Dad starts blog to help parents, Pryor update, more

Terrelle Pryor created some excitement among Buckeye fans when he attended the Ohio State-Wisconsin basketball game on Sunday. AP

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- For Mark Nugent, the football recruiting process began in earnest for the third time on Saturday. Nugent, a pest control sales rep from Davenport, Fla., rode the recruiting rollercoaster with stepsons Jonnie (Tuskegee, 2004) and Vincent Williams (Florida State, 2008). On Saturday, Nugent came to the Orlando-area Nike Combine with his youngest son, Karlos, to begin what might be the wildest ride yet.

But even before colleges begin deluging Karlos, a rising sophomore receiver/defensive back from Ridge Community School, with mail, Nugent wants to help fellow parents navigate the recruiting process. Two weeks ago, he launched a blog that he hopes will help explain the rules -- written and unwritten -- and quirks of the process.

Nugent has covered game film (if your son's school still films with an 8 mm camera, film it yourself), and last Friday he wrote about combines. He explained how the Nike and Scout combines -- both of which are free and open to all players in grades 9-11 -- can help the stock of an unknown player by earning him some much-needed exposure. He also explained that a heavily recruited player might want to avoid such combines to keep a bad 40-yard dash or shuttle time from hurting his stock.

Nugent hopes the blog can help parents give their sons the best chance at earning a football scholarship. He also hopes the information can keep parents from getting ripped off by scam artists.

"A lot of people come to these combines, and they don't know what testing is going to be done. As far as academics, they don't know what [players] need to be qualified," Nugent said. "I just figured I could do something that would be a one-stop shop -- for free -- where parents could go and just learn about the process. So many people are just trying to make a buck off of these kids."

Nugent also hopes other parents can learn from some of the mistakes he made during the recruitment of his older sons. Shortly after Vincent committed to FSU, Nugent started a blog featuring inside information about Seminoles recruiting. The blog didn't sit well with FSU's compliance department, and Nugent shut it down to avoid potential problems for his son.

Nugent will need all he has learned as the family prepares for the recruitment of young Karlos. Vincent, a linebacker who enrolled at FSU in January, said Karlos is "a thousand times better than me." At Saturday's Nike Combine, Karlos gave college coaches some measurables to drool about. He posted a Sparq Rating (a combination of 40-yard dash, shuttle run, vertical jump and power ball toss) of 81, which, according to the Sparq Web site, puts him in the upper echelon of players nationwide. That number should climb, especially considering Karlos Williams won't sign until 2011.

A disclaimer and an update

Judging by the contents of my e-mail box, a lot of you are sick of hearing about the recruitment of Jeannette, Pa., quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Still, I understand a lot of you are Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State fans, so I'll keep writing about Pryor.

Pryor took an unofficial visit Sunday to Ohio State, where he was spotted in the second row at the Buckeyes' basketball game against Wisconsin. Ohio State is considered the favorite to land Pryor, but Pryor has said he intends to visit Oregon and Penn State before he chooses a school. Pryor also has said he will wait until after Jeannette's basketball season ends before he makes a decision.

Ohio State has long been considered the frontrunner for Pryor. The interesting part is that Ohio State is the only school in Pryor's finalists that returns an established starting quarterback (Todd Boeckman). Even more interesting, the Buckeyes have lost the past two national title games to teams that occasionally spelled a pro-style quarterback with a dual-threat player who could run or throw.

Those two teams (Florida and LSU), used the spot duty to groom the dual-threat player into a starting quarterback. It worked for Tim Tebow at Florida. We'll have to wait to see what happens with Ryan Perrilloux, who is indefinitely suspended at LSU.

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