In this episode of the Recruiting Guy podcast, Richard Davenport talks with Joe T. Robinson High School football recruiting coordinator Brian Maupin about how he navigates the college recruiting process with his players.
Richard Davenport: Welcome back to the Recruiting Guy podcast, this is Richard Davenport of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and wholehogsports.com. Obviously, my main gig is recruiting. One of the things that a lot of people ask is what's all involved in the recruiting process? Well, there's a ton of things that goes into a kid being recruited by colleges, but it really starts on the high school level. And when you're talking about the high school level, the coaches involved, it's very, very important to the college coach and also to the prospect, and on the phone right now, we have Brian Maupin, who's the defensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator and strength and conditioning coach at Joe T. Robinson. And first of all, welcome to the show, Brian.
Brian Maupin: Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me, Richard.
Richard Davenport: Well, you know, obviously you guys have had a lot of success over the last few years, and especially I mean, I think the average fan will know that Joe T. has produced a lot of prospects, most notably the Razorbacks, Zach Williams, Koilan Jackson. The list goes on and on, T.J. Hammonds. But you guys also send a lot of other kids to other colleges, whether it be D1, D2, D3, what have you. You guys do a great job of promoting your kids, and you're obviously the recruiting coordinator and you're in charge of all that. Just talk about the process from the very beginning. Say, a kid starts to get some interest as a ninth grader or a 10th grader and what your job involves and how you kind of help the process.
Brian Maupin: Yeah, definitely. I think the biggest thing that people have to understand in this, I guess if you want to call it an industry or in this profession is every kid's journey is different. And it should be. You know, I think this cookie cutter way of helping kids get recruited is actually detrimental to some. And so the answer to that question would actually be different for every kid, because my job is to play on my player's strengths while allowing them to develop and improve on their weaknesses. And so what I want to do is I want to showcase what makes this kid amazing or what makes him recruitable and in the background work on those deficiencies that are going to hold him back from being recruitable or from being the college player he dreams of being. And so it would be different for every kid. You know, obviously the biggest thing is to make plays on the field. I mean, we can talk about emails and highlight tapes and camps and all these other- making plays on the field is the number one way that these guys can help their recruitment. You know, then where I come in is I play off of those strengths. And if film is a kid's strength, then I need to do my due diligence and get that film A -- edited. I edit all the films at Robinson. I cut them up. I add the effects. I put them in order. All of these things, quality film is so big. If I have a kid who hasn't played a whole bunch yet, but I know he's going to be a player or I know he's a big time athlete. Well, then that's the kind of kid that I need to make sure is at the camps. Is getting on the camp scene. Is running and showcasing that athleticism until I get that film. You see what I'm saying? And so I'm going to play it whatever way I need to based on that individual kid's strengths and weaknesses.
Richard Davenport: Obviously, the college coaches, they reach out to you a lot. What's some of the questions that they ask you about your kids and what are some of the main things that they really focus on when they're asking you questions?
Brian Maupin: You know, the biggest things that they want to ask me about are toughness, accountability, obviously, character and grades. That's really the biggest things that they'll ask me, because those are the things they can't get from camp results they can't get from a film. They want to know what it's like coaching that child. And that's big because that's something that they can trust me with, because, you know, his mom, his dad, the person he works out with, his his uncle, all these other people, they can speak so much about this child but they can't speak on what it's actually like to coach that child. And we have been so blessed at Robinson. We got kids that are just a real blessing to coach. They're awesome to coach, they respond well to coaching. We coach them hard. We film them all the time. We hold them accountable. And so when they get to college, they're not used to the level of intensity that comes with a college program. It's something that they have experienced.
Richard Davenport: One of the things that, you know, when I attend one of your games, especially a home game, you you have you're so organized, you have a list of all the kids and their stats and every detail that, you know, a college recruiter needs to have. But at the same time, it's just, it's a lot of work involved about how much of the week or your day is, you know, recruiting?
Brian Maupin: A lot. And it is. It's a big responsibility. Because, you know, here's my deal with that is I'm never going to be the reason the kid didn't make it. I'm never going to be a reason a college doesn't know about a kid, a recruiter, a reporter doesn't have the information they need about a certain child. If somebody cares enough about our kids to be interested, the least I can do is have that information ready, available and present that to them. You know, obviously, as the defensive coordinator, I have a lot of responsibilities in just game planning and field breakdown and all of that. Although my staff does a phenomenal job of filling in their Hudl columns and getting things organized and reported for me. And then what I do is I have to come up with the defensive game plan for our team. But at least half of that weekend that I'm spending, game planning is spent doing the kids highlight tapes, because it's a weekly thing. You'd think I'd sit down at Christmas and do all their tapes. Well, that's too late. We've missed so much money. We've missed so many opportunities. And so for me, it's a weekly thing. I go through start with number one and I work my way all the way to 99. And I go through and I edit and update every single child on our team's highlight tape. Week to week. So that as soon as a coach is ready to watch his film or as soon as a coach watches his film, they're watching the very best that kid has to offer, not just bits and pieces. You know, I've seen kids that don't even make highlight tapes and it's like, man, you just you're putting yourself behind the eight ball if you don't even have a tape. You know, one them's E'marion, but that's a different story. I've begged him to star his plays for, I guess, four years now. But, you know, as long as they'll star their plays, I go through every single child's tape and make sure that they have an updated highlight tape. Because that's the best way that I can represent the player that they are to the different universities.
