Recruiting Process Different For Tiger’s Mevis
September 20, 2019 at 3:19 a.m.
Recruiting Process Different For Tiger’s Mevis
By Chip Davenport-
The attention from coaches and recruiters, the numerous campus visits and participation in Kohl’s kicking camps throughout the year didn’t shake the placekicker, who doubles as a goalkeeper on the state-ranked Tiger soccer team.
His grades already qualified him for two U.S. military service academies. Army and Air Force offered spots on their teams. He balanced the recruiting process well while his performance in football and soccer, so far, included numerous gamechanging and winning moments.
Does he feel relieved about checking off a very big item on his “to-do” list?
“Nothing has changed, and I’ll still focus on the high school football and soccer competition this fall. I still want to perform well, finish well. Soccer sectionals are coming soon,” Mevis said.
He’s thankful for the opportunities soccer afforded him including learning how to kick a football very well. However, he’ll only play football for Missouri, a member of the football-rich Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The recruiting process is much different for a special teams player, so these athletes have a different experience than a five-star high school quarterback might have during his senior campaign.
“As a specialist you have to wait it out until the fall camps start to see if (schools) have any offers left. At Missouri there six kickers on the team who were walk-ons, but there is only one scholarship kicker who was a senior, so they wanted to see how that played out. They wanted to be sure they had another kicker scholarship on board, and they offered the scholarship.”
Warsaw Tiger head football coach Bart Curtis alluded to the limited scholarship offers for specialists earlier this season.
“Everyone in D1 seems to want a kicker for nothing. This young man not only has the ability to kick on Saturdays on TV, but possibly Sundays, too.”
The recruiting process doesn’t start with a college coach sitting on your sofa after a few pieces of pie, and an offer on the spot. Social media is part of the early discovery process.
“Most schools, Twitter is the key. (Special teams coaches) messaged me on Twitter. We’ve been in contact throughout the year.”
Additionally, Kohl’s kicking camps throughout the year are the forum for getting noticed, evaluated and hopefully garnering that coveted full-ride scholarship offer; coveted because most kickers on a college football team are preferred walk-ons, paying full tuition.
The Under Armour All-American Game selectee said, “I did a bunch of Kohl’s camps in the spring. I had some schools ask me to come and kick for them during the school year. I had some campus tours, and I kicked for some coaches here in Warsaw.”
He is just as calm and cool off the field as he is on the field kicking field goals making the difference in two of Warsaw’s three wins so far. He described the timeline of his recruitment by, and commitment to, Missouri.
“The coach watched me kick here and in Columbia (Missouri). They contacted me early last week, Monday (Sept. 9). They reached out with a phone call. The offer (from an SEC school) was one of my bigger goals and I could not pass it up.”
Another SEC school, Georgia, moved in another direction after recruiting Mevis earlier this year. The Bulldogs play in the same SEC division Missouri plays, so Mevis is looking forward to seeing them again as an opponent.
“I was disappointed I didn’t get an offer from Georgia. I’m looking forward to that game.”
Harrison’s next steps include early graduation, and formally signing his letter of intent in December. The December signing day is a new wrinkle in the recruiting timeline, especially as more gridders enroll early to participate in Spring football practice for their college teams.
As far as studies go, Mevis is undecided on a major, but he has narrowed it down to two areas of study.
“I am going to figure it out in college, but I’m leaning toward either business or engineering.”
Washington State, Arizona, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, Memphis and Penn State are among the schools who showed interest in Mevis along with the aforementioned schools. There are cougars, wildcats, badgers, tigers and lions among those school mascots, but Harrison Mevis will remain a Tiger.
The attention from coaches and recruiters, the numerous campus visits and participation in Kohl’s kicking camps throughout the year didn’t shake the placekicker, who doubles as a goalkeeper on the state-ranked Tiger soccer team.
His grades already qualified him for two U.S. military service academies. Army and Air Force offered spots on their teams. He balanced the recruiting process well while his performance in football and soccer, so far, included numerous gamechanging and winning moments.
Does he feel relieved about checking off a very big item on his “to-do” list?
“Nothing has changed, and I’ll still focus on the high school football and soccer competition this fall. I still want to perform well, finish well. Soccer sectionals are coming soon,” Mevis said.
He’s thankful for the opportunities soccer afforded him including learning how to kick a football very well. However, he’ll only play football for Missouri, a member of the football-rich Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The recruiting process is much different for a special teams player, so these athletes have a different experience than a five-star high school quarterback might have during his senior campaign.
“As a specialist you have to wait it out until the fall camps start to see if (schools) have any offers left. At Missouri there six kickers on the team who were walk-ons, but there is only one scholarship kicker who was a senior, so they wanted to see how that played out. They wanted to be sure they had another kicker scholarship on board, and they offered the scholarship.”
Warsaw Tiger head football coach Bart Curtis alluded to the limited scholarship offers for specialists earlier this season.
“Everyone in D1 seems to want a kicker for nothing. This young man not only has the ability to kick on Saturdays on TV, but possibly Sundays, too.”
The recruiting process doesn’t start with a college coach sitting on your sofa after a few pieces of pie, and an offer on the spot. Social media is part of the early discovery process.
“Most schools, Twitter is the key. (Special teams coaches) messaged me on Twitter. We’ve been in contact throughout the year.”
Additionally, Kohl’s kicking camps throughout the year are the forum for getting noticed, evaluated and hopefully garnering that coveted full-ride scholarship offer; coveted because most kickers on a college football team are preferred walk-ons, paying full tuition.
The Under Armour All-American Game selectee said, “I did a bunch of Kohl’s camps in the spring. I had some schools ask me to come and kick for them during the school year. I had some campus tours, and I kicked for some coaches here in Warsaw.”
He is just as calm and cool off the field as he is on the field kicking field goals making the difference in two of Warsaw’s three wins so far. He described the timeline of his recruitment by, and commitment to, Missouri.
“The coach watched me kick here and in Columbia (Missouri). They contacted me early last week, Monday (Sept. 9). They reached out with a phone call. The offer (from an SEC school) was one of my bigger goals and I could not pass it up.”
Another SEC school, Georgia, moved in another direction after recruiting Mevis earlier this year. The Bulldogs play in the same SEC division Missouri plays, so Mevis is looking forward to seeing them again as an opponent.
“I was disappointed I didn’t get an offer from Georgia. I’m looking forward to that game.”
Harrison’s next steps include early graduation, and formally signing his letter of intent in December. The December signing day is a new wrinkle in the recruiting timeline, especially as more gridders enroll early to participate in Spring football practice for their college teams.
As far as studies go, Mevis is undecided on a major, but he has narrowed it down to two areas of study.
“I am going to figure it out in college, but I’m leaning toward either business or engineering.”
Washington State, Arizona, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin, Memphis and Penn State are among the schools who showed interest in Mevis along with the aforementioned schools. There are cougars, wildcats, badgers, tigers and lions among those school mascots, but Harrison Mevis will remain a Tiger.
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