‘It’s a dirty game’: Pandemic flips recruiting world upside down

My phone rang and it was the head coach of a top junior college program that was really close to home. The coach was a legend and had racked up win after win over the years, and he wanted me to come visit his campus.

So, I hopped in the car with my mom and cruised to his school.

He met us at the academic hall with a smile and a handshake. The coach was gracious with my mom and very excited to see me.

I was impressed. We went over all the academics and the two-year plan for him to develop me for a four-year opportunity.

“We think you can do really big things here,” he said.

Remember, I was 17. Impressionable. Kind of stupid.

After touring the campus, I was all-in. I went to get a bite to eat with the coach, and he wined and dined my mom. She liked him, too, and her stamp of approval was a pretty big deal to me.

But that wasn’t the entire day. I wanted to go to practice. I met up with the coach and hopped onto the field to play catch with their current starting catcher.

“You heard about our practices yet?” he asked.

“Nope,” I said sheepishly. “Does he make you run a lot?”

“Oh, just you wait,” the catcher replied.

The coach that had been so kind and soft-spoken with my mom just a couple hours before turned into a completely different person when practice started. I was used to being coached hard, but this was a different level. It never reached the point of abuse, but the aggressive tongue-lashings over minuscule things just rubbed me the wrong way.

I knew within 5 minutes that I wasn’t going to be playing baseball for him. After practice, I thanked him for his time and left.

“Sorry, mom. That’s just not for me,” I said as I hopped in the car.

One of my summer ball teammates decided to go to that school, and they went on to win a Junior College National Championship. I could’ve been a part of that team, and we would’ve won a lot of games, but that culture wasn’t something I felt like I could thrive in.

I’m incredibly thankful that I went and visited that campus and got to see the real side of the story, not the one that was told to me over the phone.

The problem is that prospects aren’t getting that shot to visit campuses right now. No official visits have been allowed by the NCAA for the past year. The dead period is slated to be finished on May 31, but prospects throughout the country have been forced to make some big-time, life-changing decisions without even getting an official visit.

“They don’t know what they’re getting themselves into,” Hayfield baseball and girls basketball coach Kasey Krekling said. “It’s not the same when you talk to a coach on the phone. How does the campus feel? Sometimes you just know when you show up on campus and the campus feels right, the community is what you want and the team fits what you’re looking for. It’s really a community thing. Right now, you can’t get that feeling because half the students aren’t there because they’re all doing school online.”

A 588-mile drive

Stewartville forward Will Tschetter became one of the most highly sought-after recruits in the country this summer. Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska all offered the Hiawatha Valley League star on the same day.

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard had impressed Tschetter and his mom, Kasey Morlock, throughout the entire recruiting process. But Tschetter still had some doubts. He didn’t want to make his college decision without visiting the campus. The plan was to hold off until the NCAA allowed on-campus official visits. He wanted to see and experience what the school could potentially be like before pulling the trigger.

The dead period was still a big hindrance. So, Tschetter and Morlock took matters into their own hands. On July 4, the mother-son duo hopped in the car and made the 588-mile drive from Stewartville to Ann Arbor, Mich.

“We didn’t think there was going to be a lot of traffic around Chicago during the Fourth of July,” Tschetter told the Post Bulletin. “We got there, and we walked around campus even though we couldn’t see the coaches. We just wanted to make sure we got the right feel for the program. We got kind of a glimpse at the campus and we got to walk around the town. We didn’t get to have any contact with anybody, so it was a little weird.”

Pre-COVID-19, Tschetter’s visit to Ann Arbor would’ve been flashy and extravagant. Michigan would’ve footed the bill for all the expenses. Tschetter probably would’ve taken his official visit on a Saturday when Michigan football hosted a Big Ten rival. He would’ve been there to see the Big House packed to the rafters.

But this was different. It was just a mom and a son trying to find their way around a huge –– but quiet –– campus.

“It was a really good experience,” Morlock said. “As a mom, I just loved seeing how excited he was. It’s a really big campus. Will is kind of an adventurous kid, so it was cool to see him be excited about it where I’d be overwhelmed. It was a really great day. We got our steps in for sure!”

There were no brochures to break down Michigan’s strong academic programs. There were no guided tours of the basketball facilities or a look at where Tschetter might live during his freshman year. He didn’t get to meet his potential teammates or pick up some free gear. But as Morlock and Tschetter wrapped up their self-guided tour and prepared for the nearly 9-hour drive home, Tschetter had made up his mind. Ann Arbor was going to be his home.

« It just felt right,” Tschetter said. “The vision that they have for me, playing in their system and the level of trust that they’ve instilled in me. And getting to know the coaches and how genuine they are. That’s why I picked Michigan. It fit me so well.”

Relationships matter so much more than anything else.

“I hate to say this, but there are so many schools that you almost start forgetting some detail,” Morlock said. “It all runs together. Really, I wanted him to stay focused. Does it really matter about the dorms? Nope. Does it really matter if it’s a new locker room? Nope. I really wanted us to stay focused on the coaches and the school. Will is a relationship kid. It just kept coming back to the relationship with the coaches.”

But not every kid is as fortunate as Tschetter.

