Last summer, we noted that LSU had taken the unusual -- but not unprecedented -- step in offering a scholarship to a 14-year-old prospect who had yet to complete his junior-high playing career let alone high school.
Seven months later, a recruiting behemoth from the same conference has hopped on the way-too-early offer train as well.
The father of eighth grader Dylan Moses confirmed to al.com that Alabama had offered his son a scholarship over the weekend. The offer came in the midst of the Tide’s Junior Day event and was one of several handed out.
Like everyone else, Edward Moses says he was surprised by the offer that came wrapped in a pretty little “your son could be the best player in the Class of 2017” bow.“We got the invitation to come to Alabama’s Junior Day a few weeks ago and to be honest we were kind of surprised,” said Dylan’s father Edward Moses Jr. “When we got there, Coach (Burton) Burns took us around and introduced us to the entire coaching staff and they all seemed very interested in Dylan. They treated him like a five-star recruit.”
“We met with Coach Saban after lunch and he talked to Dylan about his future and what he needed to do to achieve his potential as a student and as a football player. When he said he was offering Dylan a scholarship, we asked a lot of questions just to make sure we knew exactly what he meant. Coach Saban said the Alabama staff believes Dylan has a chance to be the best player in the country in the Class of 2017 and they were ready to offer him a scholarship. That’s when the fireworks started going off in our heads.”
Just to reiterate, Moses has yet to complete the eighth grade and will not make his high school football debut for about six months.
Moses, who lives a short distance from LSU’s Tiger Stadium, has yet to give a verbal commitment to either of the schools, although he did say last July after his first scholarship offer that he’s “always wanted to play for LSU since I was a kid, and now it’s coming true in front of my eyes.” The elder Moses added that the family isn’t “putting any pressure on him with the recruiting process right now” and that his son doesn’t “feels any need to rush his decision.”
As previously noted, this is not exactly an unprecedented move on the part of either Alabama or LSU. At around the time Moses was receiving an offer from LSU, 14-year-old San Diego quarterback Tate Martell was on the receiving end of one from Washington.
Neither of those players are the youngest, however (unfortunately?), as that honor falls to David Sills, who was a 13-year-old quarterback when he received a scholarship offer from Lane Kiffin and USC. Unlike Moses, though, Sills verbally committed to the Trojans; three years later, and after sitting in on positional meetings with Trojan players and coaches, both the commitment and offer remains rock solid.
Sills will be a member of the 2015 recruiting class.