Dalton Demos experienced just about everything he could have during his recruiting process.
The CBC senior quarterback traveled the country to attend camps, dealt with coaching changes at Illinois and Indiana, and had an offer from Murray State taken away because he took an official visit to Miami (Ohio), which then decided not to offer Demos a scholarship.
Despite all the tales about how glamorous the recruiting process can be, Demos' story is more the rule than exception.
"I was told no by a bunch of different schools," Demos said. "That was part of the process. There's really no code of honor. That's one thing I'm going to tell all of my buddies who are about to start all of this. Anything goes, really. It's a dirty, cut-throat kind of thing. It's tough."
Demos' story has a happy ending, however, as he recently made a verbal commitment to Coastal Carolina over Missouri State and Missouri Western. He plans to sign with the Chanticleers on Wednesday.
Demos is one of several senior quarterbacks throughout the area who are expected to sign with colleges on Wednesday, which is the first day high school seniors can sign binding letters of intent with NCAA Division I and II universities in football, soccer, field hockey, track and field, cross country and men's water polo. The initial signing period for all other sports was in November.
Demos is part of a deep, but not spectacular, area quarterbacks crop, including Fort Zumwalt West's Drew Hare (Northern Illinois), MICDS's Thomas Militello (Dartmouth), St. Louis University High's Trevor McDonagh (Columbia) and Francis Howell's Eric Siebenshuh (Central Missouri).
All five of those players had outstanding senior seasons. Demos and Militello led their teams to state championship games. McDonagh, who led the area with 3,440 passing yards, and Siebenshuh both led teams to the semifinals. Militello threw 44 touchdown passes. Hare completed 72.3 percent of his throws.
Along with Webster Groves senior Rayshawn Simmons and Soldan junior Steven Irving, the area's top seven passers (in yards) all are in the top 27 of the single-season area passing list (see related chart).
"The group this year was deep," said Danny Heitert, who has been evaluating local football players since 1989. "It was versatile in that they could all throw from multiple launch points, sprint out, three-step, five-step, seven-step. They could run run-option stuff. There was no surprise that this was a very good season in St. Louis for high school football because of that."
Each of the top five has was competing for a chance to continue their careers somewhere in college. They were not only competing with each other and against others local players like Lamontiez Ivy of East St. Louis and Eric Laurent of Parkway South, but also against every other high school senior quarterback prospect in the country.
"It's hard because there's only one quarterback who plays on every team," said McDonagh, whose 3,440 yards is the second-best in area history. "Every school is trying to find that one guy, and they're not just throwing around offers like they do to receivers and running backs. Most of us quarterbacks, we all know each other, we all throw together a lot, and we all make each other better. ... It's not like we're trying to take somebody's spot. We know there are only a certain number of spots available."
Hare was the first domino to fall when he committed to Northern Illinois, a school that may have considered some of the others, last summer. Militello committed to Dartmouth in the fall after attracting interest from Southern Illinois, Cornell and Columbia, among others.
"Some schools didn't take a quarterback or were saying they weren't going to take one until the very end, and I wanted to get it over with quick," Militello said. "For me, education was a big thing. Once you get one offer, you kind of have a bargaining chip with other places. So once I got Columbia and SIU, Dartmouth came in."
McDonagh committed to Columbia, over Penn, a few weeks ago.
Demos committed to Coastal Carolina just last week. He was recruited by former Missouri standout Brock Olivo, a new assistant coach who had received a tip from his father, who had seen Demos play.
Siebenshuh, who had just one full season as the Vikings' starting quarterback, made his decision late Sunday. He had received a scholarship offer from Division II Central Missouri over the weekend, according to Howell coach Bryan Koch, but also had Division I Middle Tennessee State trying to get him to take an official visit.
Hare, Militello, McDonagh, Siebenshuh and Demos all are expected to sign Wednesday, putting an end to a process that was more difficult for some than for others. Demos is hoping that this quarterback crop from the Class of 2012 will help open doors for others.
"I feel like we're paving the way for St. Louis kids in general," Demos said. "We're bringing a lot of publicity. Maybe one day St. Louis will be more highly recruited. I almost feel like we don't get our chance. When you think of Missouri, you don't really think of football. You think of Texas and California for the football states. We play good ball up here, and people need to know that. Our guys this year, we showed people that."
