AJ Brown shares details of his recruitment, including signing day eve bribery attempt and Dan Mullen's lack of effort on the trail
Is college football recruiting really be as scandalous as some make it out to be? It depends on who you ask but according to Tennessee Titans star receiver AJ Brown, his college recruitment was pretty wild.
Rated as the No. 36 overall prospect in the country and the No. 4 receiver in the 2016 recruiting cycle, Brown was asked to share some details of his college recruitment during a recent appearance on the Barstool Sports “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast.
The most interesting recruiting story Brown was willing to share on the show occurred just before National Signing Day. When asked if schools tried to buy his services, Brown said a bag of money was delivered to his doorstep on the night before signing day that he had to turn away.
Here’s what Brown said when asked if schools really try to bribe elite prospects on the recruiting trail.
“Oh, it’s definitely true, definitely true,” Brown responded. “The night before signing day, I got a knock on the door, bag full of money in the front. Swear to God. They kinda tried to leave and we like, ‘Nah, we good, bro. We don’t need this.’ I swear.”
As most Mississippi State fans are well aware, the Starkville native turned down the option to stay local and play for Dan Mullen’s Bulldog program. So why didn’t Brown go to Mississippi State?
“It was kinda too close (to home) and the coach didn’t really recruit me,” Brown said. “He just expected I was going to come.”
Florida fans can relate to that comment.
So you may think Ole Miss was Brown’s dream school growing up but that wasn’t the case. The star receiver always envisioned himself playing at a different SEC West program.
“Nah, I was LSU growing up,” Brown shared.
So why didn’t he play his college football in Baton Rouge?
“They didn’t really pursue, they just offered me,” Brown added.
No wonder Les Miles is out at LSU. It’s hard to believe Ed Orgeron would allow that to happen.
During the interview, Brown shared one final interesting recruiting nugget.
“I was about to go to Alabama,” Brown said without further explanation.
It’s fair to wonder why Brown didn’t play for Nick Saban but when asked during the interview how much Ole Miss paid him to play in Oxford, Brown just laughed that question off without offering any other response.
Saban probably doesn’t find that very funny.
Most of us have suspected this all along. The only people who deny it are the fans of the big programs. Every 5 star, and many 4 star recruits receive a bribe for their commitment.
I’m wondering when Clemson is going to get exposed. They came out of nowhere and suddenly started getting top classes and national titles every year. Dabo ain’t that special.
Of course it happens everywhere. But only a few actually get investigated. The NCAA is a huge joke.
I’m just amazed that so many former players remain silent about it. There must be serious NDAs they sign.
NDA’s? You can’t be serious.
TigerTD…agreed. clempson seems sort of like Ole Miss after Hugh Freeze arrived & man they got the great recruits every year. And clempson is located out in the boonies…no real nightlife there for these athletes to enjoy. *That nightlife comment was for the pre-virus era.
Guy I work with is big FSU fan. He says the same thing. He keeps wondering who there guy is that delivers all the money to the Clemson recruits because he is really good at keeping it low key. It’s a joke, but maybe there is something to it, but probably all schools have done this.
Clemson didn’t come out of nowhere and they didn’t start getting top classes until they were already winning. Nothing close to the Ole Miss situation.
Remember when Laremy Tunsil admitted to taking money from Ole Miss and NOTHING HAPPENED?
What Florida fans can relate to with this story is the constant negativity our coach and program get on this site. What this guy said qualifies as gospel worthy of the headline “Mullen’s lack of effort on the trail”, OK bro if you say so it must be like that. Hey at least we were not the ones delivering the bag, wonder who that was
As I Bulldog I will say Mullen made us a better program. There are a lot of things I respect about him as a coach so I dont say this to knock the guy or as some sort of sour grapes thing… but I heard repeatedly from players and alumni alike that Dan was one of the laziest recruiters college football. He generally seemed to dislike it so he didnt put the effort in it and Browns comments seem to confirm this once again. He’s a solid coach on the field and knows how to take a decent athlete and play to his strengths and make him great. But I dont think anyone is trying to be negative about the Gators. There is a good chance that was just a fact.
Right. I get AJ not wanting to be too close to home, and I respect that but there was no excuse for Mullen to not go all in for him. Him being rated that high and losing him to MSU’s biggest rival was inexcusable. Any other coach, whether they got him or not, would’ve at least attempt to recruit the guy to come to the hometown team but Mullen seemed like he didn’t even care.
It pretty much jives with what hear of Mullen at Florida, low effort/emphasis in recruiting compared to other powerhouses.
Time will tell but I think he doing a decent job. And if he can get by without having to put a lot of effort into recruiting and still have a top ten team, then more power to him. Can’t stand him but facts are facts. So far he’s done a good job.
As I recall, Spurrier wasn’t terribly interested in recruiting either.
That’s why CDM is stocking the stable with solid recruiters and consulting coaches. CDM’s philosophy is coaching up the kids. I agree he needs to start recruiting personally harder. However, to take Mac’s sharkhumpers and have a 10 win season back to back gives him latitude. I think our recruiting is coming along nicely and we will have a continuing top 3-5 class moving forward. The possibilities are sky high if CDM has top 5 classes for a couple of years. He certainly has the coaching talent in place already. Only downside is NFL poaching our coaches which is likely.
Realco I’d bet the house it was Hugh Freeze
Les is……less.
Fletcher Cox
Chris Jones
Dak Prescott
Bernardrick McKinney
Montez Sweat
Darius Slay
Kylin Hill
Fred Ross
Chad Bumphis
The list of good to great prospects signed by Mullen is pretty long, and includes other besides just these. To a place like Starkville, that’s pretty good recruiting.
I believe he got offered a bag of cash. I don’t believe he turned it down. Him not answering if got paid by Ole Miss is the answer.