Who exactly are you talking about that I “convinced” to go early.
David Njoku signed to FRM a year-plus before I started working there.
The year I started there (January 2018), Chad Thomas (3rd round), Chris Herndon (4th round), and Kendrick Norton (7th round) had already been signed with FRM for a month before I was even working there.
Kendrick Norton, if you asked him today, would not regret that decision. He took a chance on himself knowing he would be a later pick in all likelihood. That’s what players do. You can tell them where they are likely slotted to go in the eyes of the decision-makers, but at the end of the day many guys would rather take their chances being a late round pick and making some money than go back for nothing (obviously this was pre NIL). You can ask Kendrick how we have helped him after his accident and the relationship we continue to have with him to this day with his business and real estate endeavors.
You guys just don’t understand the fact that we are around players ALL THE TIME. This podcast does nothing in terms of “getting us in the building” The school is aware of our relationships and if you ask them, they actual prefer that they deal with agents through this NIL stuff than not have one.
It does us no good to sign players who are expected to be PFA/UDFA. We are investing in these guys’ training costs and that goes down the drain if he guy doesn’t make it. Do guys leave early across college football every year that probably need another year? Of course. But let’s stop blaming the agents for decisions that players make.
It’s great that
@apfenny3 is with us because he can attest to the conversations we have with players. The funny thing is we have players stop talking to us because we gave them reports on their game that are not very complimentary from scouts (late round grades, weaknesses in game). Some guys get upset when they see those reports but it does us no good to sugar coat it for them.