Hawaii offers scholarship to QB who just completed fifth grade

Published Jun. 13, 2017 3:45 p.m. ET

Aaron Torres

Ask any college football coach and they'll tell you that "recruiting never really stops." However, they are apparently taking things to an extreme level on the Hawaiian islands, where Nick Rolovich and his staff tried to get a jump start on their 2024 recruiting class.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Late last week Hawaii offered quarterback Titan Lacaden, who is -- get this -- 11 years old and just completed the fifth grade. Assuming he stays on a standard academic schedule, Lacaden likely won't enroll at Hawaii, or any college, until the fall of 2024.

You can't make this stuff up. Here is the tweet announcing the news:

https://twitter.com/titanlacaden/status/873782110196191233

It was then confirmed by Lacaden's brother, Jake, who is a former linebacker at Nevada.

https://twitter.com/JakeLacaden/status/873783826253664257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fcollegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com%2F2017%2F06%2F13%2Fhawaii-offers-scholarship-to-qb-who-just-finished-fifth-grade%2F

Although college coaches have offered young players early before, this is -- as best we can tell -- the youngest player who has ever formally been offered a scholarship to any FBS football program. Lane Kiffin has made waves several times for offering pre-teens, but the youngest player he's ever offered is a sixth grader, which happened last week as well.

Rolovich actually made light of the offer, by semi-trolling Kiffin on Twitter on Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/NickRolovich/status/874705736806289408

However, while the early offers are sure to make headlines, rarely do they ever work out. The most notable one came from Kiffin during his early days at USC, when he offered a scholarship to then 13-year-old David Sills. Of course by the time Sills enrolled in college in 2015 Kiffin was long gone, and Sills eventually ended up as a wide receiver at West Virginia. He is now in junior college where he is in the midst of resuming his quarterbacking career.

Steve Sarkisian once actually took a commitment from super-prospect Tate Martell when he was only 14. Martell eventually decommitted from Washington, then committed to Texas A&M, before eventually signing with and enrolling at Ohio State this past January.

So while we wish Lacaden luck, there is a long time between now and Signing Day 2024.