High school football in any state isn’t perfect.
We've all heard the criticisms- Parents have become too involved. Kids have become too soft. Administrations – not so much in Arizona – don’t often support football programs the way they should.
Yet, talent continues to improve. Especially in Arizona, the rise in the level of talent and the number of major recruits has put the state on the national map. With that, comes multiple Power 4 offers for in-state products.
Tait Reynolds (Queen Creek), Camren Hamiel (Desert Edge), Aaron Thomas (Mountain Pointe) and Devin Fitzgerald (Brophy) top the Rivals Arizona 2026 recruits list. Players of that caliber, and many others, have major college programs calling on a daily basis.
But offers don’t come easy. In fact, some don’t come at all despite announcements on social media. It’s a toxic trend led by “handlers,” who post or have athletes post fake or non-committable offers on social media in an effort to attract attention from other schools to reel in legit offers.
Does it work? Maybe sometimes. But chances are slim. If anything, it does more harm than good to an athlete’s recruitment.
“Taking the approach of trying to build or spike your recruitment by posting fake offers is not a good look in the college coaching community,” says Cody Cameron, Sports360AZ reporter and recruiting expert. “Once that’s discovered in the coaching fraternity, any sort of recruiting traction you may get in your career will be questioned. In most cases, coaches might always assume the next opportunity that comes will be a fake offer.
“Most times it’s adults acting as ‘handlers’ or ‘agents’ for the kids that are the ones telling them to do this. It’s completely unfair to the kids and it can really harm their recruitment process in the long run.”
Posting fake offers isn’t new in the world of high school football.
In 2008, Kevin Hart (not the comedian), a Nevada high school offensive lineman, staged a fake signing day ceremony. A press conference was held for him at Fernley High School. He was the first football player in the community to receive a Division I offer.
Or so people thought.
Hart sat in front of TV cameras with multiple college hats in front of him, eventually putting on the Cal one. But he didn’t have an offer from Cal, or any school for that matter. It was a story that made national news, but it still continues to happen today.
The only difference between Hart’s situation and what is taking place in Arizona is the lack of TV cameras. With the recruitment window wide open, players have posted offers left and right on Twitter/X. Most tag their head coaches. Some tag the schools. Others tag their “handlers.”
For the sake of staying clear of unnecessary drama, I will not be revealing who the “handlers” are. But those in the know in Arizona can probably make a good guess.
The offers they claim to have gotten athletes aren’t real. They’re 100% fake. And the fact that “handlers,” recruiting services and sometimes coaches are having players believe they are real is as toxic as it gets in the world of recruiting.
Recently, an player posted an offer from a school in the Conference USA. A lead analyst for one of the top recruiting sites in the nation described it in two words, “Fake offer.” It doesn’t stop there.
In addition to that, a Big Ten college offensive line coach, in a text message following the announcement of an “offer” by a local prospect on Twitter/X, said “never heard of him.”
Look, hyping up players is great. The Carter brothers do a fantastic job of it- even convincing Tom Lemming to come out to Maryvale. They do it because they genuinely care. But flat out lying about offers is where the line should be drawn.
Some of you may be asking how I know these offers aren’t real. The truth of the matter is I don’t know if all of them are real or not. But some can be obvious.
Look for certain tags on social media from people claiming to be “in the know” with college coaches but nobody has ever heard of them before they activated their Twitter fingers. Look for posts from recruits that aren’t shared by coaches they tag.
It’s a problem that is running rampant. Players get false hope and “handlers” take credit for doing something they didn’t actually do. Again, sometimes it does trick colleges into pulling the trigger. But that’s extremely rare.
But one thing is for certain. All credibility is lost and the wrong people are blamed.
“Credibility shoots down, then high school coaches get blamed if they don’t sign to a D1 school when most of it was all bulls***,” Cameron said. “Uncommittable offers happen all the time. Official offers don’t come until the fall of senior year. And even then it doesn't mean much until the NLI is signed.
“Building a recruitment off lies because you trust an adult trying to ‘help’ you is bad. (A coach) used to do it all the time and none of the kids signed with (the schools) because they were never good enough.”
So what is the solution? Trust your head coaches. Not the guy making you pay thousands with the promise of getting your name out there. Not the guy flapping his gums on social media about all the “connections” he has then asks you to post an offer you didn’t hear about from college coaches directly.
Don’t buy into the idea of posting something with the hopes of attracting attention from other schools to get the real thing. This isn't a scenario where you can fake it until you make it. College coaches talk. Recruiting experts talk. It’s not worth potentially burning bridges.
Put yourself out there on your own. Post your highlights, go to the college camps (just not the ones put on by random companies with the promise of several college programs being in attendance), put your head down and work. I see many players who do a fantastic job of marketing themselves, looking at you Michael Lujan.
Do it the right way and things will fall into place. If I have described a situation you’re in with this piece, please take action to correct it. At the end of the day, your future should only fall into your hands. Not the guy making false promises.
“Trusting your high school head coach – No. 1 point of contact for your recruitment – getting your grades up and Friday game film is still the recipe for opportunity,” Cameron said. “Place trust into your high school coaching staff, ask questions and work hard being a great teammate.”
Do it the right way, and everything will end up the way it should.
(Come and discuss this story with us in the TeamAZV Forum)
