Recruiting

While I was getting recruited other coaches who were recruiting me were telling me I would start and play a lot, have the ball in my hands for four years, things like that.  Coach Smith said I might have to play on the junior varsity team my first year.  My mom fell in love with Coach Smith and the way he approached recruiting.  I was Phil Ford, Jr., and she called me Little Phil.

"Little Phil, none of these coaches who're coming in here know for sure how you'll do in college basketball against the bigger boys," she said, "How can they tell you how much you'll play until we see how you'll do against college players?  If you go to North Carolina and learn and improve, and it turns out you're ready to play a lot your sophomore and junior season, you'll know that Coach Smith won't be in someone's living room promising your playing time to a high school player."  Basketball fan or not, Mom had this recruiting stuff figured out.

-Phil Ford

Pgs 92-93