Leggett Legacy : The Game’s the Same, but Brad’s 48-Hour Recruiting Trips Are a New One on Earl

W ith his Southern accent, occasional use of down-home jargon and a substantial paunch, Earl Leggett, former Louisiana State University All-American and 12-year National Football League veteran, looks and sounds like one of the good ol’ boys.

And Leggett was recruited to play football out of Mississippi’s Hinds Junior College back in the good ol’ days.

That was 1956, when a player didn’t have to worry about how many times a recruiter came by the house, or how many days he spent on a trip, or who paid for soft drinks over at The Grill. “There’s too many damn rules today,” said Leggett, a defensive line coach with the Raiders. “Everything you do, you have to run through your mind, ‘Is this illegal?’ I would not want to coach college today. They make it too tough to recruit a kid.”

Earl Leggett, 50, wasn’t subjected to many of the rules that governed the recent recruitment of his son, Brad. The younger Leggett, an offensive lineman at Fountain Valley High School, has committed to USC.

Brad and other players today can take only five official recruiting trips, each lasting no more than 48 hours. Before national letter of intent day, schools are limited to three in-person (outside of campus) contacts with a player.

A recruiter can meet with a player off campus, but if he purchases even a drink for the recruit, it is in violation of NCAA regulations. Those are just a few of the bylaws, which fill 14 pages of the NCAA handbook, but weren’t around when Earl Leggett played.

“Back then, you could do almost anything you wanted as far as entertaining went,” Earl Leggett said. “You could take a kid or his family out and buy them dinner. There was no limit on the number of trips you could take or the length of your trip.”

Earl believes there wasn’t as much pressure on players then as there is today. Brad had to squeeze in tours, film sessions, meetings with coaches and meals into 48 hours during his trips to USC, LSU and Brigham Young. Earl’s experience was a lot more relaxing.

The elder Leggett made trips to Mississippi State, Mississippi Southern, Auburn and LSU, but his favorite was to LSU. He and a few buddies drove down to Baton Rouge on a Thursday and stayed until Sunday.

“When I got there, they turned us over to a few players and we hardly saw the coaches again until we were ready to leave,” he said. “It was really a relaxed atmosphere, because they could see you anytime they wanted to. The next week, when you got back to school, they could come by and spend a whole week with you. They can’t do that now.”

Leggett was asked to expand on his trip, but before he could reply, Brad asked him: “Do you want me to leave the room?”

Said Earl: “We did nothing unusual for a bunch of young men. A few players took us out to a couple of joints, and we had a good time. I don’t want to hear him (Brad) say that he went out to a couple of joints.”

This is where the recruiting similarities begin. Even though Brad felt a little rushed on his trips, there was always room for fun.

Just look at his itinerary for his weekend at LSU in early February. The days were packed with football-related commitments, but the 9 p.m. slot for both Friday and Saturday simply stated, “Out with Players.”

Brad wouldn’t elaborate too much on that part of the trip, but did say: “Some players took me around and introduced me to other players. I was treated first-class. The trips weren’t too tiring. They were still fun.”

Said Earl: “I don’t think he was quite as wild as his daddy. My trips were all fun.”

Before Brad ventured into the recruiting process, he met with Fountain Valley Coach Mike Milner and made a list of about 25 priorities for his school selection. Among the items were location, coaches, tutoring, prospects for summer jobs, offensive line tradition, bowl picture and television exposure.

Earl’s top priority was playing.

“I wanted to get out of college and be a professional,” said Earl, who played nine years with the Chicago Bears, two with the Rams and one with the New Orleans Saints. “There was no doubt in my mind I was going to be a pro player. Back in those days, I had all the confidence in the world.”

It took Brad several weeks to make his decision to attend USC, but Earl made his choice to go to LSU in a few seconds. Not only did Leggett fall in love with Cajun food on his trip to Baton Rouge, he fell in love with the Cajun fans.

“We went to the LSU-Tulane game, the stadium was packed, and those Cajuns were going crazy,” he said. “I went down on the field and walked through the goal posts and, at that point in time, I knew there was only one place for me to play football--at LSU.”