Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Fisher King | by Jay

I'm still a little thunderstruck at the state of recruiting so far this year. Here we are, at the beginning of July, and we've already got 17 terrific recruits in the bag and the class is just about finished. It's trite, but I'll say it again: I don't think you can underestimate the importance of Corwin Brown on the recruiting trail. He is simply a force. While we've got some other experienced recruiters on staff (Ianello and Lewis, especially), it's safe to say Corwin has been the difference this year. According to Rivals he was the primary recruiter on Blanton, Fleming, Hunter, Johnson, Newman, Slaughter, and Williams, and he probably had a hand in closing the rest of the guys as well.

It reminded me of a story from Sunday school that went something like this.

1One day as Corwin was out walking, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the Irish, who were washing their nets. 2He got into one of the boats and asked them to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

3When he had finished speaking, he said to the Irish, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 4The Irish answered, "Corwin, we've worked hard for years with Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham and have caught only several fish. But because you say so, we will let down the nets."

5When they had done as Corwin instructed, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 6So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats.

7When the Irish saw this, they fell at Corwin's knees and said, "Truly, you are a fisher of recruits." And they got up and followed him.