Meeting With Michael Jackson Promised to No. 1 High School Football Recruit Da’Shawn Hand

As we’ve seen, college football coaches will do or say just about anything (usually within NCAA rules) to get a top recruit to choose their program. The recruiting game is a cutthroat business, and it’s all-important to get commitments.

However, one college coach may have gone a little overboard when he promised No. 1 ranked high school recruit Da’Shawn Hand a meeting with deceased King of Pop Michael Jackson.

“One coach told me that since I’m the No. 1 player, I’m gonna get to meet Michael Jackson,” Hand told CBS Sports’ Bruce Feldman. “I said, ‘Isn’t he already dead?’ The coach goes, ‘Well, all right, you can meet Tito.’ I was like, ‘all right. OK, I’m done.'”

As you probably know, Jackson died on June 25, 2009 of an acute drug overdose leading up to a string of comeback concerts in London. That would, of course, make meeting the creator of hits like “Thriller,” “Bad” and “Rock With You” all but impossible — at least in non-hologram form.

For the record, Michael’s brother and fellow Jackson 5 member, Tito Jackson, is still alive and even put out the single “We Made It” in 2011.

Photo via Twitter/@JoshNewkirk7