Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Ridgeland’s Jacob Klein (79) gets off the line during a spring scrimmage against visiting Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe on May 7.Prior to this spring, the last time Jacob Klein had a face-to-face conversation with a college football recruiter things were, in a lot of ways, quite different.
The Ridgeland High School offensive lineman is one of many rising seniors in the Chattanooga area who are trying to catch up on the recruiting trail. The COVID-19 pandemic severely altered the way college athletic programs recruited, with very little personal interaction and nearly all evaluations coming off game video.
After missing the second half of last season due to injury, Klein recently participated in camps at Mercer University and Kennesaw State University. The so-called “mega” camps have several hundred kids and dozens of college coaches in attendance, and for players like Klein who aren’t four- or five-star recruits, such camps are the way to get noticed.
“It’s done a lot for Jacob and all the kids,” said Kip Klein, Jacob’s father and Ridgeland’s head coach. “He’s been followed by a lot of people, but now he can be seen. He’s put in back-to-back camps, and those guys – there were about 40 coaches at Mercer and 60 at Kennesaw – now know what he’s about. It’s a long trip to go to some of those schools like Harvard and Columbia, but when they can see them at a local camp it’s great.
“It’s funny, I’ve had three of four schools call me that weren’t at the camps who hadn’t seen him since his sophomore year, and they all asked if he was still 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds. When I told them he’s pushing 6-7 and is over 300 pounds, they were like, ‘What?’ It’s all good to see film, but to get them in person is a big difference.”