What Has College Recruiting Come to?

13-year-old follows in older brother's footsteps, commits to Tennessee

By ADAM BOEDEKER

Updated 8:15 AM CST, Thu, Jul 2, 2009

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Yes, the headline you read is correct.

It's not a misprint. Thirteen-year-old Evan Berry, the younger brother of Tennessee All-American safety Eric Berry has verbally committed to Tennessee.

Normally, this is where I would say, "The first day a recruit can sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 3, 2010."

Nope, not in this case.

Berry can't sign until the first Wednesday in Feb., 2013. Frankly, it would take me too long to scroll through my calendar to find an actual date.

What??!?!

Now just to be clear, the Vols can't offer Evan a scholarship yet, but they are actually willing to make a big deal out of this story. I mean, what else does Evan Berry know other than Vols football? Those guys there now are probably his heroes. And don't even get me started on Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin, who has not made any friends in his brief time atop the Rocky Top.

It's really creating a mockery of the college recruiting process, as The Dallas Morning News blogger Matt Wixon pointed out.

"This just makes it tough for the kids who orally commit to a school and truly mean it," Wixon writes. "They are getting harder and harder to believe."

Unbelievable.

Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. Why did it have to get sweltering hot again?