Moon's Minute: My Recruitment Experience

One of the NFL's all-time greats, Warren Moon will be contributing a weekly column to NFLHS.com this season. An outstanding quarterback at every level, Moon played 17 years in the NFL and six years before that in the CFL. He owns the NFL record for most passes completed in a season (404, 1991), is second in NFL history in passing yards-per-game (527, vs. Kansas City, Dec. 16, 1990), and stands third in the NFL record books in passing attempts and completions. The 1977 Pac 8 Player of the Year for the University of Washington and an All-American at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, Moon is not only a leader on the field. He was named the NFL Man of the Year in 1989 for the tremendous work he does with numerous charitable organizations.

My own recruitment experience was pretty different from most peoples'. First of all, the rules and regulations have changed a lot since I was recruited back then coaches could call you every night, and they would park outside your school and your house trying to talk to you all the time.

I think the NCAA has done a good job of trying to keep illegal parts of recruiting better under control now, so that kids don't get jobs where they really don't have to do anything, or situations where a coach is promising to fly your parents up to every home game, things like that.

When I was coming out of high school, most schools weren't interested in me as a quarterback. I thought for a while that I might go to Arizona State, but then they got a commitment from a kid by the name of Dennis Sproul he was one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country. Sproul and Bruce Hardy: they were the top two qb's my senior year.

UCLA was sort of luke-warm in recruiting me, but most schools wanted me to change positions. UCLA ran an option offense so they liked my running ability, but I wanted to go somewhere where I could throw the ball. So when no other schools showed up, I decided to go to junior college. I went to West Los Angeles Junior College, and my high school coach, Jack Epstein, came with me as the offensive coordinator. We were sort of a package deal.

That was a great year. I got to throw as much as I wanted, and we had some pretty good wide receivers. Actually, that's how the University of Washington came into the picture: they recruited one of the best receivers of the team, Leon Garrett.

When I went to JC, I only wanted to be there as long as I had to. Most junior college coaches want you to be there for two years because they run two-year programs, but I wanted to move on to Division I football as soon as possible. But my coach, Jim Raack, didn't want to let me go. When I'd contact schools, they'd say that when they called Coach Raack, he wouldn't let them come recruit me, or else they'd never be allowed to recruit on his campus again.

So I had a part-time job in the coaches office, and when I had the time, I'd send out copies of my game tape from the library straight to the schools. I'd get the tapes back before no one even noticed! It wasn't the best situation, but I did what I had to. Finally, Coach Epstein said I really needed to sit down with Coach Raack and let him know how I felt. I did, and Coach Raack agreed to let schools come and recruit me.

By that point, I had pretty much narrowed my choices down to the University of Washington and the University of Colorado. Washington had already seen me on tape because they recruited Leon, and Colorado had a pretty strong tradition going in the Big 8 (now the Big 12). A bunch of schools tried to get into recruiting me later, like Oklahoma, but I was pretty much settled on one of those two schools. And then when I visited Colorado, there was a lot of snow, and I mean A LOT! After that, Washington was definitely my first choice.

I also liked the fact that Coach Don James was just rebuilding at Washington, and I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to go somewhere that I would play right away because I was already down one year due to my season in Junior College. Washington had a fifth-year senior at quarterback, but he was more of a classic, drop-back passer, and they wanted to play more of a style that fit me perfectly. Once I got to Washington, I was named starting quarterback after two-a-days so everything worked out well.

Now I'm watching one of my daughters, Blair, being recruited to play volleyball. Either my wife or I accompany her on all of her recruiting trips. We list the pro's and con's of every place and then go through them together. Since I've been through all of this before, I think my wife and I can help her make a good decision.

Previous Articles:
Warren Moon: A Lot to Think About
Warren Moon: De La Salle - Poly Preview
Warren Moon: Improving Your Athleticism
Warren Moon: Fundamentals Are Key
Warren Moon: Success Through Adversity
Warren Moon: Don't Underestimate Chemistry