ESPNHS Boys' Basketball

Ever wonder what it’s like to be an elite high school basketball player? To be the object of affection for the country’s top-tier college programs? To be bombarded after games by autograph seekers and to grant interviews several times a week to recruiting analysts who are dying to know what school you’re leaning toward?

What is that world really like?

ESPNHS has summoned the help of a highly rated recruit and granted him anonymity in order to bring you a raw and real account of just what goes on in their lives that doesn’t make the press clippings.

As told to Jason Jordan.

Hey, what’s going on everybody, I’m back! Ha-ha.

Of course I hear about all my haters, but like I always say I’m writing about what I’ve been through. No one makes up anything for me. This is just the truth from me. That’s it.

I know a lot of reporters ask me in interviews what coaches say to try and get me to come to their schools, and I usually say the normal stuff that we say like “They just tell me how I can fit into their system” or “They just talk about how much they’d love to have me.”

But when reporters ask me if any coaches promise me anything or dis other schools, I always say no. The truth is most coaches make promises and most coaches dis other schools, in their own ways.

I honestly think that every coach recruiting me has told me that I can come in and start, except for maybe one or two and those schools just mask it by saying “You can come in and probably play right away.”

I had a coach ask me one time how many minutes I would want to play and what offense I would want to run and then said he could make it happen. They will do and say anything to get us.

Fans don’t like to believe stuff like that about their school, but trust me I’ve got lots of schools on me and every coach pretty much makes promises.

The other thing they do is straight dis other coaches.

Any coach who says he doesn’t do that is lying.

Coaches tell me all the time “Oh he cheats, you don’t want to go there” or “They’re being investigated right now, it’s just not out yet” or “When they get you there it’s total opposite of what they tell you during the recruitment.”

At this point, I just think it’s a common thing for coaches to hate on each other. Like, it’s what they do, almost as normal as recruiting you in the first place.

I don’t really care that coaches dis other schools that are recruiting me. At first I thought that was kind of crazy and I wasn’t feelin’ it but now I know it’s just part of the game.

Coaches aren’t who they show you on TV. They’re way different on a personal level.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this go-round everybody.

Thanks for reading. You, too, haters!

Ever wonder what it’s like to be an elite high school basketball player? To be the object of affection for the country’s top-tier college programs? To be bombarded after games by autograph seekers and grant interviews several times a week to recruiting analysts who are dying to know what school you’re leaning toward?

What is that world really like?

ESPNHS has summoned the help of a highly rated recruit and granted him anonymity in order to bring you a raw and real account of just what goes on in their lives that doesn’t make the press clippings.

As told to Jason Jordan.

What's good, y'all.

You already know by now it’s Recruit X, and this time I want to talk about all of the perks that we, as star players, get.

I know a lot of people out there already believe that we’re treated a little better than the regular students, so that’s nothing new. All I’m gonna do is talk about exactly what we get.

People think they know things, but all they’re really doing is guessing. Most of the things people think we get are a little over the top.

I’ll say this, though; sometimes I am shocked at how nice people are to me just because I am good at basketball. I mean I’m a nice guy, too, but I know most of it is because I’m a good basketball player.

I remember one time I went to the store to get groceries, and the clerk didn’t make me pay for any of it. It was a good amount of groceries, too, but they said “it was already taken care of” and for me not to worry about it.

That kind of stuff happens at clothing stores, too, here where I’m at. It’s like everyone wants to be down with you because of who you are. In school it’s even worse.

The teachers definitely look out for me with my schoolwork. I’m already a pretty smart guy, but I definitely get even better grades from some teachers.

And I can’t tell you how many times people ask to do my homework for me. It’s crazy because it’s like they won’t take no for an answer. The thing you have to be careful about is to learn the work because you still have to take the SATs.

It’s like everyone in my city wants a piece of me.

I definitely know why and don’t consider those people real friends, but it’s hard not to take advantage of all of the attention.

Girls get me stuff all the time. Anything. They just want to be associated with me because I have a name. It’s crazy.

I’m not bragging, it just is what it is. A lot of people want to know about the perks of being in my position, and these are the basic perks.

Well, that’s all for this one, guys.

I know there are some people who hate on me being honest, but I don’t care. It’s just something I wanted to do to give the fans a real look at our lives.

If you can’t respect that, that’s on you.

Check y’all later.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be an elite high school basketball player? To be the object of affection for the country’s top-tier college programs? To be bombarded after games by autograph seekers and grant interviews several times a week to recruiting analysts who are dying to know what school you’re leaning toward?

