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Inside the ‘dirty’ underbelly of college football recruiting's boom: from non-committable offers to non-binding promises

The tweets all look similar.

A football player has just received a college scholarship offer, and he shares the news on Twitter.

He might use the word "humbled" or "blessed" -- or both -- in the social media post. Include the school's hashtag, add a few emojis and pictures for decoration, and his official announcement of an unofficial interaction is complete.

The standardness of college football recruiting stops there.

In recent years, college programs' approaches have significantly expanded, with schools offering hundreds of scholarships each class but signing just 20 to 30 players a year.