The Hidden Truth About College Football 'Offers:' What Recruits Don’t Know Is Hurting Them

A former Power 4 coach and NFL scout explains the real meaning behind non-committable offers — and why the graphic a player posts rarely matches what’s said inside the football building.

Hats for Georgia, Kentucky, Clemson, and Ohio State sit on the table during his signing at Evans High School on Friday, April, 5, 2024. Short committed to play football at the University of Georgia. / Katie Goodale / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Viral Tweet vs. the Quiet Truth

On a random Tuesday in December, a high school junior taps “post” on his phone and watches the retweets flood in.

“Blessed to receive an offer from ____ University.” There’s a graphic. A logo. A celebration in the comments. What nobody sees is what was said inside the football building that same morning: “We like him. But we’re not ready to take his commitment yet.”

That sentence — spoken quietly behind staff-room doors — is the real story of modern recruiting. And it’s one most families never hear until it’s too late. Because here’s the truth: schools rarely — almost never — tell a recruit that an offer is non-committable. And most players or families never think to ask. The silence that follows creates confusion, the confusion creates heartbreak, and the public has no idea it’s happening.

The Misunderstood World of the Non-committable Offer

This is the world of the non-committable offer — the scholarship you can’t actually accept. It’s one of the most misunderstood pieces of college football, and it affects every high school recruit from the five-star phenom to the overlooked two-way player at a small public school. I’ve been the nationally ranked three-star high school quarterback, the coach at Power Four programs like Virginia Tech, Miami, and Virginia, and the NFL scout sitting in draft rooms with evaluators such as Sean Payton and Mike Tomlin. I’ve evaluated players at every level — from local high school fields to NFL draft boards. And I can tell you confidently: the term “offer” doesn’t mean what people think it means anymore.

Why Colleges Give Offers They Don’t Intend to Accept

Families see a graphic. Coaches see a placeholder. A non-committable offer is one of recruiting’s open secrets. It’s real enough to tweet, real enough to excite a family, real enough to attract interest from other schools — but inside the program, it’s not real enough to accept. And here’s the part the public never hears: no school will ever call a parent and say, “Just so you know, you can’t commit to this yet.” That conversation doesn’t exist.

Colleges extend offers knowing the family will celebrate, knowing the family won’t push back, and knowing the family won’t ask the most important question in recruiting: “Is this offer committable today?” Most don’t ask because they don’t know they can, or they don’t want to ruin the moment, or they assume every offer is equal. It isn’t.

Sometimes the reason for an offer isn’t even about evaluation — it’s about access. I once heard a head coach turn to his recruiting coordinator and ask, “Do we have to offer this kid just to recruit this kid?” What he meant was simple: the prospect already had several individual offers and wasn’t entertaining any program that hadn’t joined the list. He wasn’t coming to camp. He didn’t feel he needed another evaluation. The offers were stacking up, and in his mind, that was the validation. So the staff faced a choice: offer him to stay in the race… or lose him before the relationship even began.

It’s a moment fans never see — and a window into how far the word “offer” has drifted from its original meaning.

Defensive back Caleb Moreland, left, tries for a pass intended for wide receiver Marcus Galloway during 7-on-7 drills. Cardinal Mooney High football players participate in the school's summer strength and conditioning camp Monday, July 22, 2024. The Cougars won the FHSAA Class 1S state championship last year, defeating Trinity Catholic. / Mike Lang / Sarasota Herald-Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK

How Camps, Combines, and Social Media Changed the Game

There’s another layer the public doesn’t understand. When colleges travel to major camps, mega-combines, or satellite events, many staffs throw out offers knowing exactly what will happen next: the posts, the graphics, the retweets, the excitement. A handful of quick offers sends their logo flying across social media timelines nationwide. It grabs the attention of recruits they truly want. It builds perception. It creates buzz.

