Recruiting 2.0

With the advancements in technology over the past few years, getting your name out over the internet has become increasingly easy.

For better or worse, this has taken college football recruiting to an all new level. With football signing day set for this Wednesday, Feb. 3, coverage of the event from coast-to-coast will be rampant.

Several recruiting and fan sites track the top recruits from across the country, and are constantly feeding updated information on whether or not that certain five-star athlete will be heading to their favorite college.

With the aid of highlight tapes posted to the internet and national recruiting sites, in recent years, we’ve seen several local talents head to big-name, out-of-state, Division I programs.

Former Wichita East product Arthur Brown is attending Miami, while his younger brother Bryce saw significant playing time as a freshman last season at Tennessee.

Wichita Northwest’s Chris Harper spent time at Oregon before transferring back home to Kansas State, where he will be eligible to play this upcoming season.

Harper will likely be joined by fellow Grizzly running back, DeMarcus Robinson, who has committed to play at K-State and is expected to sign this week.

Highly touted Bishop Carroll quarterback Blake Bell has committed the Oklahoma Sooners squad next season along with Hutchinson defensive end Geneo Grissom.

Other local talents listed among the state’s Top 15 according to Rivals.com include Southeast’s Joseph Randle and Derby’s Devin Hedgepath, who have both committed to Oklahoma State.

Back to the technology aspect…ESPNU will devote Wednesday with wall-to-wall coverage of signing day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can of course sign up for text message alerts for your favorite school from various outlets to see who your school nabbed.

While it’s great to see local talent succeeding and making a name for themselves among the nation’s elite college programs, one has to wonder if the publicity and exposure given to high school athlete’s is becoming too much.