Between their four-hour flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland and their snowy, two-hour drive in a rental car to Columbus, Ohio, Raesjon Davis and his family made a pit stop at a fast food restaurant to recharge.
It was a far cry from the five-star treatment top-50 college football recruits receive in non-pandemic years: flights and hotels paid for, snacks awaiting their arrival, meals with coaches.
There would be no football staff waiting to show off lavish facilities, nor guided campus tours and academic presentations. This trip, lasting from Friday to Sunday, would allow for only visits to local restaurants and a self-guided tour of campus, all expenses coming out of pocket. The family estimated the trip would cost approximately $2,000.
"It's been stressful, certainly," said Davis' father, Rashad. "I couldn't imagine going through this when I was his age; this is a lot. And I think he's handling it well, juggling the situation, and we're very proud of him, but it has been a journey."
Davis, who decommitted from LSU on Dec. 21, is one of only four top-50 uncommitted recruits after the early signing period. Their experience -- like so many things over the past year -- has been far from ordinary. As the late signing period nears on Feb. 3, these sought-after recruits are balancing the excitement of the special attention with the overwhelming pressure to make the right choice.
Davis, the No. 45-ranked college football recruit in the Class of 2021, wanted to visit Ohio State because the Buckeyes are among his top five schools, along with LSU, Oregon, USC and Vanderbilt. But because the NCAA has enacted a recruiting dead period due to COVID-19 since March, prospects have not been able to take unofficial or official visits.
The lack of visits and the fact there are so few uncommitted prospects remaining have made the decision process all the more difficult for Davis, J.T. Tuimoloau, Avantee Dickerson and Tywone Malone, the three other uncommitted top-50 prospects.
Davis, the No. 6-ranked outside linebacker, had committed to LSU back when Dave Aranda was defensive coordinator, and stuck with his commitment after Aranda took the Baylor head-coaching job and the Tigers hired Bo Pelini. But knowing they wouldn't have a chance to meet and build a relationship with a new coordinator after Pelini's firing, Davis and his family decided there was too much uncertainty and opted to reopen his recruitment. (LSU hired Daronte Jones as defensive coordinator on Jan. 26.)
Over the past month, Davis has been inundated with daily calls, texts and FaceTime or Zoom requests from coaches trying to sway him. Because there are only 12 uncommitted prospects in the ESPN 300 and coaches have mostly filled their recruiting classes, they can spend as much time as they want trying to communicate with remaining targets.
"Like every day, every hour, somebody is texting me trying to talk to me," Davis said. "I don't hate it, because this is what I've always dreamed of, so I'm not angry about it or anything and I thank God for the opportunities. I don't complain about it, but it's a lot and I try to talk to the coaches as much as I can."
The current situation is unique compared to the experience of past recruiting classes, as the NCAA has permitted unlimited texts and phone calls throughout the dead period to make up for the lack of visits. There are no restrictions on the number of times a coach can reach out to a recruit.
Malone, the No. 44-ranked recruit overall, has received the same type of attention, as he has a top six consisting of Florida State, Ole Miss, Rutgers, Tennessee, Texas A&M and USC. A 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle out of New Jersey, Malone has even more coaches trying to get him on the phone, as he's also planning to play baseball in college.
"I get most of my texts in the afternoon, and I have baseball coaches talking to me, too, asking how I'm doing and checking in," Malone said. "Towards the night, that's when I get a lot of calls again and FaceTime calls. But this is a blessing and knowing how important I am to programs is awesome."
Malone had always planned to wait until February to sign, mostly because he didn't feel ready to make such a big decision and wanted to take as much time as possible in the absence of official visits.
Ole Miss is in Malone's top group, and because Lane Kiffin and his staff were hired in December 2019, Malone has never even met with the Rebels coaches in person. A few of the other schools on his list have made assistant coaching changes as well, and he has been trying to build relationships as best he can through Zoom calls and phone conversations.
"Not being able to have in-home visits, too. I've seen my teammates in the past, they would have in-home visits with coaches over to talk," Malone said. "I feel like that was a part we missed out on, but with technology, we have done the most that we can."
Malone has been able to take visits to some of his top schools as well. He and his family drove to Rutgers, and made trips to Florida State and Ole Miss, but missed out on visiting some potential schools because of the cost.
"I was planning to go out to visit USC, but that was a lot of money and too expensive," Malone said. "My parents weren't able to afford that, so it was hard at first, but then my parents talked about it and said we need to see some of these schools that were important to me."
"Like every day, every hour, somebody is texting me trying to talk to me. I don't hate it, because this is what I've always dreamed of ... but it's a lot and I try to talk the coaches as much as I can." Top-50 recruit Raesjon Davis
Though Raesjon Davis had visited some of his top schools as a junior, his parents weren't able to see all of them with him. And because his parents are part of the decision, they, too, feel as though they haven't been able to get a full experience to make the most informed decision on where to send their son for the next four years.
"It's unfortunate he didn't get that opportunity with his family to go visit schools and meet coaches and get a feel for those coaches to make a decision," Rashad Davis said. "So it's much harder now for us to sit and talk about it and make a decision without spending three days at the school. You can't really get anything out of these visits other than visiting a restaurant or going to campus."
Relationships are typically developed in person, and because of the recruiting dead period, the Davises had to trot around snowy Columbus by themselves trying to get a feel for the campus. That was a lot tougher to do with school closed, so the family visited the union building and some local restaurants.
Davis isn't complaining, though he is still undecided about where he will eventually sign. Eventually, he and the other unsigned recruits in this class will make a decision, but not without apprehension.
"There's just a lot of nervousness because you want to make sure that he's making the right decisions, and without having the full experience, you feel like maybe it might fall short," Rashad Davis said. "Sometimes you just have to make the best out of what you have, so I think that's where we're at. It's stressful, but we'll sit down, make a good decision and let him do the rest."