Kona Schwenke, a 6-5, 210 pound defensive end from Kahuku HS in Hawaii took an official recruiting trip to Notre Dame this weekend, despite saying he was fully committed to BYU. That didn’t set well with Bronco Mendenhall, who told him that if he tripped this late to another school, his scholarship offer from BYU would be pulled.
Now that a scholarship is apparently available, BYU may be trying to re-enter the Ricky Heimuli recruiting lottery. BYU told this outstanding defensive tackle from Brighton HS in Salt Lake that they were out of scholarships two weeks ago.
This recruiting story is not unique to BYU or college football recruiters in general. There are always two sides to every recruiting story, and we don’t know how this one really played out, but after following recruiting for 30 years, the only story we know for sure is this.
You are dealing with 17-18 year old kids. To exacerbate the situation, you are also dealing with their parents, who generally act like they are 17-18 when it comes to their all-world, All-American and center-of-the-universe kids.
Take football and sports out of the equation and look around you at the 17-18 year olds you see at church, in your family circles, at the mall, and on you tube.
Nothing should surprise any of us. It also gives greater empathy for the employment and recruiting rigors college football coaches have to deal with. Whether you are flipping burgers or the CEO of a major Fortune 500 company, how would you like your job evaluation and success to be totally dependent on 17-18 year old teenagers who at their worst are snot-nosed kids and at their best have a little post nasal drip that comes with the teenage territory? Good luck with that one. Good college coaches, need a lot Kleenex when it comes to recruiting.
Regardless, here are videos of Kona Schwenke and Ricky Heimuli to see what BYU is either getting or will miss.
