An Idaho kid is threatening to turn the world of college recruiting upside down by suing a school he claimed made him a verbal scholarship offer, then reneged when the coaching staff that made the initial offer left.

According to SI.com, Daniel Smith, a defensive back from Boise, Idaho, contends that the University of Hawaii made him a verbal scholarship offer on the condition that he not speak to any other school. Smith said he and his mother had sent Hawaii a highlights tape and had received an e-mail invitation from defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold to come to the campus for an unofficial visit, which cost them $4,000.

Roughly a month after the visit, Smith, who had a written scholarship offer from Portland State, a Football Championship Subdivision school (formerly Division I-AA), said he got a phone call from Reinebold offering him a scholarship, which he accepted.

Lo and behold, Reinebold and other Hawaii coaches left that school for Southern Methodist, and the coach supposedly called Smith to tell him that the scholarship offer was off the table because the staff was leaving. Smith said the offensive coordinator called later in January, a few weeks before the national signing day, to say that Hawaii had no record of Smith and denied that he had ever met with a coach on his unofficial visit.

Smith and his family are suing Hawaii, and if they win, the entire sorry, sordid process of high school recruiting could be turned on its ear.