The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 31

Polk-5 Sunday, January 28, 1996 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE I I i I I Players find time at line a real drag The collegiate courtship An onslaught of phone calls, mail and visits from college coaches leaves football prospects eager for it all to end. Preps Joey Knight Sunday Special By JOEY KNIGHT Tribune Staff Writer Countryside standout lineman Jeff Mitchell wearily carried on his umpteenth phone conversation of the winter evening. It was another college recruiter relentlessly urging Mitchell to sign a letter of intent with his school on National Signing Day, 1992. Several other coaches already had phoned with their sales pitches, and the calls were running together in Mitchell's mind. This one was equally yawn-inspiring until the recruiter delivered a parting shot that threw Mitchell for a loop.

"We had talked for about an hour," recalled Mitchell, who now plays at the University of Florida. "And 1 avoid them because you could stay on the phone from the time you got home until you went to bed." When recruits aren't screening calls, they're usually sorting mail. Beginning Sept. 1 of a recruit's junior year of high school, colleges may send an unlimited amount of mail. Most do.

Kendra said he accumulated three large boxes of letters. Mitchell said he received approximately 250 pounds of college media guides. Wilcox said he filled a trunk, two milk crates and a garbage bag full of mail. "You get to know the mailman," said Mitchell's mother, Claudia. "He kept asking us, 'When's this gonna be Quick, youngsters, name some of the greatest slam-dunk artists of the modern day: Michael Jordan, you say? A nod for Dominique i I i 7 Weekend getaway -vr right before he hung up, he asked, 'What's my name and I had no idea.

I'd had about seven or eight calls that night and I just lost track of who I was talking to." Mitchell laughs at the recollection, but many other Division I football prospects likely have endured similar lapses in memory. The recruiting process frantic, hectic and sometimes zany can have that effect. By the time a superstar schoolboy has commit Mitchell CLIFF McBRIDETnbune photo Jesuit's Reggie Wilcox, who has verbally committed to Georgia Tech, filled a trunk, two milk crates and a garbage bag with recruiting mail. Below, Ryan Clement said Notre Dame's Lou Holtz kept the pressure on even after he said he was going to attend Miami. ted to a college, he's probably ready to be committed to an institution.

Lou Holtz in the living room one week, Steve Spurrier on the sofa the next. Enough phone calls to start a new area code. Enough mail to start a new zip code. To a 17-year-old, the whole process can be flattering. Then it gets frustrating.

Shawn Kemp? Excellent. All are acceptable. Here's another one. Name some of the most renowned shot blockers of our time: Shaq? Manute Bol? Hakeem? Outstanding. Pierce yourself with a gold star.

OK, one more. This one's tough. Name one of this season's top five NBA free-throw shooters: Still there? What's the matter? An answer would be nice some time before Dennis Rodman's hair color becomes a. permanent shade of gray. Sadly, it seems many of today's playground patrons are as careless about that last question as they are clueless.

Free-throw shooting, it appears, has become a lost art in the era of breakaway dunks and baggy shorts. Venture to your nearest outdoor slab, and you'll likely find the charity stripe has become little more than the launching point for a one-handed jam. "If it doesn't involve dunking or double clutching, the kids want nothing to do with it," Tampa Prep boys coach Joe Fenlon said. Tying up the line ft ol Recruits are allowed official visits, lasting no more than 48 hours, to five schools. The round-trip transportation, meals and lodging are complimentary.

So are the compliments. "When you go on trips, every coach will flatter you, that's his job," said Auburn receiver Tyrone Goodson, a former Brooksville Central standout. "But you should try to get to know the players. You've first got to like the players before you get to like the coach." Many say getting too chummy with a coach is one of the pitfalls of the process, especially if that coach's school is eventually dropped from consideration. If that occurs, breaking the news becomes another headache for a recruit.

"The toughest thing is, you have a couple of coaches you get pretty tight with, then you have to tell them you're not going to their school," Mitchell said. "But then again, it's business. I say enjoy the trips and enjoy the attention, but keep it more on a business level instead of a personal level." By all means, many say, avoid the business of bashing other colleges. "The part that turned me off is when a school put down another school, like a big school talking about the not-so-good schools," Wilcox said. "I'd disregard those schools because they're just insecure about their programs," Kendra added.

It's not over yet For many, the recruiting process won't end with a non-binding, verbal commitment to a college. Snubbed coaches will urge players to reconsider, and those easily swayed could change their mind as often as they change socks. Mary Williams, who's experienced the rigors of recruiting with two sons, former Hernando standouts Jer-maine (FSU) and Marlin Green (Navy), said coaches "can be persistent." "I think after a point Jermaine did get flustered," Williams said. "Especially after he made his decision and other coaches kept calling. Then they got to lambasting other schools." Clement, who visited Notre Dame, said Fighting Irish coach Lou Holtz kept calling after he'd committed to Miami.

