Commentary: Recruiting Is A Business

The Boiling Point: As a Purdue fan who’s seen player after player tear ACLs, I’m glad Purdue approached the recruitment of A.J. King cautiously.

Last week when college football’s National Signing Day swept the country, Purdue and its coach Danny Hope ended the day with a decent-sized black-eye. At the time, it looked like Purdue had recruited A.J. King to the fullest and yanked his scholarship at the last second once they got wind of medical issues. When news of that spread, King’s high school coach at Armwood (Fla.), Sean Callahan wasn’t shy when saying Purdue was never allowed back in his school to recruit.

Obviously, none of that publicity is good for Purdue, especially in the state when athletes have to trust every word you tell them about opportunity. And Purdue has made a living recruiting Floridians in recent years.

But let’s not rush to judgment.

First off, ALL of the facts to the recruitment aren’t clear and that’s mainly because Hope isn’t allowed to talk about King per NCAA guidelines because he never signed with Purdue. But here’s what we know in chronological order:

1. At some point, Purdue wanted King to play football because Hope offered a scholarship.
2. King wanted an opportunity to play Big Ten football because he accepted that scholarship last summer.
3. King tore his ACL in a preseason game, not long after accepting his scholarship.
4. Purdue and Hope experienced a rash of injuries on the football field, including two ACL tears, one of which was to former Florida Mr. Football Robert Marve. Those injuries decimated the season.

The timeline on those four events is evident. But here’s where it gets tricky. All of these other items are facts, but who knows what order they fell in.

5. Purdue gets wind of the type of ACL replacement surgery King had. The procedure uses a ligament from a cadaver. It’s the same one Marve and running back Ralph Bolden had on their original knee injuries and both re-injured those knees.
6. Because of the injury bug, specifically ACLs, that swept Purdue the past couple years, Purdue decides to pull its scholarship offer to King.
7. Instead of a full scholarship, Purdue offered a gray shirt, which allows a player to defer his enrollment into school, and thus his eligibility, until the second semester.
8. King takes an official visit to Purdue, which includes an opportunity for Hope and his staff to review all medical records.

Now, timing of some of this makes all the difference. If Hope truly waited to pull the scholarship until after King showed up on campus after Purdue’s season ended, that’s poor judgment. That decision should have been made long before simply because King needed to find other options.

But I don’t mind Hope making that decision to protect the program. All season long, and well before that as other athletes went down with knee injuries, Purdue fans begged for a solution to the ACL issues. Well, not allowing one kid who might be more prone to that injury is a start. It’s in no way a cure-all, but it’s certainly a beginning.

And that’s why some have to remember recruiting is simply a business. Recruits are given the opportunity to switch on a dime for their personal gain, and programs, albeit in a more professional manner, have that right, too.