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           The explosion of programs that showcase the country’s best high school football players for college teams have become a growing problem for the NCAA.   Hundreds of training camps and leagues are not only eliminating the role that school coaches play in recruitment, but are ripe to become corrupt conduits, says Derrick Crawford, a managing director of enforcement for the NCAA.   Correspondent Armen Keteyian investigates the rise of the business of high school football talent evaluation for the next edition of 60 MINUTES SPORTS Wed. Oct. 2 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT only on SHOWTIME.

            Nowadays, college recruiters don’t have to watch film or go to high school games; they can go to websites for statistics on the best high school players in America. The evaluations are provided by organizations that run training camps, often called “combines,”which measure their young players’ abilities and package them with stats and video.  Driving the system are “7-on-7” leagues that go hand-in-hand with the camps.  These touch-football leagues emphasize speed, passing and overall athletic ability.  They also gather a lot of serious talent in one place, so anyone seeking to influence the players’ choice of college doesn’t have to look far.

            The 7-on-7 programs are multiplying and drawing the attention of people like Crawford, whose job is to keep college recruitment clean and free of corrupt influences. Crawford was a former state prosecutor and once served as a special agent for the Public Corruption Unit of the White Collar Crimes Division of the FBI. 

            “We’re having more and more problems – just from the explosion of 7-on-7 – and trying to cover the landscape and understanding who the new players are,” he tells Keteyian.  Crawford worries the kids’ school coaches, once an important aspect of the college decision process, are getting elbowed out by 7-on-7 or combine coaches.   What’s in it for one of those coaches? “Financial rewards. He creates a pipeline,” says Crawford.  “If he’s had success in getting elite prospects to a particular institution over the years, he becomes more valuable to that institution…to the boosters or anyone who is involved. Some of it is they set up foundations and funnel money in that way.”

            The foundations are non-profits set up to pay for the combines’ and leagues’ travel and uniforms, as well as college visits which often result in meeting the football coach.  Crawford worries this kind of arrangement, where anybody – college boosters, for instance – can donate, can easily lead to a quid pro quo.

            Byron De’Vinner coaches a 7-on-7 team in Tennessee. In his four years in the business, he says he has dealt with shady characters.  “The booster offered to pay for our 7-on-7 uniforms…any expenses that we had,” says De’Vinner.  The booster, who was representing Mississippi State University, wanted “delivery of the kids,” says De’Vinner.   That booster’s efforts were, in part, the reason Mississippi State in June was placed on probation for two years for providing “improper recruiting benefits,” including “cost-free meals and lodging” to De’Vinner.

            These kinds of relationships between college boosters and the evaluators have become a top priority for the NCAA’s Crawford.  “I think it’s a concern for us in terms of trends we are hearing and seeing from our coaches with some of the 7-on-7 operators,” Crawford tells Keteyian.

Press Contacts:  

60 MINUTES – Kevin Tedesco 212-975-2329 kev@cbsnews.com

SHOWTIME Sports – Chris DeBlasio 212-708-1633 Chris.DeBlasio@Showtime.net