Lemming slows down long enough to describe his journey

High school sports lists are everywhere.

Everybody seems to enjoy ranking high school athletes and teams.

They're something to talk about and argue over.

For better or worse, the Daily Herald is a part of this ranking game.

We rate teams. We rate athletes.

We don't like to do it and quibble among ourselves over the final lists, but we also know it's expected in this business.

For the record, the Herald named 144 young men to our five all-area football teams in 2006. That was our big list.

There were selections made in Cook County, Lake County, DuPage Valley, Fox Valley and the Tri-Cities, all part of our circulation area.

Nobody on this sports staff enjoys the process. We know we're showcasing the chosen few but are concerned about the not-chosen many.

Besides, how qualified are we to make these selections? We don't look at film every week of every high school team we cover.

The Herald staff makes the final all-area decisions but definitely needs help from coaches.

Rating high school athletes is an enormous challenge.

Just ask Tom Lemming.

Lemming, a Barrington resident, is one of the most influential names in the recruiting business. He has been evaluating high school football talent since 1978, tapping into basically uncharted territory in those early days.

For the record, Lemming annually rates the top 1,200 high school football players in the country. He also publishes the popular Prep Football Report that has expanded from eight pages in the early days to 300, two other magazines and five newsletters.

He's constantly on television and radio and quoted in newspapers and on the Internet.

What are we complaining about at the Daily Herald? Our job picking 144 players in the suburban area looks pretty easy compared to following and ranking an entire country.

I did a column for the Herald on Lemming in his early years in the talent business and have followed his career, but I honestly never knew all that went into his rating of high school football players.

Then I read Lemming's interesting new book "Football's Second Season" (Sports Publishing L.L.C., $16.95), written in collaboration with retired Sun-Times sports writer Taylor Bell.

I was exhausted when I finished.

No, the book is not a difficult read. In fact, it's very easy to get through with some fascinating insights into the recruiting process and chapters and advice devoted to athletes, coaches and parents. He also discusses steroids, the media and the most significant moments and people in his travels.

I was exhausted from trying to grasp the enormous commitment a passionate Lemming made in his drive to become a successful national recruiting analyst.

"Football's Second Season" traces his roots growing up on Chicago's South Side and shows how he got to this point in his career. It wasn't easy as a one-man show, and it came with some personal family anguish.

The 51-year-old Lemming sees close to 50 high school games each year, interviews 95 percent of the top 1,000 prospects and watches enough game film to rival even the most dedicated coaches at any level.

In 2005-06, Lemming visited 48 states, drove 55,000 miles and actually met more than 1,200 kids. He usually makes 25 trips per calendar year, and this sets him apart in the talent game.

He went to Chicago, Indianapolis, Tuscaloosa, Atlanta, Columbia, Hampton, Richmond, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, North New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Canton, Akron and Cleveland -- all in six days.

In his book Lemming deals with the good, bad and ugly over 29 years as a talent scout, and he doesn't shy away from writing about the controversies in the journey and dealing with his critics along the way. He receives "favoritism" shots just like we do at this newspaper.

He writes about the biggest discoveries (Randy Moss as a sophomore in West Virginia) and misses (Barry Sanders, Brett Favre) in his evaluations of high school football talent.

The first high school player he interviewed in person was Dan Marino. He also remembers interviewing the No. 1 wide receiver in the Midwest with a definite NFL future, a tall Ohio kid named LeBron James who caught 52 passes for 1,200 yards as a junior.

Lemming may not have been the first national recruiting analyst, but he certainly perfected the role.

"Football's Second Season" offers a fascinating look at an old-school analyst who does things his way.