Nevada Football Has Reportedly Offered A Scholarship To A 9-Year Old
For those who think college football programs have gone too far with offering young players scholarships, Nevada wants you to hold its beer.
We've seen a number of middle school players get offered full rides this off-season, with new FAU coach Lane Kiffin being a major player in the "early offer" game.
While at USC, Kiffin made headlines for offering then-seventh grade quarterback David Sills, who is now a West Virginia wide receiver.
Nevada's Jay Norvell may have outdone Kiffin though.
According to former Louisville defensive back Mike Evans, now a Los Angeles-area trainer, the Wolf Pack extended an offer to nine-year old Havon Finney Jr.
Evans has also had a 10-year old player that he works with offered by Illinois.
He discussed the emergence of these super-early offers with ESPN.
"It's a new day and age," said Evans, who grew up in Los Angeles and played safety at Louisville and Nevada. "When I played, there weren't any direct connections to the universities like it is with social media now. When you see the De'Anthony Thomases and the Desean Jacksons, these kids were Bunchie and Hadon at this age. Now you get to see them at a national level. If you saw DeAnthony at this age, you would have given him a look early. When you see Bunchie, you've never seen a kid that age move like that."
It should be always be noted when "offers" like this are made, that official scholarship offers cannot be extended until August 1 ahead of a recruit's high school senior season. Considering Finney Jr. would be a class of 2026 recruit, the chances of Norvell still being at Nevada, or Kiffin being at FAU, in nine years are extremely low.
These offers are clear PR moves, and don't mean much of anything in reality, but it definitely feels gross for college football coaches to start "recruiting" kids at this age.
