When Donovan Jeter felt the time was right and his mind was made up, he had a simple solution to closing off his recruitment from other coaches.
"I blocked them," said the Beaver Falls defensive lineman who ultimately picked Michigan.
What, like, on Twitter?
"I blocked their numbers, social media, everything," he said.
For Jeter, it was the best way to shut down the process after he gave Michigan his verbal commitment Oct. 23. It's also a certain reminder of the nature of college football recruiting today, when no player is truly off the market until he puts pen to paper on National Signing Day.
Recruits can choose to enroll early at their chosen schools _ as Jeter did at Michigan in early January _ but for those who don't, the competition between coaches for their talents continues.
Jeter himself is an example of both sides of the coin. The top-ranked defensive lineman in Pennsylvania initially verbally committed to Notre Dame in mid-September, after an official visit that blew him away.
To hear him tell it, it wasn't as if Michigan's coaches kept calling and texting to try to wrest him away from the Irish. But they asked him to give a visit to Michigan a chance, and a prospect who in retrospect wasn't 100 percent set on his first choice "flipped," as they say in recruiting parlance.
After seeing Michigan up-close, "then I knew I didn't want to be anywhere else," he said.
"Flips" like Jeter are hardly a rarity in the current climate of recruiting in college football. In fact, just Tuesday afternoon, New Castle High School star Geno Stone spurned Kent State for Iowa.
The marquee college program in this town won its share of other schools' losses. Of Pitt's 22 committed or already-enrolled players in the 2017 recruiting class entering signing day, eight were originally pledged to another school, including three of its most highly regarded.
Two of those eight picked the Panthers in mid-December, then arrived on campus less than a month later. Defensive end Deslin Alexandre was a true "flip," announcing that he was decommitting from North Carolina State and committing to Pitt at the same time. It wasn't something he took lightly but felt it was better late than never to get it right.
"It was probably one of the biggest decisions I'll have to make in my life," he said. "N.C. State is a good program. I have a lot of respect for that coaching staff and what they're trying to do over there. I tip my hat to them, but I felt like this was the best decision for me and my family to come out here."
So, what prompts these sometimes sudden changes of heart? Well, often times, they aren't as sudden as they seem.
Just because a high school player tweets his verbal commitment or tells a reporter he's committed, doesn't mean other schools' coaches honor an unwritten rule to stop pursuing him. That has happened in Pitt's favor, and it has also gone against the Panthers in past seasons. Even this year, Steel Valley star Paris Ford _ Pitt's first and possibly most significant recruit in this class _ considered visiting ACC rival Miami early last month before deciding to stay solid with the Panthers.
This isn't a factor only at the highest level of college football, though. In addition to the Football Bowl Subdivision, the same relentless recruiting approaches happen at the Football Championship Subdivision and beyond.
"No matter what level, it continues until signing day," said Duquesne coach Jerry Schmitt. "No matter if it's the big-time schools going against each other, or in our situation, if we're concerned about other schools."
For FCS coaches such as Schmitt, even if they find an undervalued prospect early on and persuade him to verbally commit, it's never over until it's over.
"Absolutely not," he said. "And I mean, you understand it. It's a business, and there's nothing official. It's just turned into a crazy business."
But many college coaches at all levels hope it will become a little less crazy starting later this year. There's a strong possibility the NCAA's proposal for a three-day signing period in early December, in addition to the current one in February, will be voted on and passed in April.
It wouldn't eliminate all of the down-to-the-wire recruiting and drama and stress on teenagers making major life decisions, but it might help a bit.
"It could alleviate some of that, and it is an issue," said Schmitt, who's on the FCS executive committee. "It's a challenge at all levels, and it's unfortunate for the schools, but it's unfortunate for the kids, too. Sometimes things happen, and it's a domino effect across the board."
