Cut and paste from Fox-Houston.com:
Coach, School Aide Helped Toliver Sort Out Recruiting Confusion
Last Edited: Wednesday, 07 Feb 2007, 8:20 PM CST
Created: Wednesday, 07 Feb 2007, 8:20 PM CST
Toliver Hempstead's Terrance Toliver, one of the nation's top high school football recruits, says negative recruiting tactics by the University of Florida first had him confused and bewildered.
But in an unusual move, two Hempstead High School employees went above and beyond the call of duty to help Toliver make the biggest decision of his life.
After a vigorous early recruiting rush, it came down to LSU and Florida for Toliver, considered by many the No. 1 high school recruit in Texas and the best wide receiver in the nation.
He ended up signing a letter-of-intent with LSU on National Signing Day Wednesday. But not before Florida coaches took several shots at LSU, leaving Toliver unsure what to do next.
"Every time (Florida recruiters) came, they just said LSU doesn't qualify their players," Toliver told FOX 26's Mark Berman Wednesday. "About (how) their academics are not all that.
"It kind of had me confused."
Eventually a bewildered Toliver asked his football coach Rick Sargent and Hempstead instructional coordinator Tina Johnson to go to Baton Rouge to find out the truth about LSU. The two went last weekend.
"They went and checked (LSU'S) academics out and their facilities," Toliver said. "They just came back and told me whatever Florida was saying about the academics wasn't true."
Toliver says it meant the world to him to have Sargent and Johnson give him the information he needed.
"They love and care about me," Toliver said. "They have been with me through thick and thin."
It was no big deal to Sargent.
"We do love him," Sargent said. "And that's why I didn't think one second, without a doubt I would make the trip for him."
Johnson agreed.
"We do love and respect him and that's exactly why we did it," Johnson said, "because he came and asked. He was confused."
Sargent says they were able to meet with a number of LSU employees involved with academics for athletes.
"We were fascinated, just excited about what they have to offer academically," Sargent said.
Added Johnson, "It was just the academic standpoint. Making sure whichever school he had chosen, that it would meet his academic needs. Both of them had a very solid plan."
Coach, School Aide Helped Toliver Sort Out Recruiting Confusion
Last Edited: Wednesday, 07 Feb 2007, 8:20 PM CST
Created: Wednesday, 07 Feb 2007, 8:20 PM CST
Toliver Hempstead's Terrance Toliver, one of the nation's top high school football recruits, says negative recruiting tactics by the University of Florida first had him confused and bewildered.
But in an unusual move, two Hempstead High School employees went above and beyond the call of duty to help Toliver make the biggest decision of his life.
After a vigorous early recruiting rush, it came down to LSU and Florida for Toliver, considered by many the No. 1 high school recruit in Texas and the best wide receiver in the nation.
He ended up signing a letter-of-intent with LSU on National Signing Day Wednesday. But not before Florida coaches took several shots at LSU, leaving Toliver unsure what to do next.
"Every time (Florida recruiters) came, they just said LSU doesn't qualify their players," Toliver told FOX 26's Mark Berman Wednesday. "About (how) their academics are not all that.
"It kind of had me confused."
Eventually a bewildered Toliver asked his football coach Rick Sargent and Hempstead instructional coordinator Tina Johnson to go to Baton Rouge to find out the truth about LSU. The two went last weekend.
"They went and checked (LSU'S) academics out and their facilities," Toliver said. "They just came back and told me whatever Florida was saying about the academics wasn't true."
Toliver says it meant the world to him to have Sargent and Johnson give him the information he needed.
"They love and care about me," Toliver said. "They have been with me through thick and thin."
It was no big deal to Sargent.
"We do love him," Sargent said. "And that's why I didn't think one second, without a doubt I would make the trip for him."
Johnson agreed.
"We do love and respect him and that's exactly why we did it," Johnson said, "because he came and asked. He was confused."
Sargent says they were able to meet with a number of LSU employees involved with academics for athletes.
"We were fascinated, just excited about what they have to offer academically," Sargent said.
Added Johnson, "It was just the academic standpoint. Making sure whichever school he had chosen, that it would meet his academic needs. Both of them had a very solid plan."
