Just spoke with him again for 20 (!!!) minutes (a lot longer than the typical interview) and just wanted to come on here and throw up some nuggets from our convo.. Full story with a walk through of his virtual visit and more will be up first thing in the morning, but for now here are some thoughts:
Ashford is easily the best interview I have ever had in this business. Absolutely a top-class kid who has very clearly been raised the right way. The kind of person you definitely want representing your college and program.
He does not get caught up on the flashy things. He reiterated multiple times how all he wants to do and all he love to do is just play the game of football. Not only that, but he sees a ton of value in choosing a school that can provide him with a good back-up plan as well. The coaches are doing a good job selling that to him.
One piece of recruiting that often helps coaches be successful is winning over the parents, especially the mom. Ashford's parents have now been on two zoom calls with the staff as far as I know and got to experience the full virtual visit as well.
Coach Blue is his main recruiter, but this sounds like a full staff effort and they seem to be doing a helluva job. Ashford does not want his recruitment to interfere with his focus on his senior school year and football season, so I predict that his process will be wrapped up before then. As of now I would consider him an OSU lean, he really loves what he is hearing from the staff.
Again, more first thing in the morning but Ashford is definitely someone to watch closely moving forward.
Ashford is easily the best interview I have ever had in this business. Absolutely a top-class kid who has very clearly been raised the right way. The kind of person you definitely want representing your college and program.
He does not get caught up on the flashy things. He reiterated multiple times how all he wants to do and all he love to do is just play the game of football. Not only that, but he sees a ton of value in choosing a school that can provide him with a good back-up plan as well. The coaches are doing a good job selling that to him.
One piece of recruiting that often helps coaches be successful is winning over the parents, especially the mom. Ashford's parents have now been on two zoom calls with the staff as far as I know and got to experience the full virtual visit as well.
Coach Blue is his main recruiter, but this sounds like a full staff effort and they seem to be doing a helluva job. Ashford does not want his recruitment to interfere with his focus on his senior school year and football season, so I predict that his process will be wrapped up before then. As of now I would consider him an OSU lean, he really loves what he is hearing from the staff.
Again, more first thing in the morning but Ashford is definitely someone to watch closely moving forward.
