The Teens Who Know College Football Recruiting's Biggest Secrets

With one uploaded video, tweet, meme or whatever else social media has to offer, a regular athlete can become a spectacle on any computer screen, smartphone or tablet.

Photo edits have become a pedestal of sorts in showing whether or not a rising star has made it. Not every athlete gets one, and although some wouldn't admit it, most athletes want to see someone take time out of their schedule to creative a commemorative opportunity.

For Hayes Fawcett, Clay Williams and Justin Wieber—three high school student-athletes who have a gift for creating magic via graphic design—photo edits have been a way to not only pay homage to the world of college football and football recruiting but also build relationships of some of the country's college athletes of the future.

It's also been a way for typical teenagers to become the recruiting insiders that even the best in the business can't touch. In order for edits to be made—particularly the ones featuring top school lists or a commitment choice—the graphic artists must earn the trust of the recruits.

For Fawcett, Williams and Wieber, consider it done. They have the scoop.

"We know a lot," Fawcett said, "but we won't say a word."

Often, the edits will tell the story. Whether they're done using computer software or with smartphone applications, the end result for all three artists tends to draw a crowd within the social media community.

And what's notable with the three artists: All of them work voluntarily. They don't charge for their services.

"We do it because it's fun," Wieber said.

It just so happens that they have also become instant recruiting gurus, as well. Gurus who know how to keep a poker face and a quiet tongue.

"

Edit for @JabrillPeppers #GoBlue #Breezy pic.twitter.com/5IraPRYBHk

— Clay Williams (@Claywill3_) September 13, 2015"

Meet Clay Williams

(Preferred editing tool: Smartphone apps)

As a 15-year-old sophomore, Clay Williams plays basketball and soccer and also runs track for Liberty Christian Academy in Pataskala, Ohio. The campus is less than a half-hour drive from the Ohio State University campus in Columbus.

Which explains why he's a big Michigan fan, right?

Right?

"I'm a Michigan fan," Williams said, "but I'll do edits for whoever."

Check his Twitter account and notice some of the best edits made for players either committed to, considering or attending Michigan. He has more than 1,200 followers, among them Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, LSU coach Les Miles and Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.

The first edit he did was for 4-star wide receiver Desmond Fitzpatrick, a Michigan target who committed to Louisville on Halloween last year. From there, Williams' popularity skyrocketed. There was a time where edits kept him super busy in the summer.

"[Fitzpatrick] originally set it up as one of his wallpapers," Williams said. "He said thanks, and he really appreciated it.

"After that, it you do it for one player, teammates will see it. Then, they'll follow you and ask for one. Now that school's back in, I probably do four or five a day. This past summer, I was doing anywhere from 10 to 15 a day."

Michigan's Ty Isaac, Jabrill Peppers and Jourdan Lewis are three college players who were the subjects of Williams' latest edits. A number of 2016 players also have edits courtesy of Williams, including Fitzpatrick, 4-star wide receiver Donnie Corley, 4-star linebacker Dontavious Jackson and 3-star safety Jaylen Kelly-Powell. 

Williams' father, Greg, said the graphic design talent goes far beyond what he does for athletes. Greg said he has two sons, and while Clay showcases his skills using graphic design, his brother is a very good drawer.

"They wanted to put new a logo in the basketball gym at his school. It was a contest, and Clay entered his picture of a Liberty Eagle," Greg Williams said. "He designed the logo, and he won. He's been doing this for a while, but he's just one of those types who don't like getting a lot of credit. We almost had to force him to enter into that contest."

Along with producing edits, Williams builds relationships with athletes to where he'll know inside information on them before anyone else. When an athlete announces a top five or top 10 using a graphic, there's a good chance Williams knew about it days before the public.

"I'll never tell, though," he said. "People will find out when the players put it on Instagram or Twitter."

Courtesy: The Williams family/@Claywill3_

And even though Williams is a diehard Michigan fan, it doesn't mean other programs are left out—school rivals included. He's made an edit for 5-star defensive end Nick Bosa, who is committed to Ohio State.

For Williams, making edits isn't about competition. It's all about honing a craft and showing his passion for a pastime he loves.

"He's pretty modest about everything," Greg Williams said, "and I like that about him."

Meet Hayes Fawcett

(Preferred editing tool: Smartphone apps)

Many 14-year-olds are focused on playing sports or video games.

