Korey Foreman, the nation’s top-rated recruit, has faced an unusual challenge the past two weeks. Like so many highly touted prospects before him, Foreman, a five-star defensive lineman, will announce his college decision during the All-American Bowl: Declaration Day special on NBC this Saturday. As recently as four years ago, this wouldn’t have been much of an issue. Foreman, who attends Corona Centennial High School (Corona, Calif.) would have announced on Saturday and then signed with the program of his choice — he’s deciding between USC, Clemson, Arizona State, LSU and Georgia — on national signing day in February.
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But the advent of the early signing period three years ago has led to most of the nation’s best high school football players signing in December, which creates a tricky situation for the nation’s top recruits who are still hoping to make their commitment a network television event.
How do you keep a decision being monitored by thousands of people across several fan bases a secret for two weeks?
Foreman, who signed during the early signing period two weeks ago, isn’t the first prospect to go through this process. In 2019, five-star prospect Bru McCoy went through it, and four-star Gary Bryant Jr. did the same last year. The two receivers had long dreamed of the opportunity to announce their college destination on national TV.
Bryant’s father, Gary Sr., remembers how overwhelmed his son was when he received an invite to the All-American Bowl. The game’s organizers gave him his No. 1 jersey, too, which was an additional honor. But the chance to announce his choice the way so many highly touted prospects had before him stood above all else.
“He was always like, ‘Man, dad, I wonder if I’ll be able to do that,’” Gary Sr., recalled. “Of course, it’s like, you’ve got to earn the right to be able to do that. You’ve got to be a top dog.”
McCoy and Bryant both wanted to enroll in school early, which essentially required them to sign in December. Both quietly signed with USC.
“We thought, ‘Hey, once you make your silent, verbal signing commitment (then) things would slow down,’” said Horace McCoy, Bru’s father. “And things didn’t really slow down. Obviously, recruiting is very, very competitive out there. It was very tough on Bru because everybody wanted to know. ‘Where are you going to school? Are you going here, are you going there?’”
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) held a signing day ceremony, but McCoy didn’t participate. He signed his letter of intent at the library in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. Bryant signed his letter of intent at Corona Centennial, but in order to keep the word from spreading, he didn’t even tell his parents who he had chosen.
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In the world of recruiting, it’s rare that someone goes out of their way to report a prospect’s commitment before the player announces himself. Most people who follow closely might even know where a prospect is headed by the time he announces, but the general thought is not to spoil the recruit’s moment.
Still, that doesn’t stop a lot of people from trying to find out.
“Everybody and their mama wants to know,” Gary Sr. said. “Everybody at Centennial wants to know, then you’ve got all the coaches calling you, even reporters from different states calling you. It’s like, ‘Man, I can’t even pick up the phone.’ You build a good rapport with these people and you almost feel obligated to say something, and it was to the point where I’m not going to even pick up the phone. I had to kind of stay out the way, kind of disappear a little bit. Everybody was like, ‘I know you know, Mr. Bryant.’ I’m like, ‘I’m telling you, Gary doesn’t want me to know.’ And I had to stick to the script. I was telling you, he won’t even tell me or his mom. We had to go missing in action before he announced.”
Leaks can spring from anywhere: a member of the high school coaching staff, a private trainer, someone in the family.
Or …
“It’s really more the leak coming from where he didn’t sign,” Horace said. “The place where he signed, they’re good with it. They have the signed paperwork and tell everybody to keep it quiet and it’s pretty good. It’s when other coaches and recruiting coordinators who aren’t feeling great about themselves right now because they didn’t get you, and they’re being asked, ‘Hey, did you get Bru McCoy?’ And body language, tone, all of that can kind of give a lot of that away.”
Horace and his wife, Shelby, went through the recruiting process themselves as high school athletes. Horace played football at Northern Illinois, and Shelby played volleyball. So they had a pretty good understanding of what their son was going through.
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But it was still tough to keep his decision under wraps. The fact McCoy wore a USC pullover during a signing day interview probably made that a bit more difficult. Horace said he got calls from other Mater Dei parents saying they heard McCoy was headed to USC. Some called and thought he was headed to Texas.
The assumption was McCoy signed with USC, and although it didn’t leak widely, some found out before he announced at the All-American Bowl. Gary Sr. had no clue when his son announced.