On the outside looking in

Austin Freerksen should be signed with a high-level football program right now. Instead, he’s left waiting and wondering if he’ll get a chance.

The Byron star was an All-State selection after rushing for 1,596 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2020. The reigning Post Bulletin’s All-Area Player of the Year finished his Byron career as the all-time leader in rushing yards (4,108) and touchdowns (43).

The pandemic has flipped the recruiting world on its head, and talented players like Freerksen are slipping through the cracks. It’s been 365 days since the pandemic first shut down sports. The NCAA immediately enacted a dead period in March of 2020. That meant no official visits could be held. That dead period is extended through March 31, 2021. That means it’ll be 15 months since any potential prospect has been on an official visit.

Freerksen is one of the best running backs in the Minnesota Class of 2021, but the entire landscape of college football recruiting has changed significantly. The Class of 2021 is getting hit the hardest. According to 247Sports’ Bud Elliott, FBS college football teams signed more than 400 fewer recruits to scholarships in the class of 2021 than they did in the classes of 2020 and 2019. In 2021, FBS teams signed 2,215 prospects. In 2020 they signed 2,622 and in 2019 they signed 2,671.

There’s a sense that college football programs have stopped caring about the Class of 2021 and instead shifted their focus to the Class of 2022. Freerksen is left on the outside peering in after he decommitted from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in January.

“They didn’t do anything shady, but once I committed they stopped reaching out as much, so I just decided that it wasn’t the place for me,” Freerksen said. “Plus, I feel as if I rushed my decision because of the uncertainty of the season happening or not happening.”

So, now Freerksen hopes and waits for the phone to ring. He’s been a standout wrestler for Byron this winter. The plan is to go out for track yet again this spring, with the hopes of winning a state title in the long jump. Maybe that will spark his recruitment back up again, and he could parlay a track offer into a potential walk-on opportunity in football.

“It definitely is a dirty game,” Freerksen said. “That’s why you have to make the decision for yourself and not listen to anyone’s advice really, because it’s ultimately your future. I’ve been thinking about playing Junior College ball somewhere, but I don’t even know if that is the best option for me. To be honest, I haven’t had any schools reach out really. I’m not even sure what I want to do next year. I was possibly thinking about walking on at Minnesota State, Mankato since I was accepted into the school. The funny thing is the coaches haven’t really talked to me, though. I’ve just been staying patient and hopefully everything will fall into place.”

Freerksen’s attitude has remained positive. He knows what he can do with the ball in his hands. He high-hurdled defenders. He outmuscled linebackers and sped past defensive backs. Byron’s zone-heavy running scheme is tailored after the new age of college football. Freerksen should be the jewel of a college football recruiting class right now.

Coaches should be beating down his door for an opportunity to land him. Instead, it’s the other way around.

“I’ve just been staying patient and hopefully everything will fall into place,” Freerksen said. “I just know I am going to be fine because I don’t let anyone outwork me, I’m confident in myself and I have family that supports me. I just wish I had everything set in stone at this point, though.”

Playing the waiting game

The Class of 2021 isn’t the only group that’s been affected. Hayfield’s Easton Fritcher is one of the best baseball prospects in the state. Minnesota has already dished out an attractive offer. Arizona is in the mix. North Dakota State, Cal State Fullerton, Purdue and some Ivy League schools are really interested.

Touting a prospect as a “five-tool” player gets loosely thrown around sometimes, but Fritcher fits it to a T. He’s got incredible speed. He hits for both contact and power. The ball jumps off his bat effortlessly. He’s a terrific defensive outfielder and he has a cannon for an arm. He’s good enough to pitch or play in the outfield at the next level. He could even be a two-way guy if he wants. Players like Fritcher are in hot demand.

Still, Fritcher sits unsigned. But this time, it’s not because of the lack of attention on the recruiting trail. He just wants to get this big decision right.

“It’s been really tough,” Fritcher said. “All the Division I colleges are shut down and aren’t able to do much. They have to figure out who’s coming back, who’s staying. It’s been hard. I was planning on committing around the start of the baseball season this year, but that’s obviously not going to happen now.”

The dead period has forced Fritcher to put his entire recruitment on hold. He’s had multiple conversations with various coaching staffs and he’s narrowed his list down, but he wants to make the right choice, and he can’t do it blindly. Phone calls only mean so much. He can only get one side of the story. Fritcher wants to see it for himself.

“Division I schools want him to commit because he’s a junior, and usually, now, they’re targeting the sophomores, but it’s hard because he wants to go visit on campus,” Krekling said. “I don’t blame him. It’s the next four years of his life; he wants to see what it would actually look like.”

Fritcher is in the same boat as Kasson-Mantorville’s Bennett Berge. The KoMets’ star wrestler has already won three state championships. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State, South Dakota State and Wyoming have made strong pushes for Berge, but he’s waiting it out because he wants to see the campuses before he commits.

There are just so many unknowns. Tschetter had to drive 588 miles to make sure that Michigan was the place for him. Freerksen is waiting in Byron, lifting, sprinting and training. Hoping for a chance. Fritcher and Berge are itching to find their collegiate homes.

“The wait might be perfect for me,” Fritcher said. “It might not. But with everything that’s gone on, I have a feeling it might work out.”