Take time, kids

Part of the fun of covering high school sports is keeping an eye on recruiting. Here, virtually every school we cover has at least a handful of Division I-caliber athletes, as evidenced by a plethora of local products who make headlines at both the college and pro levels.

The Athlete's Connection's job isn't to cover recruiting - we leave that wackiness to our friends/colleagues at Rivals.com and Scout.com - but we at least have to have one watchful eye on that process.

As crazy as last season was - remember Sam McGuffie skipping signing day at Cy-Fair only to fax his letter of intent to Michigan in the evening? - this one could feature a few moves and surprises, too.

Word is Craig Loston, Eisenhower's phenomenal safety who verbally committed to Clemson in April, is listening to overtures from Michigan. Loston told Scout.com he expects to take a visit there sometime soon.

"I was talking to my cousin (Cypress Ridge quarterback Russell Shepard, an LSU commit) and he was like it’s important to take all of your visits because if he would have taken his final visit he would have gone to Texas,” he told Scout.com. “So I’m going to go ahead and take all of my visits.”

(An addendum: Their coach, Rich Rodriguez, is well known for flirting with recruits to other schools, a no-no in the gentlemanly coach's business. Purdue coach Joe Tiller called him a "snake oil salesman" after Rodriguez stole one of his commits. As an Ohio State fan, I laugh and say it befits the university that pompously considers itself the Harvard of the Midwest.)

Back to Loston ... who should be surprised by this? Loston committed to Texas A&M as a sophomore, only to recant during the Franchione fiasco. Then he committed to Clemson in April, all the while continuing to take visits to other big schools. Trusted sources say Loston's been to LSU several times and they'd be shocked if Loston didn't end up a Tiger.

My question is, why commit at all that early? In his case, not many people outside Loston's inner circle know. He doesn't like to talk much about recruiting to anyone in the media, clamming up during a recent interview and basically shutting down that line of questioning before it ever started.

There's the story of Tommy Mason-Griffin, the former Madison basketball standout who withdrew from that school to attend Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, then switched back to Madison on Thursday. He verballed to LSU, withdrew that when that coach was fired and then verballed to Oklahoma in mid-August.

The latest turn goes to the high school level, where Chavez point guard Mike Randle announced on Jim Hicks' Basketball Show the other night that he was transferring to downstreet school and District 20-5A rival Madison.

"I just feel like it was one of the best decisions because ... Madison is right around the corner from my house. ... I feel like it's gonna be a great thing," Randle said.

Thing is, he hadn't told Lobos coach Kevin Pullum of his decision. Pullum, of course, was watching live.

Less than four minutes later, the phone rang.

You could see co-host Terry Burdick grinning in the background knowing what was coming.

Or what he thought was coming. What most anyone watching thought was coming.

However ...

"Mike knows I love him like a son and I only wish the best for him," Pullum said. "However, he knows I'm very competitive when we're all on the court. Mike's a tough competitor and we're gonna have our hands full. I think I know how to guard against Mike. But again, I love him like a son. ... Take care of yourself. Anytime you need me, call me."

Have we heard the last of this on some level?

I bet not.

It's part of the nature of the beast. No decision a star athlete makes is truly private - whether it's the original commitment or a switch when or if they decide the original decision either was made in haste or is no longer feasible. Sometimes they seek a stage, sometimes the stage finds them.

I guess being 30 brings an increased sense of gravity and responsibility. That said, I don't make a lasting decision until I know I'm ready to. I wish some athletes would do that.