by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Whether chasing prospects or precedents, it’s been a busy school year for Rob Riva.
For the past six months the full-time student at Florida Coastal School of Law has doubled as a reporter for Scout.com, covering Penn State football recruiting. The double duty sounds daunting — does discovery refer to evidence or a small town linebacker? But Riva said his recruiting coverage actually offers a respite from his studies.
“It’s been a nice balance for me,” he said. “Covering recruiting gives me an opportunity to step away a little bit and enjoy myself.”
At least the recruiting season’s version of final exams has passed. College teams across the country finalized their recruiting classes Feb. 1. For college football junkies, “Signing Day” carries almost as much pressure as finals. Both are strong indicators of future success.
Riva started covering Penn State football during his sophomore year at the college. As he worked his way up to sports editor for Penn State’s student paper, the Daily Collegian, he noticed a rise in recruiting interest.
“It seemed like that year, recruiting started to get more national attention,” he said. “I got the sense that recruiting was something that was going to be a big deal.”
Three years later, recruiting is covered almost like its own sport. The game within the game gives fans something else to read about, complain about and talk trash about. And the best part? It goes all year long. Although Signing Day brings the official process to a close, recruiting really offers no off-season for fans or for reporters, said Riva.
“Football has really gotten to the point where it’s held on a pedestal. Following recruiting is just a way to extend the season. It gives the die hard fans something to read about,” he said.
But Riva thought his reporting days had come to an end in 2004 when he graduated from Penn State. He still kept a fan’s eye on the school’s recruiting. But after enrolling at FCSL, Riva thought his writing would be limited to legal briefs.
That changed when Riva heard that FightonState.com needed a recruiting writer. The Web site is a subsidiary of Scout.com focused on Riva’s alma mater.
Many similar sites organize their coverage by region or conference. Scout.com wanted to take a different tack, concentrating on individual schools. The beat was tailor-made for Riva. Scout.com clinched the deal with a promise to accommodate his law school schedule.
“They’re very understanding about the demands of law school. They let me set my own schedule,” he said.
Riva spends about 5-8 hours a week on the recruiting trail. Much of that time is spent on the phone talking to high school coaches and players. Trying to divine a 17-year-old’s intentions can be tricky, but Riva has picked up on a few tell-tale signals.
“There are little things you pick up like how willing they are to talk about a school or their tone and the excitement in their voice when you ask them about a school,” said Riva. “I think I’m at the point where I can tell where a kid is going to end up. But one thing you learn is that there’s no such thing as a lock.”
Riva learned that first-hand this year. When highly-recruited Exton, Pa. quarterback Pat Devlin dropped his commitment to the Miami Hurricanes in favor of Penn State, Riva might have been the only one more surprised than the Hurricanes coaches.
Devlin committed early on to Miami. But with both parents touting degrees from Penn State and family in Happy Valley, Pa., rumors started to swirl that Devlin was having second thoughts.
Three weeks before Devlin announced his decision, Riva asked about the rumors.
“He told me he was 100 percent committed to Miami,” said Riva. “That was the shock of the season for me when he committed to Penn State.”
Time will tell if Devlin lives up to his potential, but Riva has already scouted some of the biggest names currently playing college ball. He followed Pennsylvania native Chad Henne’s recruitment, which ended up in Michigan maize and blue. And he vividly remembers Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk dominating a high school all-star game.
Coaches from across the country try to woo players like Hawk by emphasizing their schools’ traditions and facilities.
But Riva said most players are looking for the school that gives them the quickest path to the playing field. Simply put: the players want to go where they can play, quickly.
The overwhelming majority of those players don’t think their playing days will end in college. Riva said “10 out of 10” think they’re headed for the National Football League.
“They don’t realize that it’s far from a guarantee,” said Riva. “It can be sad to hear that.”
As a second-year student at FCSL, Riva recently went through his own recruiting process as he interviewed for summer clerkships. His recruiting trail ended at Holland & Knight’s local office where he’ll work as a summer associate with the firm this year.