Royce: Who recruited you in football?

George: I had a chance to go to pretty much any school in the country. So, I really narrowed it down going into my senior year, which was the advice I had from a few people, to get down to the schools you are really interested in, because if not, you’re just gonna get too much mail and too many phone calls from different people that you’re not even thinking about.

But it came down to, I wanted to stay in state and look at the schools here. So, I looked at Georgia, Georgia Tech. Coach Goff was a great recruiter and I got to know him really well. I talked to him all the time. I enjoyed him, and Carl Torbush, the one who recruited me from North Carolina, was also really nice, and I still talk to him – he's the head coach now for UNC. I played baseball in Durham last year and he came out and watched me play. I took an official visit to the University of North Carolina and an unofficial visit. I liked it there.

And then, of course, I really enjoyed Notre Dame. I went twice to Notre Dame and got to meet Lou Holtz. He came over to my house. And then Florida State with Bobby Bowden and then Florida and then officials with Tennessee. So, those are pretty much the seven schools. It was neat though when Bowden came over to the house.

Well, first, Lou Holtz came to my school and it was during the middle of exams. So, I got a note during my exam that you’re wanted in the guidance counselor’s office as soon as the test was over. So, I went down right after the test and met them. They had everyone take a picture with them and both coaches said the same thing – that they don’t like doing these picture things before because it tends to be the last time ever.

I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. Going to different schools, getting treated like a king.

My official visit to Notre Dame was Notre Dame vs. USC, and I had no idea how big a rivalry that was. The tickets were going for something like $1000 in the end zone for this game. They had more people outside the stadium than inside. This game was unbelievable. And they had, like, Spike Lee was there, Roger Clemens I ran into there.

I met O.J. Simpson there. He was a commentator for NBC and I talked to him for a little while. He teased me about wanting to come up there – because it was so cold – and play. I still have my ticket stub that says, "To George, peace to you, O.J. Simpson."

Royce: So, what’s it like to be treated like a king, besides meeting the celebrities? Did you see Spike Lee’s movie about basketball recruiting?

George: No, I haven’t. I wanted to go see that. I haven’t been to the movies in a long time.

But, you have hostesses, you know. They take you around, show you the school. The hostesses are always good-looking. They’ll know everyone, all the places to go out at night to enjoy yourself and meet the rest of the guys. And you usually go out and hit a few bars with the players. And they just show you what the college life is like at that school.

I tell you what, when I was there, I never saw any illegal recruiting. I don’t think they’ll ever stop illegal recruiting because it’s not the coaches, it’s the alumni and you can’t do anything about them.

Royce: There was no hint of, "This is what you’ll have if you come to Notre Dame?"

George: No, everyone there, all you heard was, "You’ll definitely be taken care of." So, that’s about as far as it got with anything. I’ve heard of all the stories and getting cars and stuff like that.

Royce: And you assume that might be implied, but you didn’t ask.