MUSKOGEE HIGH SCHOOL

COACH PRENTICE JOSEPH

With the high school football season over, most coaches can just kick back and take a break. But at Muskogee High, there’s one coach that is just entering the hectic six week stretch of intense college recruiting. In addition to serving as a defensive line coach, Prentice Joseph is also the team’s recruiting coordinator who helps the players make contact with college recruiters in hopes of landing some kind of football scholarship. Technology has changed the recruiting process dramatically in recent years-for better or worse, according to Joseph.

“Some people think that technology has made the recruiting process easier, but I think it’s made it more difficult. Now it’s so easy to get info in front of college coaches and so they have much more to sort through with websites like Hudl and others just a click away. And now the recruit can not only send stuff to colleges, but also track if it was opened and read and possibly get a response within minutes, especially a lineman.”

Joseph, shown here with Muskogee wide receiver and UNLV commit Kayden McGee, talked about his process in recruiting.

“When I do this for our kids, I cast a wide net. I may send info to 1000 schools and maybe 250 will respond, which gives the kids some choices if they’re good enough. The process is a little more complex for the skill players like Kayden or our quarterback Jamarian Ficklin. The position coaches at colleges want to see these players in person to check their 40-yard dash speed or see arm angles, agility and footwork on the quarterbacks. They’ll go back and talk with the coordinators and then maybe the head coach will get involved and there will be on-campus visits, and all of this takes a little more time.”

But in addition to technology challenges, high school prospects are now also fighting the college transfer portal which often forcescollege coaches to choose between a talented but inexperienced high school prospect or a kid in the portal who has played college ball. 

Prentice Joseph is still a busy coach and won’t get his chance to kick back until after signing day in February.