‘Caught in a web’: The story behind craziest signing day for a recruit in SC history
With all eyes in the recruiting world on Jordan Burch over the last week as the five-star Columbia prospect had a unique recruiting experience that included a visit to LSU before ultimately signing with South Carolina, The State looked back at other recruits who had interesting signing days.
An obvious name that came to mind, at least in the state of South Carolina, was former Broome High wide receiver Markish Jones.
The speedy wideout and former four-star recruit was already committed to Tommy Bowden and the Clemson Tigers when he showed up for his signing ceremony on Feb. 8, 2007 — but there were plenty of question marks about where Jones would land. He had publicly stated Florida State was neck-and-neck with the Tigers heading into National Signing Day.
And Alabama was also squarely in the mix, thanks in large part to Kevin Steele. The current Auburn defensive coordinator was recruiting Jones to FSU before he showed up with Nick Saban to Jones’ house in Spartanburg about a month before signing day. Saban left the Miami Dolphins to lead Alabama, and Steele was leaving Florida State to join him.
Jones ended up announcing he planned to attend Clemson and signed a letter of intent to play for the Tigers: “It’s a relief... It got kind of hectic,” Jones said at the time of the recruiting process.
Little did he know, the chaos was just getting started.
The State spoke with Jones about how he ended up signing with Clemson and Florida State in the same day and how his football career played out. Here is his side of the story:
The State: Take me to the night before signing day. What’s going through your head?
“The night before signing day I really was torn between three... I had no idea. I wanted to go to coach Steele because coach Steele promised me and my family he would take care of me all four years of college. I really felt that in my heart. Coaches were still calling me and it was confusing me even more because of the stuff they were promising.”
The State: So you get to signing day. Do you remember what that day was like?
“Me and my parents woke up early that morning. We got a good breakfast. We were like, ‘OK, it’s the day of. What are we going to do?’ Actually let me step back. I didn’t mention the Clemson part. The Clemson part, I fell in love with the players that were coming in, the players that were there, like Jacoby Ford, C.J. (Spiller), James (Davis), Chris Chancellor, Marcus Gilchrist, we all bonded together on a whole ’nother level. We were like, ‘Look at this talent that Clemson has right now. It’s young. We could come in here and compete for a national championship.’ That’s how we bonded.”
The State: What about Florida State?
“I kind of felt like that’s where I wanted to be the whole time. Plus my family, they’re Florida State boosters now, but at the time my family, a lot of people in my family fell in love with Florida State. They were already fans of Florida State. I was getting feedback from family members. Everybody was like, ‘Man, listen. That’s the school.’”
The State: Who was recruiting you from Clemson?
“Coach (Andre) Powell was recruiting me from Clemson. He was the running backs coach.”
“Yeah, Dabo was there. Dabo was the receivers coach. Tommy was the head coach. Dabo’s a players coach. My family didn’t really like Clemson, and I asked them, ‘Was it because y’all love Florida State or do you really not like Clemson?’ They felt like when it was time to get to the serious questions, Tommy was never around. Dabo was running the show.
(Dabo) told us everything he’s doing right now, I promise you. Out of all the coaches that recruited me, Dabo told me everything that’s transpired in the last seven years at Clemson. ‘We’re going to start taking care of the things that we need to take care of… 10 wins, beat Carolina, beat Florida State. Get to a BCS bowl.’ He’s telling us all of this. ‘Eventually we’re going to play for that national championship. It could be during the time period you’re here if we get all of you guys that are here right now.’”
The State: So it’s finally time to sign that morning. What happened then?
“The day of, I got a phone call from Florida State, Clemson and Alabama before I signed. An hour before signing day I’m still contemplating. It got narrowed down to Clemson and Florida State.”
The State: What was their recruiting pitch?
