Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting

by Bruce Feldman

In college football circles, the first Wednesday in February is New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, and Christmas all rolled into one. It's payoff time for a year spent screening miles of videotape and probing mountains of data, balancing the promise of a dazzling 40-yard-dash time against the perils of a putrid GPA, and text-messaging high schoolers 50 times a day. It's the day when coaches across the country camp out in front of their fax machines waiting for their football futures to be decided by a bunch of 18-year-olds. It's National Signing Day.

In this surprising and unprecedented dissection of college football's secret season, author Bruce Feldman takes you deep inside the war room of Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron, the combustible Cajun who built national championship teams at the University of Miami and USC before setting up shop in the Deep South. In a blow-by-blow account of the year leading up to National Signing Day 2007, Feldman reveals the inner secrets of Orgeron's success, recounting every step along the way as Orgeron and his Ole Miss staff pick 25 winners from a list of 1,000 names.

Meat Market makes the actual football season the one that runs from September through January read like a postscript.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Football, Journalism

313 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2007

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an avid fan of college football this was worth the read. You'll hear about the details and realities of recruiting. From transferring, committing/decommitting, and the issues that face uneducated poor families in the south, Meat Market is an eye opener for the college football fan. Even though we may know the outcome of what happens to the focal point Coach O, Feldman hits recruiting and the importance of it on the head with this inside look at Ole Miss.

This book is for really only the avid fan of college football who LOVES following recruiting as well. A person would could care less about National Signing Day, will find Meat Market too detailed. But for myself, I loved hearing about top prospects such as Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, and Joe McKnight. Feldman really details perfectly how much tireless effort is given to each recruit and the battle that schools go through (especially schools that have little tradition).

Overall a solid read for any college football fan interested in recruiting and what it takes to build a program.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title made me think this book was going to be so much more than it was. There wasn’t really any overarching narrative that brought the different chapters together. Feldman would give you pages about the life story of one recruit and you’d get invested, but then you wouldn’t hear about him until chapters later. If you didn’t go into the book knowing who most of the recruits were, it just ended up being confusing.

There was also so little analysis. There were so many fascinating gems about race, class, and football that lay just under the surface of Feldman’s writing, but he never went there to really tell us the greater significance of what he saw.

All in all, as a casual football fan, I learned a lot about college football recruiting. But as a reader, I wanted more.

[Connor Turley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meat Market by Bruce Feldman is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at college football recruiting. Following Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss, it highlights the grit of top recruiters and future NFL stars’ early days. A nostalgic read, it leaves you wishing for an updated take on today’s NIL and transfer portal era. After reading the book, it’s easy to see how this man from small-town Larose, Louisiana, later assembled one of the most talented teams ever. Orgeron’s rare eye for talent, and relentless effort on the recruiting trail shines throughout.

[Maddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting look into how a program builds a class. Much more emphasis on the academic qualification part of a recruit’s profile than I thought there was. Would be interested in an update given the way the transfer portal and NIL have completely changed recruiting — this book was written when Matt Stafford was a freshman at UGA.

[Jeremy Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhaustive look into a single year of college recruiting, and Orgeron was a great “main character”. But man this book really needed some more editing, especially for the epilogue chapters

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it a good idea to combine two of my biggest hobbies, college football and reading. The results, were disappointing. First off, this isn't a review of Ed Orgeron the coach or recruiter, just this book about those things. Author, Bruce Feldman, who've I've read articles from in the past, pens the "inside" look at recruiting in the SEC. Sadly, its inside only one program and the "inside looks" aren't much more than what can be gleaned from a recruiting website. There were a few "heard it here first" anecdotes but overall it was lacking any kind of newness. It was also terribly repetitive. There were a lot of individuals in the book but Feldman spent a ton of time reintroducing them that it became tedious to read. Also, it might have been better served to go more in-depth with the focus on Orgeron's tenure as opposed to one based solely on recruiting given than the lack of true insight. Overall, the book was boring and didn't feel like anything more an elongated magazine article.

