Davonte Neal No-Show: Should Coaches Be Concerned by Parent Tug of War?

In today's grinding and fast-paced world of college football recruiting, we closely follow every move that a 17-18-year-old high school football player makes. But the alarming trait of that is, we forget these are just 17-18-year-old teenagers.

Today, Davonte Neal was supposed to make his long awaited and highly anticipated college announcement. Notre Dame, Arkansas, Arizona and North Carolina were all eagerly awaiting word on if they had landed the 5'9", 175-pound 4-star R/CB prospect from Arizona.

We all woke up this morning with the intent on watching Neal sign with a school, but instead were treated to watching an elementary cafeteria full of elementary school kids and the sounds of xylophones and bells.

Neal did not show up to his press conference, as apparently, he and his family are still battling over his decision. Scout.com reported this morning that Neal had made his choice a few days ago.

Yet, an alarming and trending occurrence in college football recruiting has taken place in Neal's recruitment: the parental tug-of-war.

Earlier this decade, I had a chance to play against Whitney Lewis, who was one of the best WRs and overall players to ever play in California. Lewis was a 6'1", 215-pound WR with 4.3 speed and NFL ability as a high schooler for St. Bonaventure in Ventura, Calif.

He was regarded as a 5-star prospect, the best WR in the nation and if not the best player, then top three overall. It was no secret Lewis wanted to attend Florida State, where his good pal Lorenzo Booker had signed the year before.

But on National Signing Day, Lewis' and his parents battled over his preference to sign with the Noles vs. their preference for him to stay home and go to USC. In the end, the parents won out and Lewis signed with USC, but pouted during his whole career, transferred and was a bust.

For Davonte Neal, who is down to Notre Dame and Arizona, two coaches are affected by this: Brian Kelly and Rich Rodriguez. They say the key element in recruiting a player is to actually recruit their parent/guardian/main decision maker.

With the Irish being the reported preference of Luke Neal, Davonte's father, it seems as if Kelly did this the right way.

However, my question to that is: is it not the player's choice? Should parents really have much say so in their child's college decision?

We all watched Landon Collins choose Alabama on national TV, much to the despise of his mother, as she desperately wanted her son to attend LSU. Collins felt that Alabama was the best fit for him, knew his mother did not want him in Tuscaloosa and still signed with the Crimson Tide anyways.

Even Josh Harvey-Clemons felt some heat from his grandfather about choosing Georgia, as Harvey-Clemons' family felt Florida was the best school for him. Yet, in the end, Georgia received a faxed letter of intent with Josh Harvey-Clemons' name on it.

In conclusion, the tug of war between the recruit and his parents can go either way, and college coaches always have to be concerned because while recruiting a 17-18 year old kid is a wild goose chase as it is, when another variable is included such as a parent's preference, that can only make things crazier.

In the event of a Whitney Lewis, sometimes the parents win. In the event of a Landon Collins, sometimes the recruit wins.

In the event of a Davonte Neal...well, we're still waiting to see who wins this one.