Jeff Scott’s rise from ‘karooting’ to being one of the nation’s best recruiters

Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott has built a reputation as being one of the best recruiters in college football.

He has received numerous honors for his ability to haul in top talent, including being named one of the top-10 recruiters in the nation by ESPN in 2014.

While some coaches might grow tiresome of the never-ending craziness that is recruiting, Scott has embraced it from the time he was old enough to tie his shoes.

Brad Scott, a former Florida State assistant, South Carolina head coach and current Clemson administrator, was coaching in Tallahassee when Jeff was a young kid.

When Jeff was in first grade, Brad would take Jeff on recruiting trips, partly so that he could spend time with his son and partly because Jeff loved it.

“The elementary school that he went to was on the Florida State campus,” Brad Scott recently told The State. “On Fridays, I would grab him, check him out of school a little early, and I’d take him with me on the recruiting trail. He used to call recruiting ‘karooting.’ He’d say, ‘I’m going karooting with my daddy.’”

Jeff Scott looked up to his dad and knew in elementary school he wanted to be a college football coach. He remembers sitting on the couch and listening to Brad make hours and hours of recruiting calls as early as five years old.

As Jeff was growing up, he continued to take mental notes from phone calls, recruiting trips and spending time on campus as Florida State coaches hosted prospects.

“The biggest thing that I learned is recruiting is all about relationships,” Jeff said. “Whoever can develop a relationship with that prospect, family member, those that are close to that prospect, the quickest, is going to have a great opportunity to get that young man to come to your school.”

Jeff started his coaching career at Blythewood High, a move Brad suggested as he wanted his son to know what it was like to paint the lines on the field, do the laundry, tape the ankles and be a part of a high school staff and community.

He then was an assistant at Presbyterian College before being hired as a graduate assistant at Clemson in 2008.

Jeff was named Clemson’s recruiting coordinator in December of 2008 and put together a top-10 class in his first year, followed by top-10 classes in 2011 and 2012.

Jeff’s childhood has a lot to do with him having so much success in his recruiting coordinator role.

“He would always see on official visits, hopefully, the little extra effort that the recruiting coach would put in with the family, whether you were having them out to your house for a meal or breakfast or just little things, entertaining and going to the movies with them and things like that,” Brad said.

Jeff has been particularly successful in the state of Florida, where he has played a role in landing five-star recruits Deon Cain, Tony Steward and Sammy Watkins, as well as a long list of four-star prospects.

Brad said there are still high school coaches in Florida that remember seeing Jeff at their school as an elementary school kid.

“I recruited the Jacksonville areas and surrounding areas, which is part of his area now,” Brad said. “There are some coaches that tell him, ‘Hey, I remember you used to come around with your dad.’ ”

While Jeff enjoys recruiting and excels at it, he admits that there are parts of the job that are tough, particularly dealing with being away from family for an extended period of time.

“There’s many times when you’re gone 25 out of 30 days away from your family, but it’s part of the job,” he said. “If you don’t enjoy recruiting, then you’re not going to be a very successful college coach. The best coaches I know have enjoyed the recruiting process and everything involved with that.”

Jeff credits his wife Sara for providing encouragement as he lives his childhood dream of being a college football coach.

“There’s no doubt that you have to have a supportive family and supportive wife that understands the demands, and not just the recruiting but the other side as far as coaching and hours,” he said. “Even when you’re home and you’re working during the season you’re still spending a lot of hours away from home. So I think every great coach has a very strong wife behind the scenes to support them.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Jeff Scott’s rise from ‘karooting’ to being one of the nation’s best recruiters."