Hayes Fawcett loves the game of football, as he's a quarterback for Kinder Middle School in Kinder, Louisiana, but the eighth-grader has a noticeable passion for graphic design.

Fawcett said a picture of one of basketball's greatest players helped to pique his interest.

"One day, I was scrolling down Instagram and saw this cool picture of LeBron James edited," Fawcett said. "I started asking some guys about some different apps, and I started playing around with them. It took a few weeks, but I finally got it."

Fawcett speculates he's done roughly 300 edits. One of those was an edit of New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., whom Fawcett said posted it on his own Instagram and then sent a personal shout-out.

"That's when I knew this could be something special," Fawcett said.

Courtesy: The Fawcett family/@Hayesfawcett3

Fawcett's father, Brett, has watched his son turn a simple hobby into something he could ultimately turn into a career. It helps, Brett said, that Hayes is a "big sports guy" who plays the game with the objective of following the footsteps of the athletes he produces edits for.

"He's been doing this for a couple years now, and as soon as he got his smartphone, he hasn't stopped," Brett said. "He found some apps and started toying around with it them in his extra time. Now he's getting all kinds of positive feedback. This pretty much fits his interest."

Fawcett has found his niche with producing edits for college football players and recruits. His first was LSU's Derrius Guice. Since then, he's done edits for multiple 2016 athletes, including 4-star athlete Devin White, Oregon receiver commit Dillon Mitchell and Florida State 5-star cornerback Levonta Taylor.

As a quarterback, of course Fawcett has done edits for the some of the top signal-callers in the class including Ole Miss pledge Shea Patterson, Maryland-bound Dwayne Haskins and Michigan State commit Messiah deWeaver.

With edits comes knowledge. In addition to doing edits for players, Fawcett said he's been able to get advice from quarterbacks on how to improve his game at Kinder.

"Shea Patterson and Dwayne Haskins are two of my favorites," Fawcett said. "I talk to them a lot. They really have helped me."

Fawcett, who prefers using smartphone apps over computer software to build edits, was responsible for helping to break the news about 3-star athlete Donovan Duvernay, who committed to Baylor on Monday. Although Fawcett didn't deliver the scoop, he was the one who made Duvernay's graphic that went along with the player's tweet to the masses.

"

Blessed to say that I will be furthering my education and football career at Baylor University #SicEm pic.twitter.com/tZCobKs9pu

— Donovan Duvernay (@DDuvernay28) September 22, 2015"

Fawcett, like Williams, said he gets a lot of inside recruiting information from athletes looking for edits. He added that he gets tons of questions from members of the media asking for recruiting news.

"I had one guy who begged me to, but I wouldn't spill the beans," Fawcett said. "I think it's pretty awesome. I'm only a 14-year-old kid. Knowing that grown-ups with jobs are coming to me to find things out, it's pretty cool."

Fawcett said he's made roughly 20 commitment edits and roughly top 20 edits for athletes that feature a top five or top 10. This summer, when athletes participated at The Opening, he was key in producing edits for several of the athletes who made the trip to Oregon.

One of those to receive multiple Fawcett edits is Jackson, who is aware of Fawcett teaming up with Clay Williams on a few projects. One of Jackson's favorite edits is his top-12 announcement.

"

'Top 12' Shout Out to @Hayesfawcett3 & @Claywill3_ for the edits.. Thankful. pic.twitter.com/lezC16aHoS

— Dontavious Jackson (@DCinco__5) July 24, 2015"

"The way they formulated it really made the picture pop," Jackson said. "First off, I respect them for keeping up with us. They don't have to do that—and they do it for free. What they do is good, not only for themselves but for everyone. It's humbling, especially when you don't ask them to do it. It's really flattering."

"He's gotten a ton of referrals all the way from the high school level to the pro level," Brett Fawcett added. "It's really been amazing to see what he can do on a smartphone."

Meet Justin Wieber

(Preferred editing tool: Computer software)

When he's not playing offensive lineman and linebacker at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose, California, Justin Wieber is one of the biggest Michigan State fans west of the Great Lakes.

Never mind the fact he was born and raised in California.

"I'm a long-distance fan," Wieber joked. "My parents are both grads from there, and my dad's raised me to watch them for as long as I can remember. We try to make it out to as many sports events as we can."

