Colllege football coaches aren't waiting until high school to go after recruits. Middle school is the new recruiting hotbed. But at Vanderbilt, James Franklin had to get creative. He's led Vanderbilt's upward trajectory by flying into high school football games by helicopter, selling the school's academics and creating a cult of personality to get the attention of future gridiron stars. Franklin is so industrious, his next recruiting pitch may begin before birth. You know how some parents play Mozart to their unborn children? Franklin wants to play them Vanderbilt's fight song.
Via The Tennessean:
“If I see a 6-foot-6 man walking in the mall with his wife, and she’s 6-2 and she’s pregnant, I’ll go up and offer their unborn child,” Franklin said.
“I’m not exaggerating. I do that all the time. If I go to speak at an elementary school, if I’m out at a restaurant, we kind of have fun with it. It’s about developing a relationship with people. It’s about getting them connected with Vanderbilt. It’s about making people laugh and telling a story and having fun. It’s about having a sense of humor and not being some robot coach that I don’t want to be.”