Richard Davenport: I know that I've seen you on the camp circuit. Good gosh, you travel the country not only during the summer, during the season, taking kids to games. I mean, how many miles do you have on your car or have you gotten a new car? Because I would imagine there's a lot of miles on the car every year.
Brian Maupin: You know, the Dodge Dart as a model gets a bad rap. Okay? Coaches make fun of me all the time. But this baby's got well over 100000 miles. She's running strong for me. No, I joke. We've actually, we have a Dodge Journey as our family car. And, you know, we've just been so blessed at Robinson, you know, we have more and more players every year. I've actually upgraded from the Dart. The journey is my recruiting car now, and that's got almost a hundred thousand miles on it already. So two cars over or right at one hundred thousand miles. So I'm sure I'll need to replace one one day, you know, and God will provide that when I need it. But yeah, there's a lot of miles. You know, my favorite part now, Richard, is my son, Junior, is six, and he gets to make -- as long as there's an extra seat for him, I wouldn't I'm not going to kick a prospect out the car for Junior -- but as long as there's a seat for him, I try to bring him every time. So, I mean, he's got lanyards from I mean, twenty different, you know, SEC or Power Five universities, and he's got quite the collection going at home. And it's really special to be able to mix my family with what I love to do.
Richard Davenport: And he's a special 2032 prospect. And what's what's what's some of the schools inquiring about Junior right now?
Brian Maupin: You know, I think Arkansas was definitely the first one on. And they made sure to let me know that that he was the priority for that class. You know, I think they got high hopes for that one. You know, he's done a good job on the field this year for his future Senator football team. Playing quarterback and safety right now, doing a good job. He needs to do a little better job of tackling, but he does a good job making plays on offense, so we'll live with it for right now.
Richard Davenport: Who's his favorite player so far at Joe T?
Brian Maupin: Oh, man. You know, I think T.J. always holds a soft spot because he was born when T.J. was staying with us. And so that's always been a really close bond. But him and Doodlebug have been on the road quite a bit. Hunter Smith was another one of his riding partners. We were on the way back from Missouri. We went to Arkansas one day, Missouri the next. We're driving down that back road through Harrison in the mountains, and Hunter Smith throws up all over the back of my car, throws up, I mean everywhere, and Junior's back to riding with him. So he always gives Hunter crap because he's like, Hunter Smith's the one and threw up on me, you know. So he loves it, man. He loves him E'marion get along really well, so. His favorite NFL player's Derrick Henry, though, he he likes Derrick Henry.
Richard Davenport: I get the scoop, remember. All right. The visits. What's some of the maybe some of the stories that you can tell without maybe even mentioning the school or whatever that were kind of some of the more interesting that you've encountered thus far?
Brian Maupin: You know, I think they're all pretty cookie cutter for the most part. You know, obviously, you go see the facilities, you meet with people. You know, I think through all the coaching changes at Arkansas, I think that's been one of the more interesting things. Just to see the little subtle differences between each staff. You know, I would say the last staff did a lot more focus on the glitz and the glamor and the wowing you the presentation and all that. Whereas I think Coach Pittman's staff has done a really phenomenal job of kind of tapping into that good old home feel and genuine care, not necessarily trying to impress you, but trying to connect with you. Also, last time we were out there, he I mean, he brought in some heavy hitters for the former Hog panel. I think he had Travis Swanson and he had Felix Jones, Darren McFadden, D.J. Williams. I mean, he had some real heavy hitters and some some recent players of know that really resonated with the recruits to see guys that are really kind of pinnacle guys in the program, at least in recent. And obviously, Darren being probably the guy, I thought that was really cool for Sam to be able to bring those guys in and connect with. The other cool thing was he hadn't met some of them yet, so he was kind of star struck to himself, which I thought was a cool little nuance from the visit.
Richard Davenport: When's Christmas time for Brian Maupin? When I say Christmas time, is it signing day to see these guys when they sign on the dotted line and make it official? When's Christmas time for Brian?