Wieber, a 15-year-old sophomore, shows his appreciation for Spartan nation with his edits, created with various computer software. Using everything from Topaz Labs to Adobe Photoshop and, on occasion, Adobe Illustrator, he has created masterpieces under his Spartan Designs Twitter and Instagram accounts for both football and basketball players.

Branching out has helped his popularity. Wieber, who has more than 2,000 Twitter followers with the Spartan Designs account, has followers including current Michigan State starting quarterback Connor Cook and former Spartans point guard Mateen Cleaves.

"Since I hopped on Twitter and reached out to a few guys, I've probably done about 600 or 700 edits," Wieber said. "During the summer, I'd be able to put out about four or five a day. Some days, I could even get up to 10. Now that I'm back in school, I may do one or two a day."

David Wieber, Justin's father, said the family has been in California for roughly 20 years, but with the family including Spartans alumni, it's easy to root for the green and white on Saturdays. Justin had the opportunity to make the trek to East Lansing, Michigan, for the Spartans' big game against Oregon.

It was there when he realized how important his edit contributions were. Justin recognized a lot of recruits in attendance—and vice versa.

"When we got there, Justin was well-known among the recruits," his father said. "It's been cool to see how some of the recruits have reacted to him. Some of the kids actually have asked to have their pictures taken with him."

"It was pretty crazy," Wieber added. "I mean, I'll be watching a lot of these guys playing [college ball] in a couple of years. A couple of them may even end up in the [NFL]. I'm lucky to say that they're a fan of my work. It was very impressive being there; I'm still speechless."

Among the many 2016 recruits Wieber has made edits for are 5-star receiver Nate Craig-Myers and current Michigan State receiver commit Cam Chambers. In fact, Chambers was one of the athletes Wieber met at the Oregon game. One of his latest basketball recruiting edits includes 5-star forward Miles Bridges, who has Michigan State, Kentucky and Indiana as his top three schools.

Wieber said he first took interest in edits on Instagram during the sixth or seventh grade. Since then, he's worked with software to hone his skills and said he'd like to one day "be as good as designers working for universities." He said working with software is a little more difficult than creating edits using a smartphone app, but he's up for the challenge.

And the hard work has paid off. David said his son's work was recognized by Adobe, as he was interviewed for Adobe's blog not long ago.

"They wanted to see how I've impacted the world of recruiting and what I do to help promote the brand at Michigan State," Wieber said. "They said [the blog] put up groundbreaking numbers the first couple of days."

To which his father responded: "It was about 40,000 hits the first couple of days."

Justin said he's uncertain if graphic design is something he wants to pursue when he gets to college. If he doesn't, he'll have one notch in his belt that he'll hold for a long time. It involved an edit of Cook that he considers his all-time favorite.

"It was in black and white, but it showed him in a Spartan Pro Combat uniform in color," he said. "His parents reached out to me to see if they could buy it. I gave it to them for free."

Creating memories

Jackson said he still remembers his first edit. It came during his sophomore year, and it involved him with an Oklahoma State theme.

Edit artists such as Williams and Fawcett aren't just creating pictures for these recruits. They're building memories.

"I'll never forget any of them," Jackson said. "I still have some of them in my old phone. It makes you feel good knowing they're taking time out of their day to do it."

Fawcett said he has people telling him all the time that his future is in graphic design. Williams and Wieber concurred but said they're unsure what they want to do when they become adults.

For now, edits are a passion. And that passion is putting smiles on the faces of college football's future.

And it's all being done for free. For now, that's good enough for them.

"It's a hobby for me," Fawcett said. "I do it because I love it."

"Some schools have an actual person who do it for them," Williams added. "I just wanted to do it because it's fun. I've been able to meet some good people through it, too."

It's still impressive that three of the nation's most well-known edit artists aren't old enough to drive, vote or technically enter an R-rated movie by themselves. Don't be surprised, however, if these young artists get paid to one day do what they love in a full-time capacity.

"I've taken a graphic design course at my school and learned some basics there," Wieber said. "There's definitely a larger margin of things you can do with this. There are millions of possibilities."

For now, they'll settle with how things currently are. They're Internet sensations for the college football world. They're humanitarians for doing everything for no charge. And in a sense, they're just as important to the recruits as the recruits are to them.

It also doesn't hurt being the keepers of important information with recruiting targets who trust them.

Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand. All player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings. Follow Damon via Twitter: @DamonSayles