Meet Olathe's Braden Smith -- the kind of prep lineman who turns grown men into '13-year-old girls'
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Oooooooooooooooh, does Braden like me? OMG!
Does Braden reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally like me? SMH!
Can you get Braden on the phone for me? LOL!
And meanwhile, on the other end of the line, Jeff Gourley sits there and just quietly facepalms at his desk.
"I know his Mom and Dad are tired of it -- I know everybody is tired of the recruiting process," Gourley, football coach at Olathe (Kan.) South, says when asked about superstar offensive line prospect Braden Smith, one of the biggest fish still without a net as National Signing Day looms. "He's been getting inundated with calls at the last minute. (It's) what I call the '13-Year-Old Girl Syndrome,' where the coaches are (asking), 'Is he thinking about me? Is he looking at me? Is he talking about me?'
"I mean, come on. You're a grown man."
And so it goes. When you're 6-foot-6, 285 pounds, the No. 1 prep guard prospect in the country according to Scout.com and a five-star stud who can bench press a baby grand piano, the phone never stops ringing.
"I've seen more college coaches at Olathe South this past spring and this fall than altogether the last 14 years in this business," South athletic director Robert Kersey says, chuckling. "It got pretty busy.
"We've had a lot of kids go on to play college ball, but never anybody of that magnitude. We've had a little bit of everything -- you name it. But for football, this is probably the most high-profile kid we've ever had."
Gourley tries to laugh it off as best he can. Although the constant buzzing on his cellphone stopped being funny a long, long, long time ago.
"This is kind of the epitome of the whole deal," the coach tells FOXSportsKansasCity.com.
"Braden came back last weekend from Texas A&M (and) I have him in class on Monday morning. (Recruiting services) called me Saturday and Sunday to ask me what Braden thought of the trip! I don't know if they think we live together, or I'm on the trip with him. 'Oh. Really? He's not back yet -- how would I know?' It's crazy. Absolutely."
The craziness is expected to peak Wednesday morning, snow or no snow, when Smith's signing -- his final three schools are TCU, Texas A&M and Auburn -- will be nationally televised. The festive part of the day isn't new; Olathe South usually has a Signing Day celebration for two or three dozen kids in various sports. But this is the first one anybody can remember in which a satellite truck and a worldwide feed are involved.
"This has been by far the wildest recruiting (saga), and I suppose that a lot of it comes from just the caliber of the kid," he says. "That hasn't been that bad, to be honest with you; from the coaches' standpoint, it hasn't been bad at all. The bad part is the dot-comers and all that stuff that goes with it."
Especially for Smith, a very private young fella from a fairly private family where actions speak louder than 1,000 words. Braden's father, David, played football at Kansas; one of his grandfathers did the same at Texas Tech. He's leaning toward pursuing a degree in physical therapy, yet one of his favorite pastimes is gardening -- the science, the process, the labor, and the fruits that follow.
"And you might even go to the next step of saying he's introverted," Gourley says. "Not so much with his buddies -- he's not bashful or shy with them. He'll talk and play around and joke. I caught him in there picking a kid up and putting him on top of the lockers one day. He's your normal 16-, 17-year-old kid."
Well, a normal kid who can also bench press 515 pounds. Last month, Gourley posted a video of Braden from December handling three reps at that weight, comfortably, three times; as of Tuesday afternoon, it had been viewed 487,593 times. No wonder coaches are giddy: Smith squats 600-some pounds, cleans in the 300-pound range and can reportedly jump 37 inches, straight up, in a single bound.
"I put this little highlight (reel) together for him (and) I'll be honest with you, this is the honest truth, he is so freaky in the things he does," Gourley says. "That word is so highly overused: 'Oh, he's a freak.' And I hesitate to use that -- 'freak' has a negative connotation in a lot of ways. He is so unique.
"(It's like), 'Oh, yeah, this junior in high school has better numbers than offensive linemen in the NFL Combine.' That's pretty impressive. By lack of any other term, it's a freak of nature."
Older sister Megan is a junior thrower on the TCU track team, one of the reasons the Frogs are among the last hats left on the pile. Gourley figures he stopped counting at 51 Division I offers, and the itinerary of visits, official and unofficial, have included Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame.
Pacific-time-zone schools were eliminated right away. Schools with big campuses -- most notably Ohio State -- got crossed off the list, too, one by one. And despite coast-to-coast interest, Braden had another request: He didn't want to miss a day of high school, or any other pivotal day on the Olathe South sports calendar. Gourley said recruiting cut into only a session -- two, at most -- of summer lifting, while Smith was away at one of Bama's camps in Tuscaloosa.
"I had a feeling he knew what he didn't want, but he wasn't sure what he wanted," Gourley says. "I know I don't want a Corvette, but I'd love some fast little car that's like a Corvette."
But Gourley is also proud of his prodigy, and justifiably so. The kid has come a long way from a year ago, when Kansas coach Charlie Weis called to talk, and both his parents wanted to make sure there was another adult in the room. Ergo, Gourley hung around and listened via speakerphone.
"And Charlie's just talking and talking and pretty soon he asks him a question," Gourley recalls. "And Braden just nodded his head, 'Yes.'
"And Charlie's waiting for the answer and I go to Braden, 'You have to answer -- you're on the phone.' And he goes, 'Oh, oh, yes.'
"I have tried to deflect some of it from Braden. I've tried. I know he feels a lot of pressure. I will say this: He's at peace right now. He's made his decision, he just hasn't told anybody what it is. He was more at peace than I've seen him in a long time. He showed up (Monday) and he's like a different kid. He didn't have worry lines across his forehead. He looked very comfortable."
The big reveal, such as it was, pretty much went like this:
"Have you made a decision?" Gourley asked.
"Yes," Braden replied.
"Good for you. Hope it works out great."
For now, those cards remain tightly clutched to a chiseled chest. And when they finally hit the table Wednesday, some grown men, you figure, are about to get awfully girly.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
