TLN: Nelson football standout kept verbal commitment a low-key affair

When he gave his verbal commitment to Arkansas on June 14, I’m not sure which emotion Byron Nelson offensive tackle Kellen Diesch experienced more.

Excitement? Relief? Gratification? A mixture of those mentioned?

From afar, we view these Division I college football recruits a bit more like royalty than maybe we should. We want to talk to them more than we do anyone else on the roster. But sometimes we forget they’re young men who are still growing up and are going through probably the first major decision in their lives. It will impact their next 30-40 years.

When talking to Diesch at the Nelson spring game in late May, he wasn’t that talkative about the process, which school he was favoring and when he could make a decision. This was a little different than when everything started for him last fall.

He didn’t answer a message I left for him wanting to talk about what this process was like for him now that it was over. I understood why. Diesch appeared to be a young man who just wanted this process to end, and the sooner the better.

To be honest, I felt bad for him. When you have this much attention and pressure coming to you from every corner, it goes from being fun to turning into a chore.

For just about every day in May evaluation period, a school was coming by the Nelson football coaches offices wanting to speak with him. You can be sure that the lines used by those college assistants sounded like a recorded message.

The only downside to Diesch’s decision is that it remains only a non-binding decision. He cannot sign his national letter of intent until Feb. 3. That also means programs can still pursue him unless they have picked up on his hint that he’s really done.

Diesch is in a position that few in high school athletics go through. He’s of a very small percentage of those who will be playing Division I college football. His teammate, defensive end/wide receiver Brandon Bowen, will be joining him whenever he makes his commitment decision.

Now, some recruits are different than Diesch. Some love the attention, don’t mind talking to coaches or reporters or going on social media to release finalist lists to announcing commitment decisions. Diesch used his Twitter account to announce his decision to Arkansas. That was that.

For now, he can enjoy the rest of his summer going through the summer conditioning program and preparing for the upcoming season. A healthy number of recruits are making their decisions before the football season so they can just enjoy the season.

So far, this area only has three who have done that in Diesch, Keller defensive end Houston Miller (Texas Tech) and Colleyville Heritage defensive back Reid Harrison-Ducros (Boise State).

Carroll defensive back Obi Eboh would like to have his decision made before the 2015 season starts. Still others, like Grapevine wide receiver RalphLauren McCauley, who has offers from Texas State and Louisiana-Monroe, are probably hoping a strong season could parlay into a school from a larger conference taking notice and pursuing him. Those situations are different from Diesch’s.

Recruiting is not a pre-packaged arrangement. It rarely goes according to plan. What you hope is that whatever decision these young men make will be one where each carefully evaluated the pros and cons, recognized which coaching staff could get the most out of them and then became a part of the new family.

And even after all that, there’s probably still a little time spent crossing fingers, hoping it works out.

This story was originally published July 6, 2015 at 12:22 PM with the headline "TLN: Nelson football standout kept verbal commitment a low-key affair."