“Just telling me the best thing for me to do in life was to come there and get a degree, play against high-level competition, compete for national championships. That’s what it’s all going to boil down to. I really wanted to play with these players at Clemson, because I wanted to show the country, ‘OK, you’ve got Jacoby and C.J., watch what I do.’ My family wanted me to go to Tallahassee, and I was just like, ‘Man, I love Tallahassee. I want to be a Seminole. I want to be a part of the tradition. I want to be coached by Bobby Bowden.’ But then I was like, ‘But I really want to play with these guys at Clemson.’ ... I wanted to stay home. Clemson was only an hour away, anyone could come see me play. So I chose Clemson. I told my family and they said, ‘Hey, it’s your decision at the end of the day. We could be wrong. Go with your heart.’”
The State: But then you signed with Florida State, too, right?
“I got a phone call from (an assistant coach). I had already signed to Clemson and he (the coach) said, ‘Hey, we know you signed. We saw you sign. But have you faxed it in yet?’ I said, ‘No, I haven’t faxed it in yet. We’re on the way to do it now.’ That’s when they pulled the chess move.”
The State: What did the coach tell you?
“He basically told me, because my mom’s job moved from Spartanburg to Greensboro — my mom was going to relocate — that would be hard on the family. My family’s real close. He didn’t say anything illegal or anything. He just told me, ‘I can’t just say I can help your family move here. But I can help. We can network and you can meet people in this field. We’ll try to help your mom get a similar job to what she’s doing now.’ I’m a family-first person. I said, ‘It’s going to be hard for my family to move to Greensboro. My mom doesn’t know anyone in Greensboro.’ He told me, ‘I can’t give it to her but we can introduce her to people and jobs.’ Nothing breaking rules, but they just told me that they would help. I felt like, ‘Let me do this for my family, let me do this for my mom, let me make her life a little bit easier.’”
The State: So you signed another letter of intent to Florida State and faxed it in?
“Yeah, so once I signed to Florida State, I got a call from Clemson. Clemson was like, ‘You did what?’ They were surprised I didn’t fax theirs in. Clemson told me, ‘Hey man, you just signed our letter of intent on national TV.’ Clemson was like, ‘Hey, you just broke a rule. You need to make it right. Send our letter of intent in.’ Or they were telling me I could be suspended for what I had done. They scared the (crap) out of me. I was like, ‘I could be suspended?’ I wanted to play college football. That’s when the whole Clemson-Florida State thing popped up. People started making memes. Bobby holding Tommy and Tommy holding me. It was crazy... They just called and told me I could be suspended, but it all boils down to you can sign 1,000 letters of intent. But it all boils down to which one you fax. After Clemson told me all of these things to scare me I said, ‘Oh man, I gotta make it right and send the Clemson one in.’ That’s how I ended up sending two.”
The State: So you could’ve gone to Florida State if you only sent one?
“Yeah, they basically tricked me.”
The State: What were the next few weeks like?
“The next few weeks we were learning the NCAA rules. We were doing our own investigation into the possible outcomes. My head wasn’t there at all. You’ve got 1,000 opinions.”
The State: So when did you get the final decision?
“The final decision came from the NCAA. They favored for Clemson. Then I ended up not qualifying. I was like, ‘How did I not qualify? I did everything that I was told to do by the ACC to qualify.’ So Clemson sent me to the junior college in Kansas. That was Hutchinson junior college.”
The State: And you did track and football there, right?
“The year that I was at Hutchinson I redshirted, but I actually ran track that year.”
The State: Were you hurt? Why did you redshirt?
“Clemson told them to redshirt me. At practices, versus their best, I was destroying everybody at Hutchinson.”
The State: So why did Clemson tell them to redshirt you?
