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No such thing as a gentlemen's agreement
Individual circumstances outweigh unwritten code in applying recruiting etiquette in Big Ten
Thursday, April 17, 2008 By Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Last December, Melvin Fellows orally committed to play football for Illinois, declared his decision final and said, "This is the end of the process for me."

According to a vague, unwritten Big Ten code of conduct, at that point Fellows was off limits to other league coaches. That's how it is supposed to work, at least -- once a kid commits, back off.

Far from backing off, though, Ohio State came after him hard. Just weeks after his Illinois commitment, the Buckeyes offered Fellows a scholarship. And on Saturday, the big defensive end from Garfield Heights will stand on the Ohio Stadium sidelines, watching the Buckeyes' spring game instead of the Illini's game, as he had originally planned.

The high school junior once was rock-solid in the Illini camp, but he now says, "I'm pretty up on Ohio State. I like Ohio State."

This appears to be a classic case of recruit-poaching, and a contradiction to the stated philosophy of Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel. In reality, though, it's more complex, both in the Fellows case and in the recruiting business as a whole.

Continued...

BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : No such thing as a gentlemen's agreement