[Justin Malone]

Wonderful opportunity to Remember Some Guys. Probably of limited appeal to anyone who's not already a college football fan but it was cool to read knowing
A. That Coach O was doomed in Oxford
B. That he was going to eventually land the LSU job and win the natty

Was a nice easy read to give me breaks from Don Quixote.

[Josh Cohron · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Don't worry about him. We're only recruiting him as a linebacker." - Urban Meyer to Jevan Sneed, while talking about HS prospect Tim Tebow

As the President of the Coach O Fan Club, I should have read this book ten years ago. Bruce Feldman got unprecedented access with Coach O and his staff for over a year.

I've heard all the stories about recruiting. I've heard about bag men and boosters and hundred dollar handshakes. And while none of that kind of thing is discussed, you get great insight as to how a head coach and his staff put together a recruiting class. And, man, Ed Orgeron loves recruiting.

The most fascinating part of the book to me was reading names of people and their jobs in 2007. There's a young recruiting coordinator at Ole Miss by the name of Hugh Freeze (strangely, his relationship with Blind Side is barely mentioned). There's Stephensville, TX HS Football coach Chad Morris. There's Houston head coach Art Briles. Matt Lubick, the co-OC at Washington is on O's staff at Ole Miss.

And then the players... Bradley Sowell who's still playing in the NFL. Erstwhile Vol Brent Schaeffer. T-Bob Hebert. Joe McKnight. The list goes on and on.

There's a kid who picks a school solely because he's a RB and wanted to wear a single digit number. Coach O is at a kid's house and goes out back to watch a cockfight.

And then there are the phrases that make you realize how far the world has come in the last decade. "Internet recruiting sites" and "MySpace pages" are referenced often. Coach O has to get news faxed to him while he's on the road.

But all that pales in comparison to the story of Coach O's first team meeting at Ole Miss. I'm not using hyperbole when I say it may be the best thing I've ever read.

[Stephen Koreivo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book provides great in-depth information about the ongoing drive not only by college football coaching staffs about the pressure to win that takes place on the gridiron, but also the wins and losses of players they recruit for their next team throughout a season. This was tough enough in 2006. Just imagine what it's like now in 2024 with Name, Images and Likenesses and the open transfer portals adding to the cut-throat world of college football recruiting. Coaching staffs not only have to scout and recruit high school players, but now they have to scour other college football rosters to figure who they can get to replace their current players being lured away by other programs. The management of this workload by Ed Orgeron's Ole Miss staff seemed difficult enough back then before he left to coach LSU to a national championship in 2019. Now coaches are seeing a new world as I related in my current book of "Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales." Read both and compare the intensity and workload of college recruiting 18 years apart. You can understand why successful head college coaches are now retiring, taking over assistant coaching positions or finding new opportunities to coach in the pros where recruiting isn't required.

[Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tore through this one in a few days; I’ve always been interested in how sports teams are built. It’s definitely a bit dated and lacking for overarching narrative depth (the ‘why’ behind the institutional inequity of the NCAA system, race/class tension, how much the coaches truly care for players, etc. is only touched on at surface level), but the play-by-play structure is gripping and gives you a good feel for the inner workings and stress in a recruiting room.

Some of the characters in this one are hilarious (maybe Orgeron’s himbo ass should’ve been given more time despite the losses? Fuck Hugh Freeze…but was I pulling for his recruits at some point in here?) or tragic (RIP Joe McKnight and Jevon Snead) to look back on in hindsight. Shit, the only people mentioned in this book that were completely successful outside of Orgeron’s LSU days were the guys who stayed the hell away from Ole Miss: funny cameos from Golden Tate, Harrison Smith, and especially Rob Grknkowski.

Fun play-by-play, but could’ve been deeper if it were willing to be even a bit more didactic rather than observational.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feldman got pretty incredible access to the Ole Miss staff of Ed Orgeron to write this book, and I’m looking forward to Feldman’s new book, which chronicles Orgeron’s 2019 championship year at LSU. Recruiting in college football is completely wild. Commits mean nothing, offers mean nothing, and there’s just this endless tug of war for 17 year old athletes who can make millions for different college programs. This book was very informative about how coaching staffs evaluate players and try to build their recruiting strategy with so much uncertainty throughout the process.