Then there was University of Pittsburgh's recruiter. "He said with or without me, they were going to have a great team and I was making a big mistake and they would beat Miami," Clement said. "Well, you see what's happened. We're becoming a power again and Pitt hasn't done much of anything." Just another of the joys of being recruited. Enjoy it and endure it while it lasts.

"For the good high school players out there, I'd say you just have to be prepared for it and don't get frustrated," Kendra said. "When a coach calls, concentrate and listen to what he has to say. I can't say something to make recruiting 100 percent better because it is a pain in the butt." Tribune file photo When colleges harvest the year's bumper crop of recruits, they leave behind bushels of cauliflower ears. In the weeks leading to National Signing Day the first day a prep player may sign a letter of intent recruits will spend more time on the phone than a switchboard operator. That's because NCAA rules allow colleges to make an unlimited number of calls to high school seniors during certain "contact periods" which last two to three weeks.

Outside a contact period, schools are allowed to contact a potential player only once a week. "The part I dislike the most is the phone calls," said Jesuit defensive back Reggie Wilcox, who has committed to Georgia Tech and will make it official on the Feb. 7 National Signing Day. "It's something you want and enjoy to start out with, but then it gets tiring, even boring." University of Miami quarterback Ryan Clement felt the same way until an otherwise routine conversation went awry. Clement, then a SuperPrep Ail-American from Denver, was speaking with Greg Landry, a former NFL quarterback then assisting at the University of Illinois.

Landry asked which schools Clement had chosen for his five official recruiting visits. "I told him I was going to CU, meaning Colorado University," Clement said. "But I guess he thought I meant, 'I'm going to see because he started going, 'Oh, man, that's great! I'm looking forward to "So I had to call him back and explain that it was a misunderstanding. He was pretty disappointed. He thought I was pulling his chain and I wasn't.

It was an honest mistake." Florida State quarterback Dan Kendra, a former prep All-American from Pennsylvania, recalled one occasion when a recruiter phoned at 6 a.m. Needless to say, it was one wake-up call Kendra hadn't requested. "I eventually had to have my parents screen calls," Kendra said. "I stayed over at my girlfriend's house to To help potential collegians cope with the often-hectic recruiting process, several former blue-chip prospects and their parents offer these tips: Before meeting with a college coach or recruiter, jot down all your questions about that school and its program. Assume nothing, and remember there's no such thing as a stupid question if you're sincere.

Try to keep conversations with coaches on a business level. Becoming too friendly with a coach may create awkwardness if you eventually must tell him you've chosen another school. When visiting colleges, try to find out what they're like 365 days a year, not only during football season. Most campuses are buzzing on game day, but the atmosphere could be dreary in the dead of winter. If the phone becomes too much of a distraction, start screening calls.

Leave a message on your answering machine Informing coaches you only receive calls a certain period of the day and they should call back during that time. Pick up a copy of the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete. It outlines the rules students and coaches must adhere to during the recruiting process. See your high school coach about obtaining a copy. If you orally commit to a college before National Signing Day.

be prepared for coaches from other programs to call and urge you to reconsider. In other words, be 100 percent sure of your decision, and be prepared to defend it. JOEY KNIGHT Fenlon's words apparently ring true throughout Florida. The proof is in the percentages. This season in Polk County, only six players with at least 20 free-throw attempts are shooting better than 75 percent.

Last year's 24-team boys high school state tournament offers another sample. Of the 19 teams that reported their season free-throw percentage, Port St. Joe's was tops at an even 70. Six were below 60, including Pasco (53) and Tampa Catholic (58.3). In its 69-67 victory against Boca Raton St.

Andrew's in the Class 3A final, Tampa Catholic shot 44.4 percent (eight of 18). Lake Wales fared worse, shooting 41.7 (five of 12) in its 68-66 loss to Jacksonville Ribault in the 4A title game. Granted, it doesn't take Joe College to realize 55 or 60 percent means a team makes more than half its free throws. Then again, it doesn't take Joe Dumars to realize that's not acceptable for the most fundamental shot in basketball. "It doesn't require a pass, you stand 15 feet from the basket and nobody's standing in your face," said Fenlon, whose seventh-ranked 3A team is shooting 63 percent.

"But the crowd can't get excited over that, and that's a shame." Mutiny's Rongen may favor blending of styles J1 Soccer Bill Ward MLS also is considering having teams pick "territorial options" starting in the third round. A college draft will be held in early March, with teams expected to pick in reverse order from the first draft. A supplemental draft might be added for players seen at a second, smaller player combine in March. Teams may later have the right to sign "discovery players," if an agreement can be reached on the signing of players not previously showcased at the camps. Spring training will not begin before March 1.

