First-year Clover High School (S.C.) head coach Brian Lane has started educating players about the recruiting process before they’re even enrolled in high school.

According to the Rock Hill Herald, Lane, who accepted the Clover job in January after spending the last three seasons at Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.), recently held a meeting with incoming ninth-grade players and their parents to set expectations for and provide information on the recruiting process.

For Lane, it was important for players and their families to understand the academic requirements of the recruiting process as soon as possible, to encourage players to take their studies seriously as soon as high school begins in the fall.

The event was sparked by an encounter Lane had at a different coaching stop, when a parent of a graduating senior approached him wondering about his son’s recruitment.

“I had a parent tell me one time, at the end of his son's career…’Coach Lane, how come my son isn't getting recruited?’ and I had to explain to him, his grade point average,” Lane said.  “And he said ‘Well I didn't know. You didn't say it.’”

Not only does the letter of intent ceremony help players understand the recruiting process, but it serves a dual purpose of getting players excited to be a part of the high school football program and commit to striving for success on the field and in the classroom. That sort of buy-in from players is invaluable for a new coach.

“The hope is to connect (with the players),“ Lane said. “I wanted these guys to get inspired for the next four years,” Lane said.

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