Inside the Remarkable Rise of College Football’s Most Influential GM

LUBBOCK, Texas – James Blanchard used to get in trouble as a high school student at West Orange-Stark for spending too much time on Rivals.com. He was obsessed with film and evaluating fellow prep stars around the state. He joined message boards for programs such as Baylor and TCU and began posting about his favorite players and why they should have more offers. 

He noticed what he figured was a coincidence not long after that: Most of those prospects he was posting about eventually earned scholarship offers. Blanchard thought the talent in Orange, Texas, was overlooked by the time he was 24 years old and his younger brother, Travon, was a three-star linebacker for a state championship contender that included standouts such as J’Marcus Rhodes and Quentin Tezeno.