Cullman's Lawson Schaffer, seen here during a holiday tourney game against Muscle Shoals, received his first Division I offer from Furman Monday night.

Lawson Schaffer has spent a lot of time talking to a lot of college coaches.

Yet every conversation involving Division I institutions has gone the same.

All talk. No offer.

That changed Monday night on a call with Furman — and it caught the Cullman superstar completely by surprise.

“When they offered me, I really wasn’t too sure about it because of the way he worded it,” Schaffer told The Times. “So once we hung up, I got coach (Bobby) Meyer to text one of the assistant coaches and ask him to make sure that they offered.

“That’d be my luck that I start saying they offered me and they really didn’t (laughs).”

Schaffer was actually the one to dial Furman head coach Niko Medved Monday to call off a shooting session with the Paladins previously scheduled for Tuesday.

The reason? That’s now the day the crafty point guard is set to visit Alabama.

No fear. Instead of taking offense, Medved extended an offer right then and there.

“I didn’t even know what to say,” Schaffer said. “My heart felt like it just dropped to be honest with you. I just never heard that from a D-I coach. It’s truly a blessing.”

Schaffer’s first D-I offer came just two days after he collected the Birmingham Tip Off Club’s Player of the Year award, an honor he shared with Theodore’s Dazon Ingram. The senior will head to Ingram’s soon-to-be destination in Tuscaloosa Tuesday and then trek to Auburn over the weekend.

While both in-state schools would be likeliest to only invite Schaffer as a walk on, the 5-foot-11 point guard has several hard offers to consider from the D-II level down, including UAH, UNA, Wallace State and “about every JUCO school.”

When pressed for a favorite to land his services, Schaffer said he’s still “up in the air.” If all works out according to plan, he said his big reveal will come on April 15, the opening day of the basketball signing period.

Meyer has been along for every step of Schaffer’s recruiting ride. He doesn’t see it coming to a stop without a few more twists and turns along the way.

“He’s had those aspirations to play at a high level probably since he picked up a basketball,” the coach said. “I’m very proud of him to get the potential of an opportunity. This is just the first offer. We hope there’s going to be some other ones coming down the line and he’ll be able to find a fit that works for him and the school he chooses.”

Schaffer has been a hot commodity since showing out against Athens and state finalist Lee-Huntsville at the Northwest Regional Tournament. Over the course of the season, the teen has taken on celebrity status and become quite the social media darling.

Schaffer admitted the fame is fun, but he also had another word to describe it.

Weird.

Very weird.

“I don’t really know how that all came about to be honest with you,” he said with a laugh. “I gained a couple Twitter followers, some Instagram followers, but it’s definitely been wild. People will just randomly take pictures of me. I had some people take pictures of me walking around Wallace that I found.”

Furman, located in northwestern South Carolina, competes in the Southern Conference, also home of Samford. The Paladins recently wrapped up the regular season — Medved’s second on campus — 8-21. Their last NCAA tournament appearance was in 1980.