“I guess so that I would have four years of eligibility at Clemson. I could never figure it out. I was like, ‘Why are y’all redshirting me? I’m killing your best.’ They could never give me an answer. ... The running backs coach, it was a guy from California. He told me, ‘Jones, I can’t continue to let you fall victim to coaches.’ I was like, ‘What you talking about, coach?’ That’s when he told me Clemson made them redshirt me. I was like, ‘Man, I’m making good grades, on time for practice every day, working out, in the best shape of my life. Why won’t y’all let me play?’ That coach said, ‘I just want to see you get out of here. You’re caught in a web.’ That’s when he introduced me to coach Jason Brown, the guy from ‘Last Chance U’ (Netflix series). The running backs coach that coached at Hutchinson who told me the truth finally, he introduced me to Jason Brown. He was like, ‘Man, if you want to play Division I ball, compete at a high level, play for this guy right here. He can get you a Division I scholarship quicker than any guy in the country.’ That’s when I decided I was going to go to California to play for the guy.”
The State: So you ended up playing for the ‘Last Chance U’ coach? What was he like?
“On the show he will tell you that he’s the best recruiter in the nation, but he’s saying that for a reason. Jason Brown is the best recruiter that I’ve ever been recruited by. He’s a good guy, real guy. Tough, California, Compton guy. That’s really him. I went to Compton to play for him and something crazy happened with that situation, too. JB got fired from my California junior college team midway through our season.”
The State: When did Clemson move on?
“After I left (Hutchinson). It was against Clemson’s will for me to leave Kansas. Jason Brown recruited me to California and then he got fired. I was like, ‘Man, I’m all the way in California and I don’t know anybody. I’ve got to make this happen on my own.’”
The State: So how’d you end up at Cal?
“I was balling in California. I’ve got a highlight of Pete Carroll recruiting me when I played junior college in California. He’s on my highlight tape in the end zone. I told him, ‘Hey coach Carroll, I’m going to score for you. Stand in the end zone and I’m going to come find you.’ The recruitment started over. I’m in junior college getting recruited by the whole West Coast at this point. Most of those guys didn’t even know I existed until I played junior college ball over there. I was getting recruited by Cal, USC, UCLA, all the Pac 10 schools.”
The State: You ended up leaving Cal before playing in a game, right?
“I started taking classes, got with the team. Cal is one of the top public schools in the nation academically (currently ranked No. 2 by usnews.com). The receivers coach at Cal, Kevin Daft, he was the receivers coach at Berkeley. He used to fly down from the Bay to LA when I was in junior college. He was recruiting me pretty hard. He always stayed on me academically. So I qualified, I signed with Berkeley. I was going to Berkeley that summer, went through workouts with the team and everything. A month before camp they told me, ‘There were two classes that wouldn’t transfer from Kansas to Berkeley.’ To be eligible I had to have the grade right away. ... I had a teammate at my junior college, he had a lot of schools (recruiting him). I don’t know if it was a family friend or what, but he found somebody high on the academic board in the city of Los Angeles, and he paid for credits. It was $300 to get an A, $200 for a B. You’ve got to pay for the class. Then the grade appeared on your transcript. I linked up with my boy and he introduced me to that lady. I paid her maybe $800. She was supposed to give me two A’s so I could qualify for Berkeley. During camp at Berkeley, the junior college association found out. I got red-flagged and got suspended from playing Division I football. Then I came home and just started working.”
The State: Wow. That is a crazy story.
“I’m telling you. But I’m strong now, you know. It made me stronger. It’s a crazy story, but it’s true.”
The State: Are you still a Clemson fan now?
“Yeah, only because of me playing with guys from all over the country. I realized right here in the Upstate of South Carolina, it’s been proven the last few years that we’ve got, in my opinion, pound for pound the best athletes, football players in the country, just coming from this small little area. A lot of people ask me, ‘Why do you still pull for Clemson?’ But I really pull for the notoriety of this area. I’m happy that the spotlight is here. The whole college football is world is looking at Upstate, South Carolina. That’s mostly what I pull for.”
The State: Do you have lots of what-ifs, or are you OK with how everything played out?
“You see all of this CTE and stuff and all of these new studies that have shown how dangerous it is, I have a daughter now, I just want to be there for my family. I do have some what-ifs, especially when I see players that I competed with or competed against in the National Football League, and at the time I was better than them. But it’s not all about talent. It’s about the path you take.”
