There's nothing like fishing to get good conversation flowing.
I'll never forget the time that my dad told me he wasn't really my.... well, that's a story for another time. LSU coaches Cam Cameron and Frank Wilson appeared on "Paradise Louisiana", a longtime fishing show on Cox Sports TV in Louisiana.
The conversation begins with Cameron and the early days of his football career. Cameron mentions his stepfather guiding him into football, and then playing at Indiana (for both Lee Corso and Bob Knight), and then to the number of talented quarterbacks he has coached.
Then it was Wilson's turn in front of the camera, and that's when the conversation really got interesting.
"Our greatest asset is that is the ability for prospects to see us as husbands, as fathers," Wilson says. "That's what we do best, and naturally that's who we are. Our program is that way. Les Miles is that way as a father with his kids and a husband with his wife, and our staff is built that way. Every time we have the opportunity to spend quality time, like today, we do so. It's critical for us."
Wilson then spoke about what makes the LSU staff successful recruiters.
"The most important thing we do is listen," he said. "To be attentitve and to listen to the need of the parents, of the prospect. And when we hear their desires, it allows us to make come to fruition. When we're in the homes, generally, the parents want to talk about academics, they want to talk about internships, they want to talk about job opportunities post graduation in spite of sport. The type of athletes that we recruit are sound kids in every phase, but if you come to LSU and you don't have a desire to be great and you don't want to be a pro, then you would be a minority because the kids who come there have a strong desire to be the best players that they can be, and that's the type of players we recruit - that want to be pros. We have a system in place that puts them on track to be NFL ready when their time comes."
"Kids go to school for various things. They go to medical school, they go to dental school, they go to law school. When they come to LSU they have a major academically, but they're also majoring in football. Coach Cam likes to say they're getting an advanced degree, a Master's degree, in football. When our guys get ready to go in front of NFL organizations, whether it be the combine or a workout at those places, those head coaches, those scouts come back and say to us, 'Those guys are NFL ready.' We've been very fortunate to have the number of kids go to the NFL that we've had the last several years."
Both Cameron and Wilson said that their perfect day, if it didn't involve football, would be spent fishing. Turns out it was a great day to do both.