Reading about this freshman left tackle at Washington getting all this spring hype just confirms everything that's wrong with recruiting today. The entire system is built on instant gratification and empty praise before a kid has even taken a real snap. It's a fraud. Real recruiting, the way we did it under Coach Franchione and then Coach Patterson, was about projection and development, not about anointing some teenager a savior because he looks good in shorts during April.
I remember when we recruited a kid. You'd see his film, you'd talk to his coaches, and you'd bring him in with the understanding he was a piece of clay. The story wasn't written. Look at the 2003 class that built the foundation for our Rose Bowl run. Those weren't five-star headlines in April. Those were evaluations. The process was about finding kids with the right heart, the right work ethic, and the willingness to be molded. Now? It's all about the "rave reviews" from a single spring practice, the social media hype train that leaves the station before the kid has even endured a two-a-day in the Texas heat.
This is why you see these massive portal classes at Oklahoma State and Colorado. Because when you recruit for flash and immediate validation, you get a roster of mercenaries who bolt at the first sign of adversity or a better NIL deal. There's no foundation. There's no program building. It's just a constant, desperate search for the next shiny object to distract from the fact you didn't develop the last one. We used to redshirt offensive linemen. We used to have a strength program that turned boys into men over four or five years. Now, if a freshman isn't drawing raves by his third practice, he's considered a bust and the coaches are hitting the portal to replace him.
The proof is in the NFL Draft every single year. How many of these "can't-miss" five-star croots actually pan out? How many of these spring practice legends even make it to their junior year at the same school? The guys who last, the ones who become pillars, are very often the ones who were developed, not just collected. This new model isn't recruiting. It's fantasy football drafting with teenagers' lives. It's a soulless transaction that has killed the art of evaluation and the virtue of patience. The whole sport is now just a highlight reel for the next transfer portal entry, and it's making a mockery of what team building used to mean.