Brian Maupin: You know, I think it's more like that, that calendar packet that you're opening up a little present on your way. You know, and that kind of starts with the first game of the season is kind of a special moment for me. You know, senior night is always a really special moment for me. The end of the season, hopefully on state championship night, is always that kind of culmination of the hard work. And then, you know, that's more from a team aspect and all the blood, sweat and tears we put into that. And then from an individual standpoint, it's kind of like that bonus day that that that little extra is signing day where it's like, man, we celebrated what a great year it was. And now we get to celebrate what great individual accomplishments we've made. You know, and then I will say graduation is another really, really special day for me. The kids have been working out with me on their own individually, getting ready for college and that graduation. You know, most kids report a couple of days the week after graduation now. And so that's really kind of that last little send off. I try to take a guy or two out to dinner that week and just have kind of a talk about what camp life and all that's going to be like. And I just really just give them that one last hug and embrace, take your picture for mom and send them on their way. But I don't think Christmas has truly come for Brian Maupin yet. Because I think when guys like Myles Fells and T.J. Hammonds, you know, have their wedding days and they bring their kids around. You know, it's been so nice to have Kairo with Koilan and talk to him about being a dad and what that means. And I just think the older I get and the older my former players get, the more I'll get to do life with them. And that really just means the world to me.
Richard Davenport: That's what it's all about. The portal, super seniors, how has that impacted your kids?
Brian Maupin: You know, it was tough. Between covid, the portal, the super-seniors coming back. I really, there's a real soft spot in my heart for those kids. Not even just Joe T. kids, but those kids in general from the last two classes. You know, and I don't I don't necessarily think we're going to really finally get past it until all of this eligibility is kind of worked out here in the next three or four years. You know, but I think it's the tried and true method. I think you stick to it. I think there is still something truly appealing to a high school kid that's saying and doing the right things, and that has outstanding ability on the field. And so it hasn't just completely muddied up the game. But, it's just another thing to sift through, and that I have to sell my kids that they can bring success to a program. You know, maybe when that quick fix of a transfer or the lack of scholarship availabilities may be an obstacle. You know, it's just really kind of keeping your nose to the grindstone. And there are plenty of universities out there. There's plenty of athletic scholarships out there. But there are millions and millions of qualifying student athletes out there that are deserving. And so what are we doing at Joe T. that sets our kids aside, you know? And what are you doing as a young man to set yourself aside? We literally had this -- it's funny you asked -- we literally had this conversation yesterday. I sat the kids down. I said, hey, you know, who wants to go to college? Who wants to play college football? I said, what are you doing on a daily basis to set yourself apart? Because at that level, everybody wants to and everybody can play. What makes you different? You know, the Arkansas backfield is a great example of that. All of those guys are super talented. You know, it really doesn't matter who they throw out there, they're going to have success. The O-line's blocking well. So what are you doing that sets yourself apart so you can be that one that's getting those carries, you know? So.
Richard Davenport: Parents, when a kid gets an offer and maybe they weren't sure whether their kid was, you know, capable. Because a lot of parents don't really understand the process. Some do, but some don't. But I would imagine some of those phone calls, when you tell a kid he has an offer or a parent, it can get quite emotional.
Brian Maupin: Oh, man. It's the- you can definitely see the life-changing power that the recruiting process has on an individual, on a family. It's a really special moment. It's special for me because I've seen how hard this child has worked, you know, over the past three or four years. Well, the parent has literally seen this child pour everything they've had into this dream and this goal their whole lives sometimes. And so as emotional and as meaningful and impactful and powerful it is for me, man, you can only imagine with those parents what they're feeling. You know, this was their six year old baby that wrote down on a piece of paper in kindergarten he wanted to be a Razorback. And now the Razorbacks want him to be a Razorback. Well, that's you know, that's life changing. That means everything to these families. And, you know, it's special to be able to play the part that I get to play. You know, I really try to leave the communication to the coach and the kid and those parents. You know, I'll drop a little nugget or say, "hey, you should be by your phone, you're getting a good phone call." Or, "call this coach, I don't know what he wants." Wink, wink, you know. But I try to never be the one who's delivering that news. I let that be a moment between that coach, that kid and that family. And it's special. It's fun to be able to be used by God in this way.
Richard Davenport: Brian, thank you so much again. That was good. Said we would do about 10, 15 minutes, and I think we went a little beyond that. But I appreciate your time and keep doing the good work. And I look forward to talking to you in the future.
Brian Maupin: Hey, same to you, brother. Man, I appreciate everything you do for these kids, getting them out there and getting some notoriety and shedding a good light on good kids, man. So I appreciate it.
Richard Davenport: Appreciate you, Brian. That's it for today's podcast. This is Richard Davenport of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and wholehogsports.com. We'll talk to you soon.