Great recruiters develop over time just like great quarterbacks or linebackers. Coaches learn what to say, what not to say and how best to connect with the players they're after.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga assistant coach Will Healy was less than a few weeks removed from his playing days at Richmond last January when he began recruiting for the Mocs. Now, in his second go as a member of Russ Huesman's staff, he said it's a much different experience.
"There's definitely a learning curve," Healy said. "The biggest thing that I learned going through last year's process is that you have to be up front and honest from the beginning.
"As much as you want to give them good news, it's better to be sometimes brutally honest and just say, 'Coach, I don't know if he fits what we're looking for,' than saying, 'Coach, I really like him, I hope there's a chance we can take him' -- and then you have to give him bad news in the end."
When you're a "young pup" on a coaching staff, Huesman said, "you probably make so many mistakes in the recruiting process because you just don't know. Not NCAA mistakes, just mistakes. And you learn from all those mistakes."
Then over the next few years as you hone your pitch and develop your evaluation and communication skills, you get good at it. In many ways, Huesman said, young coaches makes the best recruiters because they're the most driven.
"Most of the staff that I have is young and they all want to get their guys, and that's the way it should be," he said. "Everybody should be hungry."
In his introductory news conference last month, new Tennessee Volunteers coach Derek Dooley was asked about his recruiting style and learning under Nick Saban, one of the great recruiters in college football.
"It takes years to really develop a style," said Dooley, who had two top-ranked recruiting classes as Saban's recruiting coordinator at LSU. "It takes a tremendous work ethic, but I think more than anything it really takes a true genuine connection with the players."
Dooley said it was important to "sell the program and sell the university, not sell one guy," meaning the head coach who might not be around by the time national signing day comes along.
When coaches talk about recruiting and what goes into it, the word "sell" comes up over and over again. That's because so much of what makes a good recruiter is the same thing that makes a good salesman in any business.
On home visits, Healy said, "You've got to be able to sell parents, coaches and any type of family that your product is the best product out there on the market. ... It's fun for me to go in and sell something that I believe in."
Recruiting at Tennessee or Georgia or Alabama is different from recruiting at UTC or most any other FCS program, Huesman said. That's because many of the players who sign with powerhouse schools grew up dreaming of playing there.
"You're probably going to get your nine or 10 that are slam dunks," Huesman said.
At the FCS level, meanwhile, just about every signee had dreams of playing at the Bowl Subdivision level.
"I don't think there's anybody coming to Chattanooga that just grew up loving it, saying, 'I always dreamed of going to Chattanooga.' That's not a knock on Chattanooga," Huesman said. "I guarantee you App State doesn't have a kid on their roster that grew up saying, 'I dreamed of going to Appalachian State.' ... I guarantee you every kid Appalachian State has from the state of North Carolina wanted to go to N.C. State or North Carolina."
And that, Healy said, is why honesty is so important. When he was being recruited as a standout quarterback at Boyd-Buchanan, he said some big schools that likely were never going to sign him kept him on the hook for a long time.
"I don't want to say I was lied to as an athlete, but I know people would string me out and I was thinking I was going to be a major (FBS) type player, when really they liked me if (options) one, two and three fell off the list," he said.
Giving a player bad news about his chances of getting a scholarship is hard to do, Healy said, "but I can sleep at night because I know that I'm also giving him an opportunity to go look somewhere else and maybe he can be a little bit more realistic about where he stands and where he should be looking."