In 2025 and beyond, some programs treat offers like digital billboards. The more they hand out, the louder their brand becomes. These offers spark momentum, generate clicks, and create the illusion that the staff is “hot” on the recruiting trail. They’re not always tied to roster math or real evaluation. They’re tied to marketing. For the athlete, it feels like the biggest moment of their life. For the staff, it’s a strategy.

There’s also what coaches quietly call a “trigger offer.” These happen when a rival program or a staff a coach respects offers a player first. Inside the building, it sparks a reaction: “They must know something we don’t.” So instead of risking falling behind, a staff will fire off an offer immediately — before they’ve done full homework, before they’ve talked through the roster fit, and sometimes before they’ve watched more than a few clips of film. The research often comes after the offer goes out. Only then does the staff decide how seriously they want to recruit the player. It’s reactive, not evaluative — but it’s another reason offers don’t always mean what families believe they mean.

Inside the Real Recruiting Board: Greenlight, Yellowlight, Redlight

Inside every college building, there’s a recruiting board that tells the real story. Staffs don’t just identify one recruit for each scholarship — they build a stack. For a single spot, a staff might offer eight, nine, even 10 players, knowing only one will ultimately fit the roster and timeline. But the public never sees that part. Behind closed doors, those players are ranked from top to bottom. The first two or three options are usually “takes.” Anyone ranked past the third or fourth slot is often viewed internally as a redlight recruit — a player the staff has offered but has no intention of taking unless something unexpected happens.

These categories tell the truth the graphic won’t. Some players are greenlit, meaning if they tried to commit today, the staff would accept immediately. Others sit in the yellowlight category — the limbo space where a school likes a player but needs more film, camp evaluation, or clarity on their board before taking a commitment. And then there are the redlight recruits — the ones who technically have an offer but aren’t part of the school’s real plan. They exist publicly but not internally.

Yet none of these labels are ever shared with families. The schools know. The coaching staffs know. But the kid posting the graphic doesn’t. And the family celebrating in the living room doesn’t. They have no idea that the offer they’re celebrating may not be one they can actually say yes to — or that they might be option No. 8 on a list of ten.

How Players and Parents Get Hurt

This disconnect is why families get hurt. Every year, there’s a player who believes he’s committed off a non-committable offer. The family shuts down their search. The kid stops pushing for other opportunities. And then December comes, or a portal window opens, or a higher-ranked player commits — and the school quietly backs away.

Sometimes they pull the offer, but usually they just stop calling. A kid believes he “had 12 offers.” In reality, only one or two were ever committable. Families are celebrating marketing tools, not commitments, and schools are counting on the fact that nobody will ask the hard question.

The Signs an Offer Is Real or Not

College staffs will never say “this isn’t committable,” but their actions tell the story. If a staff is calling weekly, pushing for an unofficial or official visit, asking for transcripts, getting the head coach involved, or discussing timelines, the offer is real. If the staff goes quiet after the graphic drops, tells the recruit to “stay patient,” asks him to camp for a better look, offers multiple kids at the same position on the same day, or never brings up academics, the offer isn’t one he can commit to. But the biggest sign of all is simple: if the player has never asked whether he could commit today, he doesn’t actually know where he stands.

Why Non-committable Offers Still Matter

And yet, noncommittable offers still matter in the modern recruiting landscape. They create momentum, draw eyes from other staffs, validate film, and open doors. In a world dominated by the transfer portal — where college coaches save scholarships for older, proven players — exposure and relationships matter more than ever. But families must understand the difference between an offer you can tweet and an offer you can accept.

The Real Problem: Clarity, Not Recruiting

College football doesn’t have an “offer problem.” It has a clarity problem. The word “offer” has become inflated, watered down, and misunderstood. Some are real. Some are placeholders. Some are PR. Some are leverage. But the things that truly get a player recruited haven’t changed: his film, his traits, his character, his competitiveness, and his ability to solve problems at full speed. Those are real. Those are committable everywhere. Those will never get pulled. The noncommittable offer is the hidden currency of modern recruiting — a currency families must learn how to read. Because in the end, the offer isn’t the goal. The opportunity is.