The Virtues and the Sins of Big-Time High-School Football
In 2012, Sports Illustrated published a feature about an intriguing new phenomenon: a high-school football powerhouse that was not, strictly speaking, a high school. The Eastern Christian Honey Badgers, as the team was known, called Elkton, Maryland, their home. They lifted weights at a Y.M.C.A. and practiced on an unmarked field and took online classes through an organization called National Connections Academy—“an approved nontraditional course provider,” in the eyes of prospective colleges. The driving force behind the Honey Badgers was the father of the starting quarterback, naturally. He developed real estate in Delaware. The kid was something of a prodigy. But Delaware is no Texas, and, rather than uproot the family in search of better local competition, the father recruited a suppo...
