How much does it cost to raise a blue-chip QB? The path to prominence is not cheap (2024)

All Jon Kromenhoek wanted was the truth.

Was his son Luke actually a quarterback?

The Kromenhoeks’ roots are firmly planted on the defensive side of the ball. Jon is a former defensive lineman at UMass. His older son, Mac, is currently a D-lineman at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. And for the longest time, Luke was groomed to play linebacker.

But about five years ago, when Luke’s youth team in Savannah, Ga., needed someone to run the offense, he stepped in at quarterback. Playing in a single-wing system, Luke’s responsibilities consisted mostly of running QB sweep, QB power and handing the ball off.

Sometime between Luke’s seventh- and eighth-grade years, though, an assistant coach got into Jon’s ear: Luke is going to be a quarterback.

Naturally, Jon was hesitant so he reached out to an old teammate at UMass who referred him to Ken Mastrole, a former quarterback at Maryland who is now a private QB coach in Naples, Fla.

So here was Jon Kromenhoek on a fact-finding mission, making the nearly 500-mile drive from Savannah to Naples with Luke. He believed Luke was a good player — good enough to play collegiately — but before he dove into that world, he needed to know: Was his son a quarterback?

“I told Ken when I dropped him off, ‘Listen, he’s yours for the next two days. I just want an honest opinion, man,’” Jon said. “Luke had two workouts on the first day, which were about an hour and a half each, and then another workout on the Sunday. Ken was like, ‘This kid’s a quarterback. He’s going to be a good quarterback.’”

Mastrole was right.

Luke developed into a top-100 national prospect in the Class of 2024 who signed with Florida State last December. It’s dangerous to project in today’s volatile college football landscape, but Kromenhoek has the potential to emerge as a multi-year starter at one of the sport’s premier programs.

His journey began, in earnest, after that initial meeting with Mastrole. And like so many blue-chip quarterbacks who came before him — and will come after him — Kromenhoek’s path to prominence was not cheap. Thousands and thousands of dollars were spent on quarterback training, private schooling, unofficial visits, college camps, 7-on-7 squads and NIL representation.

“I could’ve sworn my wife was going to divorce me a few times,” Jon Kromenhoek said.

Dan Sayin acknowledges he received a great deal.

His oldest son, Aidan, was the first client of San Diego-based quarterback coach Jose Mohler in 2014. Dan estimates he paid $50 per session before working out a deal with Mohler: $200 per month for unlimited sessions.

“We did that for years and they would work out five or six days a week,” Dan said.

It was productive. Aidan is now the starting quarterback at Penn.

Dan’s youngest son, Julian, was the No. 1 quarterback in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Julian signed with Alabama but transferred to Ohio State in January after Nick Saban retired.

While Dan was fortunate to save on private sessions for Julian — the $200 per month was an ever bigger bargain a decade later — he invested heavily in other areas.

Julian attended Winner Circle Academy — a private middle school/training facility in Corona, Calif., about 70 miles from the Sayins’ home in Carlsbad, Calif. — where he received athletic and quarterback training four days per week.

“At the time, that school was $10,000 a year,” Dan said. “Four of the top five high school football players in California were all part of Julian’s class.

“If you don’t think (athletic) middle school is a good investment, it is.”

But not all quarterbacks develop on the same timeline.

Matt Zollers, a top-50 national prospect in the Class of 2025 who is committed to Missouri, played baseball through middle school and basketball up until this winter in addition to football. He didn’t play quarterback until seventh grade and didn’t start working with a QB coach until two and a half years ago.

“We knew he was going to be something,” Zollers’ father, Pete, said. “He just was good at everything he did. He’s one of those kids, he picks it up and does really well with it. The hope (was) maybe he’ll get a college scholarship, never thinking it’s going to get to this.”

While there are trainers on almost every corner in Southern California, they were difficult to find near Zollers’ home in suburban Philadelphia. The weather limits outdoor training opportunities, and other sports occupy a lot of the indoor spaces.

Matt eventually started working with private QB coach Tim Taggart two to three times per week at $100 per session.

The training options are limited in Savannah, Ga., as well, so the Kromenhoeks made a 280-mile round-trip drive to Jacksonville, Fla., every weekend so Luke could work with highly regarded quarterback coach Denny Thompson, whose clientele includes Anthony Richardson of the Indianapolis Colts and Georgia starter Carson Beck.

Jon estimates he put at least 100,000 miles on his car making those drives every week.

“Denny was cool,” Jon said. “He kind of worked out a deal with us, but when you reached out, I was kind of putting pen to paper, trying to do some guesstimates. But I would say Denny is $15,000 a year. Easy.”

That was on top of the $17,000 annual tuition to send Luke to Benedictine Military School in Savannah.

Brady Smigiel ended his recruitment in late June even though he has yet to begin his junior year of high school. The Class of 2026 standout from Newbury Park (Calif.) High School committed to Florida State over offers from Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon, among many others.

His father, Joe, acknowledges that training can get expensive, but he is not worried about the total cost.

“It’s irrelevant as it can be, meaning it’s just a one-time thing, and I don’t have any other kids (after Brady),” Joe said. “This is something that’s going to end really quick so I’m trying to do the best that I can to come up with the funding to do what he needs to do.”

Sayin and Kromenhoek are already on campus at their respective schools, and Zollers committed to Missouri in April.

The Smigiels discovered what those families already knew: Unofficial visits can get very expensive — though it’s now becoming more common for collectives to cover some or all of the costs of a trip to campus.

