'Caught up in the dream': The exploitative nature of Texas high school football recruiting

Kristi Nielsen's phone began ringing two years ago as her son, Bastrop quarterback Weston Nielsen, entered his sophomore year of high school.

The callers were often strangers who said they noticed her son's talents. They offered him more exposure. Marketing experience. They could help the process along; they just needed some money up front.

"We'll charge you 5%, help with recruiting, marketing and all these things," Kristi said.

Eventually, Weston grew into a four-star college football prospect and one of the highest-regarded quarterbacks in the state on his own merit, leading Bastrop back to the playoffs his junior season, throwing for 3,075 yards and 44 touchdowns last year.

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Although his parents avoided losing any money as Weston committed to Arizona State,Texas High School Coaches Association Executive Director Joe Martin said not all families are as fortunate. He's heard horror stories of high school recruits falling for the traps Kristi avoided. Some sign contracts in perpetuity, forever granting the so-called agent a percentage of their earnings, despite it being illegal for athletes under 17 years old to sign Name Image and Likeness agreements with agents.

Half a dozen sources confirmed to the American-Statesman that these kinds of unsolicited calls and propositions from unverified sports reps are common practice across Texas. Parents, coaches and one official contacted by the Statesman said these so-called agents see the lack of regulation as an opportunity. They reach out to desperate families who want the best for their child, then exploit them for financial gain.

"People are abusing parents and kids who have never done this route before and aren't used to the process," Rouse director of football operations Lexi Brooks said. "They are the ones that are paying for it."

Getting caught up in the dream

The college football recruiting process is cutthroat, and it begins earlier than ever. For Nielsen, attention came his freshman season, when he threw for 451 yards and three touchdowns in his first high school varsity start. He earned a scholarship offer from the Oregon Ducks soon after.

College offers, earned by a select few players nationwide, reflect a recruit's value. They validate a family's perception of their children's talent, and some of these "agents" present a path toward adding to a player's total. But as many high school coaches know, most of these early college offers are non-committable. Although an "offer" signals a program's interest, an actual commitment - verbal or otherwise - cannot take place unless the school confirms it.

"You may have 30 offers, but only eight may be committable," Bastrop coach Jake Griedl said. "Colleges are getting on athletes at a younger and younger age, so that way they have longer and longer opportunities to build relationships to see if these are people that fit the culture."

Griedl, who has developed multiple national-level recruits over the past three years, said his job is to present a prospect profile to colleges and let things go from there. If a program decides that a player with an uncommittable offer isn't the right fit, a high school coach can't do much to convince them otherwise.

Sometimes, that isn't an answer families are willing to accept, especially if it means dropping to the Football Championship Subdivision and Division II/III levels. 

"At times, parents aren't trusting the process that high school coaches are fulfilling for their students," Griedl said. "It's not because they don't trust the coach; it's because they don't know."

Only 3.4% of high schoolers go on to play Division I football, according to a 2024-25 NCAA study - even fewer will compete in a Power Four conference. Parents often want to control their child's recruitment, Brooks said, but they usually don't have much influence over a college's decisions. 

So guardians turn to other methods. An unscrupulous individual, with the right contacts and a conniving tongue, can convince parents the game tape or stats did lie. That they see something in their son that no one else does, and the offers they want are within reach. All for a price, of course.

A highlight reel. A scouting report. Sometimes parents pay for offers, Martin and others said. 

"That's something that's definitely crossed our table," said David Schad, the father of Weiss quarterback Jaxon Schad. "You could pay certain people because they know certain coaches."

According to a THSCA study conducted at the beginning of 2026, 20% of Texas high school football coaches had a player worthy of securing services from an NIL agent. Of that sample, 70% said they had witnessed an athlete being abused or misrepresented by their agent.

"They get caught up in the dream," Martin said. 

The role of an agent in today's game

Representation is important in the modern era of college athletics. It's the role of an agent that has been misconstrued. 

In the traditional sense, agents don't procure offers for a teenager. Instead, they matter later on, when athletes sign college revenue-sharing or NIL contracts. A family could see the bottom-line number on an agreement and sign right away, missing the legal stipulations needed to maximize value.

"There are multiple areas in those contracts where a student-athlete can lose their money," Martin said. "Having someone to guide them that has some experience and knowledge in that sense - it's just so different for a 17-year-old, 18-year-old kid."

Once of age, his mother said, Weston Nielsen signed with Athletes First to avoid awkwardness in financial negotiations. The Nielsens had known the agent for years, and the group is associated with multiple NFL clients.

George Jones, a former NFL running back, now lives in the area. As his son, Westlake freshman running back Cooper Jones, gained recruiting traction in middle school, he reached out to Archie Manning, the grandfather of Texas quarterback Arch Manning, to see what he should do.

They both understand what many high school football coaches in the state tell their players: any so-called agent immediately asking for money is a red flag. But not all families have the education, resources or good connections that Jones and Nielsen had.

These frauds might have legitimate connections. Tim Prukop, a former football coach and co-founder of Eccker Sports Group, said sometimes they are former college athletes, or have contacts to staff members at select universities. 

"These guys say, ‘If you're fine with me for $10K, I'll get you in front of coach (Dabo) Swinney at Clemson,'" Prukop said. "I guarantee you very, very few of them have any sway whatsoever in what Swinney is going to do."

An athlete's success doesn't have to stem from committing to a strong program out of high school. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss began his career at Division II Ferris State. Before Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, he was a no-star high school recruit with two offers: Incarnate Word and Texas Southern. 

These are, of course, incredibly rare paths to a Power Four conference. But it's representative of the underlying truth: if a player is talented, more often than not, they will be found. 

A former NIL agent, talking to the Statesman on condition of anonymity, is familiar with conversations had between agents and lower-tiered prospects. He said the recklessness stems from impatience; an inability to understand that any opportunity is a great one. 

"It sucks if you've devoted your whole life, all 16 years or 17 years of it to this," the former agent said. "You want this so badly. I understand it, but the odds are not in your favor."

Searching for potential solutions

The NFL Players Association has strict requirements for potential agents. They must have an undergraduate and postgraduate degree, or at least seven years of sufficient negotiating experience. Any candidate must attend a two- to three-day seminar, pass a 60-question exam and complete a background check. 

No such system exists at the high school or college level.

"There's no registration. There's no supervision," Martin said. "There's no governance for that group."

The THSCA is exploring avenues to rein in the bad-faith individuals, and an agent registry is at the top of its docket. The system would be similar to the NFL, Martin said. It would require any potential agent to meet certain qualifications and set any potential earnings at a fixed percentage. There'd be a compliance test and certification. 

Martin said the organization also continues to push for straight-line recruiting, which emphasizes Texas high school coaches' role in the scouting process. 

"We've got 13 FBS schools in this state, and the majority of them do a fantastic job," Martin said. "We would love for schools that come into Texas from outside the state and recruit to follow the same thing."

But the FBS level isn't the issue. Brooks said scammers prey on players who lack mainstream attention. Families go wayward when they decide they can't trust the coaches or the people they're referred to. They can't trust that an athlete will be found, or that they'll succeed in life even if they don't end up in college athletics. As unsatisfying as it is, patience might be the best answer.

"Just letting things kind of naturally fall into place," Nielsen said.