“Oklahoma would hit us up. ‘What are you thinking? What is Gary thinking? Where is he leaning toward?’” Gary Sr. said. “Of course everybody wanted to know, so you would get the coaches calling saying this is the fit. This is for Gary. We want him to be happy of course, we want it to be his choice, but we feel we would be the best fit for him.”
Bryant chose USC over Oklahoma and Arizona State, among others. Gary Sr.’s youngest son, Kaden, picked up the Trojans hat on national television and knew what Bryant’s decision was before his dad even did.
Bryant made his decision and stuck with it. No issues there. If the McCoys were doing it all over again, they probably would have done things a bit differently, not signing in December and waiting until February. McCoy was clearly torn over his decision and transferred to Texas about three weeks after enrolling at USC.
“There was no rush to go to school,” Horace McCoy said. “I try to tell a lot of these young men that right now. I talk to a lot of dads. Our biggest mistake was going to school early. If you’re one of these highly recruited kids, such as (Foreman) and (four-star Mater Dei linebacker Raesjon Davis), take some time to decompress, you know what I mean? The schools that want you are still going to be there. I wish we would not have enrolled in college early. For me, a post route is a post route, a nine route is a nine route. It’s not going to change. Quarterbacks are a different situation, you want to get in and learn the offense, but absolutely, I wish we would’ve signed in February, hindsight being 20/20, and made the announcement in January. Then gave him the spring to work out, decompress and be a kid.”
Foreman doesn’t plan on enrolling early. The expectation seems to be that, like McCoy and Bryant before him, he’ll sign with USC, but that’s far from a guarantee. The news hasn’t leaked out, but a graphic posted to the MaxPreps Instagram account on Dec. 16 appeared to jump the gun, listing him as a USC signee. (An updated version of the post replaced USC with “TBA” next to Foreman’s name.)
Looks like USC, which is what we have been hearing. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but you @koreyforeman54 will be great wherever. Wishing you the best. https://t.co/c6tyVuagwL pic.twitter.com/kcHQx5FFB9
— VictorDRU (@DruVictor) December 16, 2020
“Korey’s been doing a really, really good job with it,” said Gary Bryant Sr., who worked with Foreman’s father, Kevin, in Riverside and goes a ways back with the family. “For example, when Drake Jackson was going through this, Drake was losing his hair, he was losing weight. He couldn’t eat. It was taking its toll. I think people don’t understand, for these kids, it’s hard. I told my wife, I feel almost guilty for not going to this school or that school. That’s as a parent, so you can imagine how these kids feel. They were going so hard, but Korey’s done a real good job. I think he’s been a little stressed out, too. I think Korey likes the attention, too. … It’s the top kid in the country.
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“People have been hitting me up hard about Korey. Writers and different things like that. Me and Dennis Jackson (father of USC linebacker Drake Jackson) would always laugh because, ‘Man, have you heard anything about Korey? Is he coming, is he coming?’ Fans on IG. Oh my gosh. You would think I was Korey’s dad. ‘Can you at least give us a percentage of where you think he’ll go? Is it coming down to us?’ The USC fans, man, they’re really adamant. Oh my gosh.”
Foreman was committed to Clemson for a few months earlier this year before he re-opened his recruitment in April. Since then, he has taken unofficial visits to Georgia, Clemson, LSU and Arizona State. Bryant was Foreman’s teammate at Corona Centennial, and Foreman is close friends with USC’s standout linebacker Drake Jackson. The Trojans also have the advantage of being close to home.
Soon enough, Foreman’s decision will be a secret no longer.
“I’m going to be watching and fingers crossed and praying,” Gary Sr. said. “The main thing I want is for Korey to be happy. I know some people kind of push their kids, ‘You need to go here. You need to go there.’ But at the end of the day these kids are going to be the ones who have to live this dream. They’re the ones who have to deal with these coaches and teammates. So I want Korey to be happy. … I’m happy for him. I know it’s to the point he’s ready to get it over with, too.”
(Photo courtesy of 247Sports)
Antonio Morales covers USC football for The Athletic. Previously, he spent three years at the Clarion Ledger in Mississippi, where he covered Ole Miss for two seasons and Jackson State for another. He also spent two years covering preps for the Orange County Register and Torrance Daily Breeze. Follow Antonio on Twitter @AntonioCMorales