[Will Osgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes deep behind the curtain yet leaves room for mystery

Bruce Feldman does an awesome job chronicling the year of Ole Miss Football recruiting, giving an intimate look into the "war room" of a SEC program and the sports' most dynamic recruiter. It's easy now to understand why Coach O is so caught up in recruiting. It's truly his passion. But it's not as if he just recruits. It's clear he'd be an incredible scout if he were working in that field.

[Justin Bitner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool getting a peek behind the curtain, especially with a coach who would eventually win a national title for LSU.

The book kind of dragged after a while, felt like the same story over and over. There were also some weird yada-yada-yada moments (Matt Lubick got fired?). The countdown to National Signing Day had a nice pace to it, and it was funny hearing certain names who would go on to fame and/or infamy in later years.

[Caleb Stinnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a passionate College football fan, I thought this was an interesting look behind the curtain of a big-time NCAA program's recruiting process through a calendar year. Recruiting is truly a 365-day-job to these coaches and it is interesting to read about the balance of this process while the regular season is going on as well. I recommend this to anyone interested in college athletics!

[Josh Trice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read, but what made it more interesting is having hindsight. This book takes place in 2006-07, following Ed Orgeron in his stint as the Ole Miss head coach. It’s fascinating to get a glimpse at how College programs go about recruiting as well as see Orgeron in his pre-LSU, pre-National champion status.
I recommend this book to all college football fans!

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

They talked about NCAA rule changes toning down illegal recruiting tactics during the book, but this still felt like some more shady things were probably left out. What was most interesting was the fact that they are spending all this time and effort on recruiting while an actual season is going on.

[Shehan Jeyarajah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough look at the inner workings of college football recruiting in the mid-2000s. Somewhat sobering to see so many names who have gone on to other things, and two — Jevan Snead and Joe McKnight — who are tragically no longer with us.

[Jay Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into the world of college football recruiting in the early 2000’s. Of course things have changed drastically with NIL. This book will pique the interest of Ole Miss Football fans, SEC fans, and definitely Coach Orgeron followers.

[Michael Friess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, fun, and easy read I’ve wanted to tackle for a few years. It certainly confirmed a lot of my ideas about recruiting.

[Dann Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss as well as some of his time before. Sometimes fascinating, sometimes a real slog, I feel like it was totally worth it in the end.

[Asher · Rating 2 out of 5]

No real informative or entertaining stories. Waste of a read.

[Chip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Interesting insight into college recruiting and the flawed system.

[Fass · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty wild look at college football recruiting. I'm not a huge Ole Miss fan, but it was a decent read.

[Trenton Morales · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of college football, I found this book to be very insightful. Bruce is a great writer!

[Jalen Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Meat Market: A Season Inside College Football’s No.1 Recruiting Machine by Bruce Feldman was a very good book for me. This was a good book for me because me being an athlete I was able to learn and find out things that could help me as a high school athlete in the book that I didn't know before I read it. I was able to not exactly relate to this book, but more use it as a learning experience for my future recruiting process. I liked the book because it gave me real examples of the recruiting process situations that I could learn from which I thought was great for me being that I'm an athlete.

A question I had after reading this book was, What is the chances of getting a scholarship from a Division 1 school for football? I had this question because the author shows us the process of football recruiting but not the actual chances of making it.

The Meat Market: A Season Inside College Football’s No.1 Recruiting Machine by Bruce Feldman is about a reporter named Bruce Feldman who goes deep into the aggressive college football recruiting process. He takes you deep inside the SEC war room of recruiting with legend Ed Orgeron, who helped build national championship teams at the University of Miami and at USC. In the year leading up to National Signing Day 2007, the award-winning journalist shadows Orgeron and his Ole Miss assistants as they set about hunting high school students inventing ways to lure them to their Oxford campus. Within this also we will here some outrageous off the field situations and crazy confessions this book will provide you with lots of knowledge about the college football recruiting process.

