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I'm not often taken aback with college football recruiting stories, but I'll be honest, this one impressed me, even though it didn't quite happen.
It seems that Rick Neuheisel, flush with confidence after the win over Tennessee, has decided that one way to impress recruits is to meet them by landing in a helicopter during their games. No, that's not a joke.
Neuheisel saw UCLA target Shaquelle Evans, a receiver, and his Inglewood team play against Wilson, then took a helicopter from nearby Hawthorne Airport and flew the 60 miles to watch Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Richard Brehaut, a UCLA commit, play Bishop Amat of La Puente and cornerback Sheldon Price, also a Bruins commit.
Now, here's the interesting part about the story. Neuheisel actually wanted to land the helicopter on Rancho Cucamonga's baseball field, which sits right next to the football field. He even told the recruits at Rancho Cucamonga that he'd do this.
I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with FAA flight regulations, but landing a helicopter on a baseball diamond right next to a packed high school football field is not the best of ideas. Shocking, I know.
As you can probably guess, Neuheisel was ultimately told by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department that he couldn't just land a helicopter anywhere that he damn pleased. So they forced him to land instead at Ontario Airport, 8 miles from Rancho Cucamonga.
Either way though, the recruits were impressed.
"That's so awesome that he would take a helicopter to see us play, Sheldon and I," Rancho Cucamonga's Richard Brehaut said. "It just shows how dedicated he is to his recruits, and letting us know he can't wait to get us there. It just makes you feel really cool that your future head coach takes a helicopter to see you play in high school. That's just awesome."
So apparently the key to a high school football recruit's heart is not how many bowl games you've won lately or how much TV coverage you get, it's do you fly a helicopter to watch your recruits play?
By the way, the over/under on UCLA getting nailed with a recruiting violation has to now be what, like four weeks? But hey, looks like Neuheisel might actually have a chance to compete with USC one day if UCLA doesn't receive the NCAA death penalty anytime soon.
Your move, Pete Carroll.
Rick Neuheisel visits recruits...in a helicopter [Gutty Little Bruins]
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