Keith Strudler: The Kids Exchange

I watch a lot of 11 year olds playing sports. That’s not necessarily because I enjoy that art form, with all due respect, but more because I have an 11-year-old son, which necessitate that either I or my wife attend a fair amount of soccer and cross country and basketball games played primarily by 6^th graders. We also have an interest in 8-year-old sports as well – which I’m sure you understand.

The thing about 11 year olds playing organized sports is that you can really start to see the outliers. In other words, during most soccer seasons, you can pick out a kid or two who’s talent and execution is simply in a different stratosphere than most everyone else. It may be size or speed or understanding of the game – or more likely a combo of the three – but it’s not hard to tell the kids with exceptional promise vs those that just pretty good. That’s usually about the time when most parents realize that their kid probably isn’t going to be a professional athlete – or at least they should realize that.

So, if the layperson like us sports parents can figure this out, know that Division I college coaches can do so as well. They know which kids are the ones to keep an eye so they can help their team some seven short years from now. Which is just what Florida Atlantic University head coach Lane Kiffin just did with 11-year-old Cole Leinart, the son of former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Matt Leinart – whom Kiffin coached while at USC. Sixth grader Cole is a quarterback prodigy, although I get this simply from grainy video posted on twitter, which apparently now is where most college athletic recruiting happens. Just like political policy. So, if Cole decides some eight years from now that he’d like to play quarterback for FAU in Boca Raton, that door is open.

Now to be clear, a school can’t officially offer a scholarship to an 11-year-old. So until the old age of 9^th grade, this is simply a handshake kind of deal. And Cole or his parents haven’t formally accepted, whatever that may entail. So to be clear, this is a bit like inviting Taylor Swift to prom. There’s no real guarantee it’s going to happen. Let’s also assume that in seven years, there is almost no way that Lane Kiffin will still be the head football coach at Florida Atlantic. College coaches at that level tend to move around like atoms in heat. And while lovely, FAU is a classic stepping stone program, especially for someone like Kiffin who’s coached at higher level. So statistically speaking, it’s extremely unlikely that either Cole or Kiffin will be in Boca come 2025, much less both of them. And let’s also acknowledge that despite both Cole’s current acumen and pedigree, there is a very reasonable chance that he doesn’t even develop into a star quarterback.

So knowing that, what’s the point? Well, first let’s remember that this isn’t Kiffin’s first time at the rodeo. Several years back at USC he made a similar offer to a 13-year-old quarterback, and neither of them ended up there. So in some ways, this is a bit of an old trick for Kiffin, and perhaps a simple win-win. On the one hand, you get on the radar of an athlete that probably wouldn’t consider your program once all the other big schools come calling. And since nothing is binding, you can always change your mind. It’s like reserving a car rental without prepaying. And even if the kid never steps foot on campus, you get some good publicity out of the offer – as FAU is right now. Which means that other top prospects – some even age appropriate – may now also consider playing for the Owls. So no matter the final outcome, what surprising isn’t that a college football coach offered an 11-year-old a scholarship. What’s surprising is that more coaches don’t do the same.

Which really is the point. This enterprise of big time college sports, and the supporting underbelly of high stakes youth club athletics and training, it’s really just a giant commodities exchange, complete with buyers, sellers, and publicists. Cole Leinhart is simply a gamble on the futures market, a nominal expense that may pay off down the line. That true for him just like it is for the 17-year-old linebacker going to Ohio State and a five-star point guard signing at Duke. I won’t go so far to say it’s like buying and selling soybean or oil, but you get the idea.

To be clear, this is not an indictment of big time college sports – nor is this something new, although the ability to use twitter as a marketing tool has changed the game a bit. But lest we forget exactly how college sports work, or its true economy, just know that an 11-year-old kid is, for better or worse, as much a poker chip as an adolescent. And one that, despite the kind invitation, is very unlikely to play at FAU.

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