Several Delaware high school football coaches said that too often players and their parents learn the hard way that they don't understand the recruiting process.

"There are so many misconceptions about how a kid gets into college," McKean coach Mike Ryan said, adding that some players and parents assume that colleges "are knocking down the door and offering money."

Instead, coaches said, it often comes down to marketing, both by a coach and a player himself. Pencader Charter coach Rahsaan Matthews is among coaches who, even though the season has been finished for almost two months, has been mailing out videotape of recent senior players, including first team All-State quarterback Brandon Norman and second team All-State defensive tackle Ferran Thompson. Matthews said the two have been drawing interest from Division I-AA and Division II schools.

Even if they do not play at those levels, Matthews, a former quarterback at William Penn and Delaware State, said the goal for high school football recruits should be to earn a college degree.

"You don't need the glamour of signing day," Matthews said, "as long as they are going to school."

Delaware's reputation as a place to find major football recruits has grown over the past decade. Most point to Delaware's bump in recruiting attention stemming from Kwame Harris and Orien Harris at Newark. Both had dozens of offers from the nation's best colleges. Kwame Harris played at Stanford and Orien Harris at Miami. Both also played in the NFL.

At signing day a year ago, the press conference for Concord High receiver Justin Brown included reporters from two national recruiting Web sites and a Philadelphia TV station. But players like Brown and the Harrises remain the exception in Delaware.

"The recruiting game is crazy," Ryan said. "Most of the guys with the hats in front of them, they are the blue-chippers. The majority of kids of Delaware football are under that line and a lot of them are still being recruited [right now]."

Finding a way on the field

Some Delaware high school players have turned to another option -- the walk-on. Walk-ons pay their own way to a university and essentially try out for the football team. A notable freshman season can bring a scholarship offer, but there is no guarantee.

Last fall, St. Mark's High graduate Corey Olsen was a walk-on linebacker at the University of Delaware. He played in three games and recorded two total tackles, one for a loss, and he forced one fumble.

At St. Mark's, Olsen was a three-sport athlete. He made first team All-State at linebacker his senior year. Looking to play football in college, Olsen said he drew interest from several schools. He chose West Chester until the Division II school told him that because of NCAA roster restrictions, he could not be on the roster as a freshman.

Olsen started to look elsewhere and discovered that making a college choice can be about more than selecting the school making the best offer.

"The main factor for me was if the school was reputable," he said. "I had good grades, and I knew I could get into almost any school of my choosing. You hope to earn a scholarship at some point. But for me I am more focused on getting better and finding a way on the field."

Olsen said being a walk-on has its pros and cons.

"Just because you are a walk-on, it doesn't mean that you are any less important to the team. They treat you the same, respect you the same and expect the same things from you," Olsen said. "But at the same time you do have to do a little bit extra to make a name for yourself ahead of the guys who were recruited."

No guarantees

Colleges also have to work in a system where there are no guarantees. Coaches have to keep up with recruits who have made verbal commitments, which are not binding.

Middletown lineman Gifford Timothy verballed to Clemson University in August. Since then, Middletown coach Mark DelPercio said Clemson has kept in regular contact with Timothy to make sure he is still bound for the Tigers.

"The coaches want to make sure, because nothing is official," DelPercio said. "So right up until this week they come in to make sure they're solid, and make sure that they give the player on visits to the school a lot of love."

Recruiting can also be hard on a coach. Caesar Rodney head coach Mike Schonewolf was an assistant and head coach at Marietta College in Ohio for eight years and at Princeton for another four.

Schonewolf said players took it very hard when a school that had been recruiting them suddenly said there would be no scholarship offer.

"When it gets down to staff meetings and you talk about who you are interested in taking, you have to choose one," he said. "And that's out of three or four kids who are capable, but don't get selected for whatever reasons. That doesn't mean they are not a good player. But you are responsible to call that kid and say, 'I'm sorry.' "

Players can also have remorse when turning down a coach.

"When I was deciding where I wanted to go," said Caesar Rodney halfback Malcolm Yowk, who is signing with Delaware, "you take into consideration of telling [the other coaches] of where you're going to go, and of course they're going to ask why.

"It honestly," said Yowk, "was a really tough thing to do and it was a big thing on my mind when I was making my decision. But you have to do what's best for you."

Whatever transpires, sometimes recruiting high school kids to play football is just a crapshoot. Sometimes colleges can find a star player well after signing day. The signing period that begins Wednesday runs until April 1.

"You can still get some good players," Woodbridge coach Ed Manlove said. "They might not be on the scholarship lists from some of these schools. But if things don't work out with their first choice, colleges can end up coming back and give guys full or partial scholarships."

"If you have the skills," said Yowk, "and you possess the right things, they'll find you. If you're good, they'll come to you."