The Life and Times of a High School Celebrity

(Written on Feb. 5th, 2008)

Today 12 satellite TV stations converged on Jeanette Senior High School in the small town of Jeanette, Pennsylvania. They all came for the same reason. Stations from as far away as Michigan and Ohio had brought their very best equipment to capture this event. They were here to cover the signing of a high school football player, Terrelle Pryor.

Terrelle Pryor is only 18 years old, yet he has been in the public spotlight for more than three years. He is an immensely talented athlete. An All-American basketball and football player, he has been on the public’s mind for months now, building up to a crescendo that the media expected to go off with crashing drums today, during the bonanza that is signing day.

Signing day for high school football players is the first day that many of them can make binding agreements to their respective colleges. It is the final day of the recruiting year, and the most eventful. Terrelle Pryor is the number one high school football player in America for 2008, and up until this point he had made no indication to where he was going to sign. For the past month rumors had linked him to as many as four schools. He had been extremely quiet about his thought process, despite having a massive spotlight shining on him. Tonight, on signing day 2008, he still has not made a decision.

This isn’t the point of my piece. The point is that the general public has been glued to his every word, every breath, every movement. If you detach yourself from the situation, isn’t it bizarre that millions of people are waiting by their computers and their TV screens for the next announcement on Mr. Pryor. What world are we living in where an 18 year old kid is getting this kind of exposure? Up until just a few years ago, recruits were monitored by only the biggest football geeks. Most people got acquainted with the new players only when they made it to campus for college. However, in the last few years, a new kind of super recruit has emerged. Every year about 20 or so of these recruits make their names known. They’re followed by the media and watched by fans of colleges hoping to land them. Since a buzz builds before signing day, any of these recruits who haven’t committed by then get even more media coverage. Most people will know their names far before them set foot on campus.

I’m not saying such a system is right or wrong, but it does challenge the definition of an amateur athlete and the definition of higher learning. Amateur athletes today have their names plastered on ESPN or Sports Illustrated before they even graduate high school. College football has evolved from being almost intramurals to becoming a multibillion dollar animal and a farm system for the NFL. Signing day will only become more and more of a spectacle into the future, as the popularity of following recruiting grows.

As for Mr. Pryor, his personality seems to be at odds with his public profile. Ears from Eugene to State College are hanging on his every word. To everyone’s surprise, he hasn’t had much to say. The media wants a prima dona, and Pryor seems like little more than a shy, humble, small town kid. To have the national media descend on his town like vultures today has to be one of the more bizarre events in American sports. I wish Mr. Pryor good luck. He will need it.