Teams will gather in Florida (most likely West Palm Beach) and California for combined training camps. MLS' opening match is the Washington D.C. United at the San Jose Clash on April 6. Three players don't make a team but the trio allocated to the Tampa Bay Mutiny from Major League Soccer gives the first-year club a distinct Latin flavor. First, there was Colombian star Carlos Valderra-ma.

Then came American TODAY Prep basketball: Gilit Fort Meade vs. Frostproof, 6 p.m.; Lakeland Christian vs. Santa Fe, 7 p.m.: Haines City vs. Sebring. Lake Gibson vs.

Auburndale, DeSoto vs. Bayshore, 7:30 p.m. TUESDAY College basketball: Men Warner Southern at Webber College, 7 p.m. Prep basketball: Boys Santa Fe vs Lake Wales-Roosevelt. 5 p.m.; Lake Wales vs.

Auburndale. 5 45 p.m.; Winter Haven vs. Kathleen, 7 p.m.; Jenkins vs. Bartow, West Orange vs. Lake Gibson.

St. Cloud vs. Lakeland. Frostproof vs Lake Placid. Hardee vs.

Sebring. DeSoto vs. Palmetto, 7:30 p.m.; Girls Avon Park vs. Lake Wales. 6 30 p.m.; Lake Placid vs.

Frostproof. Auburndale vs. Winter Haven, Armwood vs. Jenkins, Lake Gibson vs. Lakeland Christian.

Booker vs Hardee, Palmetto vs DeSoto. 7:30 p.m. Prep wrestling: Sebring vs. Haines City. 7:30 p.m WEDNESDAY College baaketball: Men St.

Petersburg CC at South Florida CC. 7:30 p.m. Prep basketball: Girls Bartow vs. Lakeland, 7:30 m. i oy kassuer, wno nas IX 1 played his entire pro career COLUMBUS CREW Coach: Timo Liekoski.

Assistant: Tom Fitzgerald. Players (name, country, last club) Doctor Khumalo. South Africa, Kaiser Chiefs (South Africa): 'Brian Maisonneuve. USA. Indiana University.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION Coach: Frank Slapleton: Assistant: Ron McEachen. Players: Mike Burns. USA. ViDorn (Denmark) 'Giuseppe Galdensi. Italy.

PaOova (Italy) Aleni Laias USA Padova (Italy) NEW YORKNEW JERSEY METROSTARS Coach: Eddie Firmam. Players: Tony Meola. USA. Long Island (USISLj: Tab Ramos. USA, UNL (Mexico).

TAMPA BAY MUTINY Coach: Thomas Rongen. Assistant: Renato Capobianco. Players: Roy Lassiter. USA. Areola (Costa Rica).

Carlos Valderrama. Colombia Atletico Junior (Colombia). Martin Vazquez. Mexico. Univ.

Guadalaiara iMexico) WASHINOTON D.C. UNITED Coach: Bruce Arena Assistant: Bob Bradley Players: Jeff Agoos. USA. Wehen (Germany): "Marco Etcheverrey. Bolivia.

Colo Colo (Chile): John Harkes. USA, West Ham (England) COLORADO RARIDS Coach: Bob Houghton Assistant: Emilio Romero Players: Dominic Kmnear. USA. Seattle (A-League). Roy Wegerle.

USA, Coventry City (England) DALLAS BURN Coach: Dave Dir Players: Washington Rodriguez. Uruguay. Liverpool (Uruguay): Hugo Sanchez Mexico, Linz (Austria) Mark Santel USA, Colorado (A-League). KANSAS CITY WIZ Coach: Ron Newman. Assistant: Guy Newman.

Players: Frank Klopas. USA. Apollon iGieece): Mike SorDer. USA. UNAM iMexicol 'Vilai'S Takwira Zimbabwe Wmterthur (Switzerland) LOS ANOELES GALAXY Coach: Lothar Osiander Assistant: Octavio ZamDrano Players: Jorge Campos.

Mexico. Atlante (Mexico) Dan Calichmann. USA New Vork (A-Leaguel. 'Eduardo Hurtado Ecuadw.Colo Colo (Chile) SAN JOSE CLASH Coach: Laurie Calloway. Assistant: Francisco Matturano Ruiz.

Players: Mike Emenaio. Nigeria Notts County (England): John Doyle. USA. Atlanta (A-League) Eric Wynalda USA, Bocrnim (Germany). tnillctttt playtr li not ftt unllrmi Therein may lie the cause of the clangs.

Free throws lack flare and fan appeal. They're substance in a world of style. They may win a big game in the waning seconds, but they won't prompt spectators to leap from their seats hoisting big white placards bearing the No. 10. "I found kids get bored standing around shooting free throws," said Jan Bennett, a Hillsborough County prep coaching veteran who retired in 1994.

