When No. 4 outside linebacker Levi Jones travels to Florida State this weekend for his final official visit, he'll spend plenty of one-on-one time with Seminoles' coach Jimbo Fisher, he'll tour Tallahassee to see how it compares to earlier visits to Florida, UCLA and USC and he'll most certainly gain a pound or two from all the food he'll eat.
All those things are key parts of the decision-making process for recruits such as Lewis, but there's another, often overlooked factor that prospects examine every time they step on campus for an official or unofficial visit. That factor is the players already on the team.
"... I'm going to be looking for ways the top school can separate itself from the others," Lewis said earlier this month at the Under Armour Game. "From my earlier visits and talking to other recruits, the easiest way to do that is to talk to as many players as I can while I'm on visits. Coaches are going to give you line after line about how great their school is, but I want to find out for myself if I fit in with the family and if I belong."
Lewis is right. At the Under Armour All-America Game in January, 86 senior recruits were asked what the best part of the official visits they've taken so far were and 47.6 percent said hanging out with the players, well ahead of food (16.2 percent) and interacting with fans (13.9 percent). Visiting with coaches was only listed as the best part of the visit by 11.6 percent of the prospects.
Recruiters know they can have 20 uniform combinations, 10 conference championship rings, a weight room bigger than other some schools stadium and a locker room with waterfalls in it, but if the players already on campus are sending mixed signals about how things really are within the program, they're going to have a tough time landing prospects.
"Players can kill you or they can help you," Tennessee coaching legend Phil Fulmer said. "If you have the right kind of culture going on campus, then they'll work to be salesmen for you. 'How am I going to fit in with my teammates' is maybe the most important factor in a recruit's decision. If that bond is there early with the current players, then everything is much easier."
SMU defensive coordinator Van Malone said players interacting with recruits on visits is the "secret sauce" to a successful recruiting class and has been a huge part of his success with the Mustangs and previous stops at Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Tulsa and Western Michigan.
"Coaches sell the vision, but the players sell the reality," Malone said. "The players tell them, 'This is what is really happening. This is what's really going on.' If you're selling a vision and your players confirm what you're selling, then that's what the recruits love. They want to talk about the sexy stuff, but really, when those players talk to them, that's what gets them hooked."
Penn State coach James Franklin cautions that there's both good and bad when it comes to players interacting with recruits. From his experience, Franklin said he has noticed how current players will often go out of their way to give recruits the unvarnished truth about a school.
If it's boring off campus and there's nowhere to go out, the players will tell them. If the student body really rallies behind the team, win or lose, the players will tell them. If the recruiters sell academics but push players into easier classes, the players will tell them. If a coach plays nice on the recruiting trail but is a different person in the locker room, players are definitely going to tell prospects how it really is.
"If your players are having a good experience, and your recruits get around those players and are comfortable, they're like-minded individuals, and they feel comfortable, it makes your job as a recruiter a lot easier," Franklin said. "Recruits are asking 'Look, what is Coach Franklin really like? Is this just how he is during recruiting?' Your players can give them the truth and say 'No, this is who he is.' I think that's valuable.
"It's funny how much players on your team will go out of their way to tell recruits what it's really like at your school. That's why it's important you have a great relationship and have trust with everybody in your program -- because they can become one of your biggest recruiting tools."
Savvy recruiters also understand players hosting visitors or hanging out with recruits on unofficial visits can give them a behind-the-scenes look at what makes the prospect tick and whether he will be able to handle the pressure of being a student-athlete at a major college football program.
Does the recruit only talk about going out and partying on his visit? Does he ask the right questions about the academic workload, or does he ask about how to get tutors to do all of his work? Does he seem interested and engaged in getting to know the host or any of the other players on the team? Does he have an attitude that would make him a locker room problem instead?
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said those are all questions his staff asks his players after they host recruits on visits and before the school accepts a commitment from a prospect.
"You ask your players if the recruit is the right fit for our program," Narduzzi said. "Recruits are coming on campus to find out about the University of Pittsburgh, but our players also evaluating them to find out if this is the guy who fits into our culture. Are they doing dumb things at night? You go out and all of a sudden you see a guy do something and your players can say 'Whoa, what's he doing. No way this guy fits in here.'
"It's funny how much players on your team will go out of their way to tell recruits what it's really like at your school."Penn State coach James Franklin
"... You trust your players to help be judges of that."
Kansas coach David Beaty said the feedback he gets from his players is a critical part of the process.
"The No. 1 question we ask our hosts after they're done on recruiting weekends is 'Is this a guy we want on our team?'" Beaty said. "You'll be able to tell pretty quickly after talking to your players if he's somebody they want to be teammates with. Players take pride and ownership in their program, and they're not going to steer you down the wrong path if they think a recruit won't be able to make it socially and emotionally."
To ensure recruits such as Lewis have the experience they want on their visits and coaches get the quality feedback they crave from their players, Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said schools will spend months gathering as much information about prospects as possible to find their perfect match for a player host.
"It's a little bit like Match.com," Scott said. "You maybe have a recruit that really likes to talk and ask a lot of questions, and maybe you have a player that really doesn't like talking. That might not work so well. Each recruit is a little bit different, and each player on your team is a little bit different, so the better recruiter you are, the better you know that young man. You know maybe who would be the best player to host.
"That's definitely something we spend a lot of time talking about, because that interaction the players have with recruits is without a doubt one of the biggest parts of the recruiting process. It can be the difference between landing the guy you have to have or seeing him across the sideline on a Saturday in November."