College football recruit McKinzy dismisses Clemson when he doesn't see a Chick-fil-A
Note to college football coaches—make sure that when you’re showing a potential recruit the weight room, the academic facilities and the stadium, work in about 15 minutes to swing by the closest Chick-fil-A on campus.
Cassanova McKinzy, who signed with Auburn yesterday, said during a videotaped post-signing interview that one of the lesser reasons he didn’t seriously consider signing with Clemson is because there was no Chick-fil-A in sight when he visited campus.
Gene Chizik got Cassanova McKinzy to come to Auburn simply because of Chick-fil-A's proximity on campus. Partly, anyway. (AP Photo)
Granted, there is one on the Clemson campus, but the linebacker out of Birmingham (Ala.) didn’t see it—and McKinzy gets a hankering for some chicken and waffle fries sometimes.
Who doesn’t?
"(It was) kind of the environment and plus they had no Chick-fil-A on campus," McKinzy said in the interview, when asked why he didn’t choose Clemson. "You had to go like, probably like 15 minutes off campus to go to like a real restaurant. Their café was kind of small."
For the record, McKinzy might have been working in a quick plug—as Clemson and Auburn will begin the 2012 season by playing in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta. All joking aside, the upbeat and friendly McKinzy was actually one of the most active recruiters in Auburn’s impressive 2012 signing class.
He and Sporting News Top 125 quarterback Zeke Pike gained reputations for trying to talk other undecided recruits into coming to Auburn—so obviously he felt the program had more going for it than a fast-food restaurant. But still, coaches … don’t forget that visit to Chick-fil-A.