I recommend this book to athletes of any sport in high school because you'll be able to relate to this book and it will provide you with lots of knowledge about the college recruiting process. I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5.

[Jose Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any good book transcends its topic. In Bruce Feldman's "Meat Market" takes place in Ole Miss, a University in Mississippi. The book is about the football team there. The author mainly talks about what the coach did to get the team through the season. The coach which is also the main character, has one of the most unique personalities. What happens is that Ed Orgeron, the coach, sits in his office before dawn trying to get the best football players to go to Ole Miss. The coach has a very peculiar motto. His motto is ; "Planes don't fly North". He has this motto because of an event that occurred. This is a very good book, specially if you are a football fan. Also because this is a book that took place and occurred in a exiting place. That's why this book is such a good novel. I think that this book could possibly be made to a movie. If you're a fanatic of college football, this is a great book to read. I do recommend this book to read since it does seem good. If you are not into sports, then this book might be right for you and you might enjoy this book. That's all I can say about this book for now. If you want to find out more about this book, then you should read it.

[Inert1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The material in the book was very good and informative. The author was given access to the recruiting activity of the Ole Miss football program, and shares some remarkable insights into major college football recruiting, as well as the state of high school education in the Deep South and elsewhere. The coach, Ed Orgeron, had a 3-year tenure at the school and is once again an assistant coach at USC. His ideas about recruiting, especially the level of activity and preparation are relevant to just about any field of endeavor, and I think that one can learn from his ideas.



From a literary perspective, I think that the book underachieves quite seriously. It is generally in the form of a daily log, and it is a bit of a challenge to keep the players and coaches straight in one's mind. I think that the author would have been better served to track the recruiting process of each individual from the start to finish, or at least near completion. Feldman writes for ESPN, and the organization of the book seems as though it is written by a blogger.

[Drew Eich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was a very good book about the inside information of college football recruiting. The book's main plot is about Ed Orgeron's recruiting process, in which he would know a lot about recruiting because he is now the head football coach at Ole Miss and before was an assistant coach for Pete Carroll where he recruited a lot of big time players. But, the books not just about the Ole Miss recruiting process though, it as about all the work that every college football team's staff member must do to recruit kids. I would really encourage anybody to read this book that wants to know more about college football recruiting or also anyone that wants to play college football because it tells you everything you need to know about it. I would also recommend this book to anybody that loves sports books because this is the type of book then once you read the first 25 pages you don't want to set it down because there is so much information being presented to you.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it does not cover college football recruiting in general as I expected it to (follows the recruiting of Ole Miss under former Coach, Ed Orgeron), it is still interesting as a college football fan to see how much goes into just recruiting. Though most of us fans already know they put so much work into it, just reading up on how a program that is not a bottom feeder, but not elite, tries to get top named recruits, while in the balance making sure they at least get enough guys they know they can get to commit, is great. I am not an Ole Miss fan, but while reading the book I wanted to root for their coaching staff to land in the big recruits (I knew already they did not get certain ones, but hey, its like watching a movie where you know the ending and you still wish it might end differently).

[Kyle Pennekamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read. If you love college football, this is a great 2 or 3-day pick-up. It follows the recruiting of the 2007 Ole Miss class by Ed Orgeron and his coaching staff. The main sell of the book is Orgeron's huge, brash, hysterically funny personality. Most of the first half of the book concentrate's on that, and really outshines the latter half of the book, which is mostly a recitation of recruits and their decisions. It drives home just how hard it is to turn a program around, especially when that program is competing with nearby national powerhouses. It's also fun to read about guys you now know as stars in NFL who were only lightly recruited over the course of the book, and to see busts of big-time, cocky recruits.

Also great was the fact that my softball first baseman's little bother, Stephen Garcia, is one of the main characters in the book.