Paul Fisher guesses that he and his twin brother, Scott, have received over 3,000 pieces of mail through the St. George post office the last couple of years.
The really amazing part?The bulk of the letters didn't even come from credit card companies offering the Dixie High seniors a platinum worth up to $100,000.
Actually, the massive collection of envelopes and fancy letterhead was sent by the dozens and dozens of colleges who are currently in the market for a pair of All--American quality high school linemen.
"We get letters every day," Paul says. "And they just keep on coming."
As you can imagine, it was pretty flattering -- especially in the beginning -- for the teenagers to be told how badly they were wanted at the next level.
"I got my first letter my freshman year," Paul recalls. "I was really excited for that."
The mail box is now cluttered with between 10 and 15 letters a day, but understandably the excitement just isn't there like it used to be -- for the Fishers or for the mailmen.
"There's so many letters that half of them aren't even opened," Paul admits. "They just come in so fast."
Funny, their opponents on the football field often have a similar experience of being overwhelmed. Not by mail, but by a whole lot of male.
Seventeen years ago last May, Karen Fisher, a 5--foot--4 mother of six big boys, delivered her two youngest at almost nine pounds apiece. The identical twins have sprouted up and out ever since.
The Fishers are so big they'd have to go to a Port of Entry to weigh together now -- all 630 combined pounds of them. They're not just bulky, either. They stand at a towering 6--foot--8. But that's almost short compared to their dad, Orville Fisher. The former BYU basketball player is a 7--footer, almost two feet taller than Karen. Just enough disparity to create a fun family joke.
"We get our bigness from my mom's side of the family," Paul laughs. "And our height from my dad."
The scary thing is, Paul and Scott have got the game to go with their gargantuan frames.
"We threw the kitchen sink at them," said East coach Keeko Georgelas, whose team played the Flyers a week--and--a--half ago, "and they picked everything up."
Just about every college coach from the East Coast to Hawaii is hoping to pick them up by Feb. 2, the national letter of intent signing day. Emphasis on the word "them." They are a combo deal, supersized of course.
"Colleges already know how we want to go, and that's together," Paul says. "We want to go play together. We've grown up together and we want to stay together.
"Usually they say they want both of us anyway. They know with us there's a left tackle and a right tackle, and we're both good at our positions."
Paul, who only allowed one sack during Dixie's championship season last fall, is generally considered the better offensive player of the two. Greg Biggins, a recruiting expert for StudentSports magazine, lists him as being the fifth best offensive lineman in the West. Scott is ranked 13th on the prestigious list.
Georgelas saw why, during his team's 13--3 win over Dixie.
"For what they do, they are perfect," he says. "They are BYU--type linemen. They are outstanding pass blockers."
Good luck finding any other prep All--American lists that don't include the twins. They've received as many accolades as letters, it seems, including first--team Deseret News all--state honors as juniors as well as preseason acclamation from SuperPrep, Prepstar and USA Today, among others.
One recruiting publication touts the blue--chippers thusly: "The Fisher twins from St. George, Utah, are the real deal. Big, fast and strong -- just what the recruiters love."
Southern Cal coaches certainly loved what they saw when the Fishers worked out at an off--season Nike combine in Los Angeles this spring. They now have a standing offer to play for the Trojans.
The Twin Towers -- or the "Big Fish," as some friends call them -- have also been invited by the University of Kentucky to watch the Wildcats play Florida on Sept. 17. They'll go if they can work out the travel schedule.
Paul and Scott won't rule anybody out yet, but Kentucky is one of the leaders along with Tennessee, Utah, BYU, USC and Arizona.
Whichever school lucks out and gets them most likely won't see the Fishers in uniform, however, until after the 2002 Olympics. The boys, who have their sites set on the NFL, plan on going on LDS missions before they play college ball.
During those two years in the mission field, they'll probably be apart for the first time.
And they'll certainly regain their love for letters.