“We’re at a stage now where my wife is going, his brother also goes on trips,” Joe said a month before his son committed to Florida State. “It turns from one room to two rooms, two tickets into four tickets. It does get quite expensive. … $2,500 a trip with all four people going, depending on where you’re going to and how long you’re staying.”

Smigiel took unofficial visits to Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State and Washington and had a trip planned to Michigan that he ultimately canceled.

Aidan Sayin was unable to take any unofficial visits because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Dan wanted to make sure Julian saw as many schools as possible during his recruiting process.

They went to a dozen or so camps, which Dan said cost between $200 and $300 — not counting the expenses to travel to the respective campuses — and took several unofficial visits to places such as LSU, Texas and Alabama.

Pete Zollers said they took seven unofficial visits, including knocking three out in one trip — to South Florida, Florida and Georgia — that he estimates cost “a couple thousand bucks.”

Jon Kromenhoek said he and Luke took a whopping 50 unofficial visits — at least 20 to Florida State, three to Georgia and two to Alabama. Jon travels for work so he used reward points as much as he could, but those trips still cost at least $1,000 each.

“We’re not by anything, so it’s a haul,” Jon said. “But you know what, I wouldn’t trade it. It was an awesome bonding experience for Luke and I. We spent a lot of windshield time together.”

Pete Zollers was talking with Joe Gazza in the stands at the Elite 11 Regional in State College, Pa., in May, and Pete mentioned that he and his wife had been sharing a car so Matt had one to drive during his senior year of high school. Gazza, the co-founder and an agent for Aurum Sports, which serves as Matt’s NIL representation, had an idea.

“(Joe) said, ‘Let me take a look and see what I have,’” Pete said.

A few weeks later, Westwood Home Services announced an NIL agreement with Zollers. For commercial appearances and social media collaborations, the “full-service repair and handyman resource” has given Zollers a Dodge Challenger SRT for the remainder of his high school career. Zollers also landed an NIL deal with Leaf Trading Cards recently as well.

Pete said he searched for an agent for four-plus months before selecting Gazza to represent Matt.

“I rely heavily on them. It’s not really my forte,” he said.

NIL has been the biggest game-changer in the recruiting landscape. It’s another element these quarterbacks and their families have to consider. What agent is the right fit? How will they handle advertising? How will they communicate with the collectives? What’s the right percentage to give to an agent? How much is too much?

“I was told don’t ever pay more than 10 percent, but there’s guys out there that want 20 percent,” Jon Kromenhoek said. “I spoke with (an agency) and they wanted 20 percent. I’m like, ‘What?’ And they didn’t do any of the negotiations with the collective or anything. I was like, ‘You’re crazy.’ I kind of just shut them off.”

The Kromenhoeks spoke with several agents but opted not to sign with one. Jon and his wife dealt directly with Florida State’s collective, and Thompson helped open other doors.

Dan Sayin acknowledges that agents are making a lot of money from these deals, but they are the ones (supposedly) with the expertise.

“I have heard 10-15 percent of NIL money going to agents so maybe that’s most of the market,” he said. “But … they know a lot more than I do.”

It’s even forced some quarterback coaches to increase their fees as they add more to their plate — not only handling the training aspect but also being involved in recruiting and helping facilitate NIL conversations.

“I wear a lot of hats when it comes to this kind of stuff,” said private QB coach Danny Hernandez, who trains Sayin and has a national base of clients. “It’s all the way from working the training side to sometimes having to talk parents off the ledge when recruitment’s not going the way they want.

“So you’re doing that kind of stuff, and now you’re talking about from an NIL standpoint putting these kids in a good position. Because there’s a ton of vultures right now with some of these agents and these guys dangling the low-hanging fruit to some of these guys.”

The costs don’t stop with QB coaches, travel and agents.

Dan Sayin spent about $60 per week on speed training with an assistant coach from Julian’s high school team.

There wasn’t a 7-on-7 scene in Savannah so Jon Kromenhoek created a travel squad named Team Dimes, which consists of under-10, under-14 and high school teams. It’s a collection of kids from around the area who typically couldn’t afford to play. The costs, including hotels, rental vans and tournament fees, added up to $5,000 to $10,000 per year.

“That was to get Luke on a travel circuit and some more exposure,” he said. “Get him out there. Go against some of the best guys. See the best DBs. On3 and 247, get him a bunch of visibility. Team Dimes was a huge part of his development.

“I know a lot of people don’t subscribe to but if you’re a prospective Division I quarterback, you need to be doing 7-on-7.”

Jon Kromenhoek also rents an apartment in Tallahassee, which costs $1,500 per month and is “four hours and fifteen minutes from door to Doak (Campbell Stadium),” he said.

When he’s not traveling for work, Jon plans to watch Luke’s practices at Florida State.

Dan Sayin had a similar plan in mind when Julian signed with Alabama.

“We put a deposit down on a house in Alabama,” he said as he laughed, “but it wasn’t that much money.”

Jon Kromenhoek also highlighted the non-monetary costs — family time that was sacrificed to help Luke’s development and the time he spent not focusing on his career. Also, his son never truly had a normal social life because so much was required to be a great quarterback.

Everyone has to be all in on the plan.

“One thing I’ve told my kids since they were very, very little,” Kromenhoek said, “I’ll put the tools in your belt. I’ll get you the best tools as long as you’re all in, you care, you’re passionate about it and you’re going to put in the work.”

(Illustration: John Bradford/The Athletic)