Porter site helps recruits

Mark Porter of Canfield continues to develop and grow scoutingohio.com.

By Greg Gulas

BOARDMAN – With two highly visible Division I football programs sending him text messages during his talk, Mark Porter might just qualify as one of the busiest, most important non-football coaches this time of the year.

Speaking to the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly luncheon meeting at the Blue Wolf Banquet Center, the owner-founder of ScoutingOhio.com said the only function he ever wanted his Web site to perform was to bring recognition to the players that he had coached during his time with Canfield’s eighth-grade football squad five years ago.

In ScoutingOhio.com’s sixth year of operation, college programs have watched Porter’s reputation grow and they now depend on his assessment of players when formulating their recruiting plans.

The Canfield native and Kent State University graduate now calls his labor of love a full-time job, watching and enjoying every day the recognition that his site has received while appreciating the growth it has made.

“Last January, we were finally ready to sell our first recruiting package to schools and with over 2,200 gifted student-athletes featured on our site, decided to package a ‘Best of the Best’ DVD that singled out what we felt were the top 400 football players from that group.

“Over 50 Division I schools nationwide bought our package with the Big Ten, Big East and Mid-American Conference well-represented on the buyer list.

“About a dozen or so Division II and III schools also bought the package, so we were really pleased with the acceptance that it received in regards to what it is doing for the players,” Porter said.

Being impartial has been a key to Porter success.

“I learned from the experts in the business that you treat the players and everyone connected with the program fairly,” he added.

Porter’s wife, Stephanie, a former Ursuline High and John Carroll University cheerleader, has been an integral part of the site’s success, taking photos and videos while developing highlight clips of the 20 or 30 best plays of a player in order to feature them to interested colleges.

“The Web site really exploded when Gene Bonnano [whose son Justin had played for Porter] approached me about adding the videos to our Web site,” said Porter.

“Since developing our Web site, Gene has also worked on sites for both Notre Dame and Penn State; the latter titled Nittany Network which is much like the Bucknuts site that is devoted to Ohio State University news and notes,” he added.

“We’ve expanded our coverage this year to visiting combines and 7-on-7 scrimmage competitions,” he said.

“We go anywhere, anytime and that was never more evident than this past weekend when we took in the Findlay-Cincinnati Moeller game.

“This week we will watch Cincinnati Colerain and Hamilton in order to get a better look at their players,” said Porter.

“It’s kind of funny. I am often asked who has the better team and I really cannot answer that question because I’m just looking at the players. I watch a game a lot differently than the average fan,” Porter added.

Porter’s site (scoutingohio.com) is a direct feeder to high profile Web sites J.J. Huddle and Bucknuts.

“We’ve shared videos and pictures with both sites and in return, have received much needed information, some confidential in nature on the players that we have featured.

“Being on the cutting edge of this technology, we can cover a game and within moments of completion upload all of the video on a player. Recruiters and Web site visitors absolutely love that feature.

“It keeps getting better and the resources that are now available are just phenomenal. The Internet has helped us to sell our product, which is totally free to those that visit our site,” he added.

Porter has developed a rapport and relationship with both high school and college coaches and while he travels the state to seek out the best players to feature, he always finds a way to include a local stop along his game day trail.

“The Youngstown area has a rich football tradition and we try our best to scout them first and foremost. While our staff works diligently on compiling all information on the current players that we are featuring, we’ve already started compiling our list for the Class of 2011 as well,” Porter said.