coaches break down film of the on-field efforts as security staffs investigate prospects for the off-field exploits to ensure that the organization makes the best investment possible.

You see it’s simple. NFL organizations like making money and a player that could potentially end up on the news for all of the wrong reasons is bad for business.

Don’t look now, but that emphasis on character is trickling down the collegiate ranks. Coaches are now becoming responsible for not only on-field success, but protecting the brand of both the team and university as a whole.

Although they do not have the same resources some of their NFL counterparts have at their disposal, collegiate coaches are taking advantage of some of the latest trends to use as a barometer of a prospective student athlete’s character.

“It’s notable when college coaches are dropping kids left and right over what they’re saying on twitter; how they’re saying it when they’re saying it, when they’re on twitter. Also what they’re posting on Facebook” 24/7 Sports Barton Simmons said.

“That’s the new 40 yard dash of character-social media.”

While online networking websites can certainly open up a window into a player, sometimes it does not tell the whole story. Rivals.com recruiting analyst Andrew Bone said the University of Alabama in particular doesn’t hold back when it comes to finding out more about a prospect.

“A few months ago I was speaking to a recruit and he told me that when Alabama offered him Coach Saban told him that they not only looked at his film, they talked to the coaches and people in his community to find out more about the guy as a person” Bone said.

“A few years ago prospects were being recruited solely on talent alone, but it’s a whole mixture of things these days and character definitely is a big part of that."