If Alex Darras wasn't patient previously, the college football recruiting process gave the Notre Dame High School senior numerous learning opportunities.
"At first I was frustrated. I thought I would get an offer earlier," he said. "When I didn't, I knew I had to trust the process and wait for something to come."
At the end of his wait, there was a scholarship from a Division I program. Darras - a quarterback, kicker and punter - is signing with Southern Conference member Furman, but his recruiting experience let him offer succinct advice to young quarterbacks.
"Know there are a lot of guys out there," he said. "Be patient."
It's possible, if not likely, that Darras could punt for Furman in its season opener Sept. 2 at Michigan State. The Paladins have one player returning who had been doing all of their punting and kicking, but they want him to focus on the latter. Darras also will have the opportunity to compete at quarterback.
Darras is finishing a multisport career at Notre Dame, this spring opting for soccer over baseball, which had long been the pitcher/shortstop's first love. That love possibly lengthened his football recruiting trail as he chose to participate in travel baseball instead of football camps until the summer before his senior season.
"If I had done (camps) between my sophomore and junior seasons, it would've helped," he said.
Notre Dame coach Charles Fant said the addition of summer camps was almost too little, too late for Darras, though there was a reason for the delay.
"Not doing football stuff in the summers hurt him, but he wasn't sure at that time that he wanted to play college football," Fant said. "The process is long and drawn out. As much as we've done this, we checked every box you're supposed to check regarding grades, arm strength, size, academics, and what I found out through the whole process is that quarterbacks are viewed differently."
Fant said college coaches want to see arm strength in person and recruiters didn't view Darras as a dual-threat quarterback, possibly because they didn't get as much of a chance to review his running skills.
"We didn't run him much till our final four games, and he was the leading rusher in those," Fant said.
Fant has never been one to call it quits, and he and assistant coach Chandler Tygard started making calls again after talking to Darras after signing day, speaking to coaches at close to 50 schools.
"There were several schools (including Tulsa and Vanderbilt) that said if he got in (academically) that they'd love to have him," Fant said. "Vanderbilt said if he got in they'd include him with their preferred walk-ons."
Darras was discouraged, but Fant preached patience.
"I said, 'Let's wait. Do teams want you to be an invited walk-on? Do you want to play college football?'" Fant recalled.
"All the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools that were still around and interested were going to get him for free. Alabama was still in there. He also had all kinds of Division II and III schools interested, but the fact that Furman stayed with him was a blessing."
By the time Darras decided on Furman, Alabama - where he had an academic scholarship offer - still hadn't determined if he would be designated as a preferred walk-on and included in the 105 players reporting for preseason camp.
Darras is the 11th Fighting Irish football player to sign a college scholarship in the past two seasons. Classmates Ricky Ballard and Tyler Enos signed with Tennessee Tech, and Robert Murphy signed with Carson-Newman.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.