"Consequently, you have to stand over them to get them to practice free throws, and a lot of coaches aren't going to do that. When it comes time for free shooting in practice, kids are gonna shoot three-pointers or dunk. Free throws ain't a thrill." Tampa Catholic coach Don Dziagwa, who admits his team struggles at the stripe, agrees boredom could account for the brick-laying, but said that problem doesn't exist in more roundball-oriented parts of the country. "We've played in some of these tournaments where there's teams from other states, and It always seems teams from Kentucky and those types of places are so fundamentally sound, and they all shoot exactly the same way," Dziagwa said. "You come down to Florida, and our kids may not be as fundamentally sound, but they can jump out of the gym." Now If they can only get a Jump on their free throws.

It's time for coaches to lay down the line and make their kids shoot from it. FREE CART on a ursi aivision team in Costa Rica. Last week, the Mutiny received its third of four allocated players before next month's draft, Martin Vasquez, who has spent most of his pro days in the Mexican first division. Does this mean the Mutiny will play a style resembling the methodical, technically-oriented South Americans? Or will Coach Thomas Rongen steer his club toward his Dutch roots and adopt that country's "total football" concept? "Obviously, with Valderrama as our first and probably our most important player, we will try to surround him with players who can adapt to his style of play," Rongen said. "But I think the difference between Europe and South American football isn't as big as it used to be and what you're more likely to see with this team Is a blending of styles.

"Our biggest task Is to first find technically sound players, no matter where they are from. And then, just like the United Nations, we need to take all the different players from different countries and get them to play as a team." Don't expect Rongen to carve a formation In stone. He talks of playing a 4-4-2 with Vasquez a defensive midfielder behind Valderrama as attacking midfielder and Lassiter as striker. Vasquez also could play as stopper In the 4-3-3. Just like total soccer, Rongen's vision of the Mutiny's attack seems too fluid to be given any meaningful expression in diagrams or numerical formations.

And like the players who made total soccer work, particularly Johan Cruyff, look for Rongen's players to have a certain type of personality for the game. In and out of USISL: There's several changes on tap for which teams will be playing this outdoor season in the United States Interregional Soccer League. Here's a list of teams that have dropped from the USISL in 1996 and their replacements: The teams that are out: San Francisco Bay Diablos, L.A. Salsa U-23s, Texas Lightning, St. Louis Knights, Louisville Thoroughbreds, Atlanta Magic (still plays Indoor), Florida Stars, Puerto Rico Islanders, Boston Storm, Montreal Ramblers, San Francisco All-Blacks, Inland Empire Panteras, North Bay Breakers, Shasta Scorchers, Tucson Amigos, Arkansas A's and Columbia Heat.

The 21 teams that are in: New York Stallions (formerly N.Y. Fever), Arizona Phoenix (formerly Arizona Cotton), Willamette Valley (Ore.) Firebirds (formerly Portland Firebirds), South Carolina Shamrocks, Sacramento Scorpions, Central Jersey Riptide, Houston Outlaws, New Hampshire Phantoms, Reading (Pa.) Rage, Wilmington (N.C.) Wildfire, Worcester (Mass.) Wildfire, Belllngham (Wash.) Orcas, Grand Rapids (Mich.) Explosion, Kalamazoo (Mich.) Kingdom, Miami Tango (formerly Florida Stars), Mid-Michigan Bucks, Omaha Flames, San Francisco Seals, San Luis Obispo Roadrunners, Southern California Gunners and SarasotaBradenton, which doesn't have a nickname. The SarasotaBradenton club will play several of the same teams as the Tampa Bay Cyclones, which Is In the USISL's Select Division, but will play a provisional season of eight games. A home field has not been selected. 9 Holes 1Q Unlac said.

"We're looking not Just for technique, but attitude as well. We want guys who have been around the block and know what It takes to make It work." The club is expected to receive a veteran defender next week, who Rongen says is European based. Don't expect Irish defender Paul McGrath, who is rumored to be negotiating with MLS to be signed and delivered to New England and Irish coach Frank Staplaton. MLS draft set: Major League Soccer will hold its first player draft Feb. 6-7 at New York City's Inter-Continental Hotel.

The draft is 1 p.m. on Feb. 6 and teams will pick players signed by MLS over 16 rounds. By draft day, MLS expects to have about 200 players under contract, in addition to the 30-40 who will have been allocated. No announcement has been made on the order, but the strength of a club's allocated players could be taken Into account.

rut SPECIAL RATES 63S-2676 Expire 21498 676-1109 "It's going to be a unique situation," Rongen HImjH.1 linn i -1.