Football Recruiting Staff Stays Ahead of the Game Through Creative Use of Technology
As the man in charge of NC State's football recruiting effort, Billy Glasscock and his staff are constantly thinking of new ways to stay ahead of the competition, especially when it comes to the use of technology.
The coronavirus pandemic has simply forced them to become a little more creative than usual.
With a little help from FaceTime and Zoom, Glasscock and his recruiting team have devised a way for the Wolfpack to remain competitive in its pursuit of top prospects despite an extended NCAA dead period prohibiting in-person contact with players and their families.
"What we've done is we've made a lot of adjustments since COVID-19 and the NCAA extending the dead period through the end of July," said Glasscock, Doeren's director of football operations. "Normally May and June are two of the bigger months for recruiting as far as our campus goes.
"That would be a normal time when families would come up and get a chance to tour campus and meet their position coaches, see parts of Raleigh and get their unofficial visit in. But they haven't been able to do that."
Maybe not in the traditional sense.
At least eight of those prospective players have made trips to campus -- while maintaining enough distance from the coaching staff to keep the NCAA happy -- now that Gov. Roy Cooper has begun to relax at least some of the restrictions brought about by the coronavirus crisis.
"Up until early May, we thought that June would be a possibility for (for visits). So we started setting kids up to be ready when they came up here," Glasscock said. "Once we found out June was going to be dead, we just told them 'don't change your plans. Come on up anyway and we'll help you have the best visit you can have.'"
Glasscock isn't sure exactly which member of his staff came up with the idea of "virtual" visits in which the recruit and his parents take the standard tour of campus while his assistant Merci Falaise and a position coach guide the tour via FaceTime.
But it seems to be a hit with the players.
"Everything was on FaceTime, but it was still a visit. Just not in person with a coach. It was still a good experience," said rapidly-raising three-star offensive lineman Lyndon Cooper, one of two recruits to go through the new on-campus process last weekend.
"It definitely changed my views, knowing the city and all the opportunities around I can have," he said. "I want to go to school for business and real estate and (Raleigh) is an up-and-coming city with the technology and all that type of stuff. Just seeing that changed my mind about the school and how it would feel if I was to come to NC State."
Wolf'Packin today! Had an awesome self guided facetime virtual College tour! pic.twitter.com/9RapLXitUj
— Dr. Mari (@JustMari1908) June 6, 2020
Glasscock said it's important for players to see where they'll be living and studying for the next 4-5 years before they make as important a decision as their college choice.
But because of the time and effort it takes to put together a virtual visit, the State staff has reserved them for a select few recruits at or near the top of their priority list.
"You're trying to get the most bang for your buck," Glasscock said. "Basically, it's one of the last steps in the process."
For the other players on State's radar, especially Class of 2022 recruits just beginning their recruitment, the Glasscock, Falaise and the rest of the staff put together a Virtual Junior Day last month.
It consisted of a Zoom conference attended by at least 70 rising high school juniors and seniors.
In order to show off all aspects of the program, Glasscock stationed coaches, staff members and anyone else that he could find at 22 different locations around State's campus. Each then delivered a short description of that location along with other aspects of the Wolfpack program.
"As a recruiting department, we do a lot of brainstorming," Glasscock said. "We constantly look at what we can do to not only be new and relevant, but also be true to who we are. This is something we felt was a way to do that."
It was a monumental undertaking that took a lot of planning. And a little bit of luck.
"We rehearsed it. We walked around and found the dead spots in the WiFi connection. We spent days getting ready for that one hour show, trying to prepare for any hiccup that might happen," Glasscock said. "When it came to showtime, we nailed it on the first take."
Even Mother Nature cooperated.
"It was pouring down raining all week and we thought about canceling it," Glasscock said of the virtual event. "But we decided there are two different kind of coaching staffs. One that can call you up and say 'we were going to go on Zoom and show you campus, but unfortunately we're not going to do that because it's raining' and another that gets out umbrellas and shows them the campus anyway.
"That's what decided to do. The funny thing is that the skies parted and it actually stopped raining for 40 minutes while we were doing it. The karma was good."
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