Tom Lemming has traveled a mind-boggling 2 million-plus miles and has encountered several scary moments during his 37 years of covering the national recruiting scene.
He is unscathed for the most part.
"I've never had a serious car accident," said Lemming, a national recruiting analyst for CBS Sports Network. "I driven [the equivalent of] up and back to the moon four times now. I've driven 60,000 miles [over] 37 years."
Lemming's first All-American team in 1978 included three Pro Football Hall of Famers -- John Elway, Dan Marino and Eric Dickerson.
"When I started, I was the only one in the business," Lemming said. "Then Allen Wallace came like six years later. Max Emfinger came a couple years after that. It was three of us until the late '90s when all the internet stuff started happening."
Lemming, who was in Arkansas on Dec. 29-30 to see several top prospects, made numerous stops in Texas before making his way to the Natural State. He drove into the tornadoes that killed eight in Garland, Texas, on Dec. 27 on his way from Dallas to Texarkana.
"Fortunately, my hotel was in Garland, so I got off there," he said. "I would say within 20 minutes, the tornado reached us. It killed some people just a few hundred yards in front of me on I-30."
His days on the road usually start at 5 a.m. and finish late.
"I usually get back to the hotel room about 10, sometimes midnight and sometimes 2, 3 in the morning," Lemming said.
Lemming has done it all while being slow to embrace modern technology.
Only last year did Lemming start using GPS after relying on maps for his first 35 years on the road. He started texting three years ago, began using Twitter this year and only recently upgraded to an iPhone.
"Up until a couple years ago, I had a flip phone that didn't work in a lot of the states," said Lemming, who is based out of Chicago.
Lemming said his most frightening road experience occurred in 2007 on the day the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts were playing in the Super Bowl. He was heading to Buffalo and Rochester to see recruits.
It began snowing heavily and the interstates were being closed.
"Right where you enter New York state, the lady at the toll booth said, 'The next exit you have to get off,' " Lemming said. "Like an idiot, I didn't have gloves or anything. I get to the next exit and they close it."
But he ignored the warnings and started seeking alternate routes and got off on a less-traveled road when the full force of the storm hit.
"Within a half hour, the car is covered in snow," said Lemming, who was driving a white rental car. "There were no other people on the road."
Lemming said he thought about the possibility he might not make it through the storm alive, with the temperature at 10 degrees and the wind chill below zero.
That's when Lemming said he got a call from a friend, Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus in the movie The Passion of the Christ. Caviezel called to talk football and the Super Bowl and soon realized Lemming was in jeopardy.
"He prayed with me. He's Jesus," Lemming said, laughing. "He's very religious."
Lemming, who played himself in the movie The Blind Side, called his brother, who worked for the Illinois State Police at the time and asked him to contact the New York State Police.
"He finally calls back and he was real excited, and I said, 'Did you get a hold of them?' " Lemming said. "He said, 'No, the Bears just scored on the opening kickoff.' I go, 'You're worried about the Super Bowl and I'm dying out here.' "
Lemming, with only a light jacket, no gloves and hat, got some advice from his brother.
"He said, 'Go in your trunk and get a pair of underwear and put it on your head and get a pair of socks and put them on your hands.' " Lemming said. "I said, 'I'd rather die.' "
Lemming eventually got out of the car and walked about a mile and a half to the interstate and was able to find help from a trucker, who drove Lemming back to the car. Lemming followed in the trucker's tire tracks in the snow to get back on the road.
Lemming made his way to his destination, but exposure to the freezing temperatures and wet clothing got the best of him.
"I was blue and I had interviewed a coach and the coach said 'Hey, you all right?' " Lemming said.
He was not.
Lemming saw a doctor in Rochester and was told he was suffering from hypothermia.
It doesn't end with tornadoes and blizzards for Lemming.
"I've run into a hurricane in South Carolina and an avalanche in eastern Colorado," he said. "I've never experienced an earthquake."
Lemming's travels have helped him accumulate 1.8 million Holiday Inn points.
"When I show up, they say, 'I've never seen anyone with your kind of points before,' " Lemming said. "I've never cashed in on any of them."
White decides on LSU
Highly recruited running back Devin White made an oral commitment to LSU on Friday.
White, 6-0, 258 pounds, 4.47 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Springhill (La.) North Webster, picked LSU over scholarship offers from Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida State.
ESPN rated him as the nation's No. 3 athlete and No. 97 overall prospect.
Sports on 01/10/2016