Rivals Roundtable: Which pitch do recruits think is overrated?

The Rivals team of analysts cover recruiting on a daily basis and talk to players almost as much as their future coaches. For today's Rivals Roundtable, we ask the team what recruiting pitch do they think coaches care about but prospects don’t.

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Nobody is picking a school based on uniforms, especially not in 2019. Even if a player cared, most schools now have multiple looks. Gone are the days when it was Oregon and everyone else. Do the players look at them? Sure, but early playing time and a history of putting players in the NFL are much more important.

Uniforms is the pitch that quickly comes to mind, because all the teams out there have alternate jerseys that they can point to and say they have a variety of looks for their players. I also think schools saying they have the player’s major is a bit overused. The other one I laugh at a little bit is when I hear a player say that X school told him they are the only player they offered at that position or they’re at the top of their board. Verbal offers are non-binding and schools can say they did or didn’t offer a player, when the truth could be the opposite.

I really feel like top recruits especially give little care to facilities. It used to be cool and if you don't have great facilities that does hurt you in recruiting elite players, but almost every Power Five program has insane locker rooms and training tables and weight rooms and everything else. Oregon used to be so far and above everyone else in the race for the best facilities, and that still might be the case – the Ducks probably landed some players because of it – but top talent wants to either be on the field early or have a clear plan on how a specific school is going to use him in the game plan. Facilities help, but the best players want to get to the NFL and that's really what matters most to them.

The pitches recruits want to hear most right now are about early playing time and playing in the League, so if coaches are not talking about these things first and most often, they're probably not having great success. But these coaches aren't idiots. They don't waste much time these days talking about graduation rates and strength programs, which most schools can boast about and do little to distinguish one program from another. The vast majority of college coaches these days are savvy recruiters and understand what sells and what doesn't.

I hear a lot about "atmosphere" and "environment" down this way, and that is one pitch I do not think recruits think twice about. What recruits of today want is the chance to play in the NFL. Uniforms are cool, fan bases are a bonus, academic support is important, championships do count, but these kids all have playing on Sundays in their minds. They want to play, play early, be featured and have the chance to get paid to play football. The environment they play in is not a pitch that plays into their final decision.

At this point, it has to be early playing time. Now, let me caveat that by saying that doesn't necessarily mean starting from Week 1 on, but freshmen – and in particular, highly rated freshmen – want to see the field sooner rather than later, and coaches can take advantage of those desires in their recruiting pitches. With the transfer portal now a factor that needs to be considered, those early playing time promises must be fulfilled or else they'll consider other options even after being on campus for months and even years. Now, coaches must identify who can play early, sell them on playing time and deliver on those promises.

It depends on the prospect, but I think plenty of pitches are used the wrong way by college coaches. Sometimes it can be a coach selling a particular scheme fit or hyping up facilities, but the biggest mistake coaches make is telling several prospects at the same position that they're "No. 1 on the board." Coaches don't realize how many players talk with one another, and I've heard schools end up missing on guys because multiple prospects were told they were No. 1, only to end up talking to each other and realizing they were being sold a bill of goods.