What is that world really like?

ESPNHS has summoned the help of a highly rated recruit and granted him anonymity in order to bring you a raw and real account of just what goes on in their lives that doesn’t make the press clippings.

As told to Jason Jordan.

What’s up, world!

It’s Recruit X again.

A lot of people want to know why I agreed to do this, and it’s to give you all a look inside of our lives and let you see what’s really going on. I can’t give my name for obvious reasons.

I was shocked at how hard it was for people to believe the first blog about recruiting visits. That happens on almost every visit.

A lot of people ask me about my school list, and they always want to know if players are offered money while they’re being recruited. That’s something that everyone wonders about.

Well, I’m getting recruited by a lot of top schools and I can tell you that not every school offers players money. But, in all honesty, I was offered money once by a coach over the phone.

It was a regular call and he was saying what all coaches say, stuff like “we really want you here” and “we want to use you in our offense in a big way,” and so I just kept listening like I always do.

I don’t know if the coach didn’t think I was really feeling the school or that I wasn’t really listening, but out of nowhere he said that he’d be willing to pay to get me. I thought it was a joke and I didn’t respond, but then he said it again and I could tell that he was serious.

He said he would be willing to pay if I was ready to make a commitment to the school and that there were ways to do that. I was honestly a little shocked. I had heard that this kind of stuff went on, but this was the first and only time that it had happened to me.

It was really awkward because I just didn’t know what to say. I was quiet for a while on the phone, then finally I just told him that I didn’t want to do that and I was still weighing my options out and I wasn’t ready to give a commitment to any school.

He never said how much money or anything like that.

I know that some of my friends have told me similar stories and it’s not hard to believe anymore. I can’t say that all schools offer money, but some schools definitely do.

I don’t think that I would’ve taken the money, but I can’t knock other players whose families need the money if they take it knowing that that’s the school that they want to go to anyway. I know what the rules say, but it happens every year.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. Check back next time.

Recruit X is out!

Ever wonder what it’s like to be an elite high school basketball player?

To be the object of affection for the country’s top-tier college programs? To be bombarded after games by autograph seekers and grant interviews several times a week to recruiting analysts who are dying to know what school you’re leaning toward?

What is that world really like?

ESPNHS has summoned the help of a highly rated recruit and granted him anonymity in order to bring you a raw and real account of just what goes on in their lives that don’t make the press clippings.

As told to Jason Jordan.


I’m Recruit X and I’m here to tell you the truth about what goes on in the life of a heavily recruited high school basketball player. I promise to keep it 100 percent real; hopefully you’re ready to hear what’s actually going on out here.

I’m being actively recruited by most of the top 25 programs, and one of the most popular questions I’m always getting is when I’m going to visit certain schools. That’s why I decided to start this series with what actually goes on when we go on these visits.

Recently, I took a visit to a top 25 school that has offered me and I had the time of my life.

I’m a young guy so I liked the social part of the visit the most, of course. I was on the visit with two other players this school was recruiting.

After we met with the coaches and all of that, the assistants had us go out with the players and hang out for the night. They ended up taking us to a club.

Of course we’re underage, but it didn’t matter. The players had the hookup and we got in no problem. We weren’t carded at all.

Obviously we’re at a party so there was definitely some drinking and yeah one of the recruits had a few drinks, but I didn’t. That’s just not my thing, but I can’t lie -- I was thinking the whole time about how many NCAA rules we must’ve been breaking. I didn’t think it was too serious, though -- I’m just a young guy having fun.

When we got back to the dorms, the players had girls set up for us. If you’ve ever seen the movie "He Got Game" then you’ll understand better, but there were three of us and there were three girls there for us. We’d never met these girls before, but they were there for us.

I won’t go into all the details, but let’s just say we had a great time with them and they were saying the whole time that we should come to the school and it could be like this all the time.

I was loving it, personally. I’m not gonna front.

What guy my age and in my position wouldn’t love that?

The next morning we met with the coaches and that was it. It was one of the best visits I went on, but it’s pretty typical of most visits.

I’m cool with most of the top players and we all have stories like this. It’s nothing new. It’s just not something you’re gonna read about in articles.

I’m not 100 percent sure the coaches knew every detail, but I know that they wanted the players to show us a good time.

That’s all I’ve got for now, everyone.

Make sure you continue to check back soon for my next entry because everything I say is 100 percent real.

Believe that.