Jeff Scott learned at a very early age that recruiting is important, and he still vividly remembers the pirate costume that helped him discover the valuable lesson. As the son of one of the best recruiters in the past 25 years, Clemson's co-offensive coordinator and outgoing recruiting coordinator saw firsthand the impact an ace recruiter like Tim Brewster, Mario Cristobal, Jerry Montgomery, Ed Orgeron can have on a prospect's life and on a program. For Scott, being a great recruiter was something he strived to be even when he was in elementary school. Scott's father, Brad, was an assistant under Bobby Bowden during the prosperous years at Florida State, and the Seminoles had the No. 1 class in the nation on multiple occasions during his time as the recruiting coordinator. Brad Scott's name was like gold in high schools throughout Florida and southeast Georgia, and as a kid Jeff Scott would accompany his father on the road. "Every Friday during the season, my dad would come and pick me up early from school," Jeff Scott said. "I would get to ride to Jacksonville with him and go karootin. I always tell all my teachers and classmates, 'I'm going karootin with my daddy today.' "One time we were going to recruit a top player. His team was the Pirates, so my dad stopped by a gift store and bought me a Halloween costume that was a pirate. So I went out on the sideline and wore this pirate costume. I knew from a very early age, recruiting was very important and that I wanted to be a college football coach." Brad Scott, who is now an assistant athletic director at Clemson, remembers the story a little bit differently, but the message about the importance of being a great recruiter was crystal clear. "I was recruiting Dexter Carter," Brad Scott said of the future first-round draft pick who signed with Florida State after a lengthy national recruiting battle. "We were watching the game, and I noticed they had a souvenir shop next to the concession stand. Of course, Jeff being in second grade said, 'Daddy, I want one of those pirate swords and one of those patches.' I was like 'Yeah, that'd probably not hurt and really impress Dexter. We're going to hang out until after the game, and I'm sure Dexter is going to see us.' We go over there and sure enough we buy him a pirate sword, a patch over his eye and a hat. He's doing what a second-grader would do. He thinks he's watching the game, but he's playing around slicing up the air with that sword and trying to see out of that one eye because he's got that patch. "We got Dexter, and I'd like to think the pirate costume helped play a role in that. I also remember Jeff asking me about why I was writing letters while we were on vacation one time. He said, 'Why are you writing all these letters?' I'd just talk to him about how handwritten letters are always better than typed letters. If I was calling recruits, he'd sit in the room and listen in. He was always interested in strategies and things you were doing. I just thought it was me spending time with my son, and little did I know I was ingraining in him the knowledge of recruiting and it would help him be really good at what he does in his career." After playing receiver at Clemson, Jeff Scott jumped into coaching in the high school ranks to help him get a better understanding of what it was like to be in a high school coach's shoes. Yes, he wanted to coach in college, but Scott felt it was valuable to understand what it was like to cut the grass on the field, do the laundry after the games, tape players' ankles and be responsible for fundraising events that keep a program afloat. Scott hoped all of those things would help him get a better perspective of the lives coaches lead and respect how valuable their time is. He won big right away, helping Blythewood (S.C.) High School win the state championship in its first season of competition. "Having the knowledge of the craziness they have to go through every day -- doing things like dealing with upset parents and working with other faculty members -- gives you a lot of perspective," Scott said. "It's something I think a lot about before I walk into those high schools or call a coach on the phone." Scott spent a year as Presbyterian College's receivers coach before joining his father at Clemson in 2008 as a graduate assistant on Tommy Bowden's staff. When Dabo Swinney replaced Bowden at midseason, Scott was promoted and eventually became the Tigers' recruiting coordinator in 2009. Swinney said Scott's impact was felt right away in Death Valley. Scott began tweeting before Clemson's athletic department had an account and insisted other coaches use smartphones and encouraged use of electronic communication before, as Swinney said, "it was cool to do that type of stuff." Under Scott's guidance, Clemson's recruiting classes have never finished outside of the top 20 and averaged 13th overall in the country. The 2015 class ranks as the fourth best and features ESPN 300 prospects like Ray-Ray McCloud III, Garrett Williams, Noah Green and Deon Cain whom he ran point on. Scott isn't just a great recruiter, though. Scott coached All-American receivers every year from 2011 to 2013, and DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins were first-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013. This season both Artavis Scott and Mike Williams were second-team All-ACC selections. He was also recently promoted to co-offensive coordinator with Tony Elliott. "I love recruiting," said Scott, who is acting as the Tigers' recruiting coordinator until signing day, when he officially takes over his offensive coordinator duties and hands the reins to Brandon Streeter. "It's a blessing to meet a young man, maybe as a ninth- or 10th-grader, then to develop that relationship with him and his family and to be able to see how much it means to have him go to college and to get a degree. As he walks off the stage at graduation or walks off the field for the last time and you give him a hug and think about everything he's accomplished academically and on the field, it's a feeling like nothing else. "It's not just the four years he's been there. You've been a part of almost a quarter of his entire life. That never gets old. For you, it's maybe the 100th time or more that you've recruited a young man and you've been a part of that process, but for that young man it's his first time he's ever been through it. Recruiting is a very rewarding part of the profession, because these young men and their family are getting a great, life-changing opportunity. That never gets old." And Scott can thank his father for making sure recruiting is in his blood. "One thing my dad told me from the very beginning, 'If you're going to make it in the coaching profession at the college level, you better be a great recruiter,'" Scott said. "Good coaches that know X's and O's, those guys are a dime a dozen. Genuine people that are of good character and have good morals that can go out on the road and sit in the living rooms and within an hour have a young man and his family believing in you and your program, those are the people that go far in this business. "But it also doesn't hurt if you're somebody silly enough to run around in a pirate costume, too."
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