How to get recruited for D-1 football

[NKHSF Watcher]

I know plenty about high level recruiting. Best friends with a high level SEC recruiter. Trust me, highlight film means little.

 

Again see original post, READ it carefully, PMICoach.

Edited March 30, 2014 by True blue (and gold)

[Harry Doyle]

1. Go watch fall camp practices and in particular those in the new freshmen class (closest to you/your sons age).

2. While watching, asking yourself these questions while looking at your range of position groups......

3. Do I look like them?

4. Do I run like them?

 

 

...if 3 and 4 are without question big hell no's.....keep it moving. And, know that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with getting a free education and playing at a lower level.

[Hellbird]

Film or no film. The #1 way to get noticed by DI schools is attending camps/combines. Attend as many as you can and when invited to elite camps or 5 star camps etc. Go! Don't be fooled into thinking if your kid just doesn't have the size etc that they look for at D1 level that his playing ability alone will have the recruiters knocking down your door without attending camps because it just won't happen.

 

Get to camps period. How do you think Lex Sowards got looks and interest from DI schools before he even started a game his sophomore year? How do you think Drew started to get a ton of interest when he was only a sophomore? How do you think Olmstead has gotten interest before hismJR and SR year at SK?

 

You can send all the tapes out you want and some will attract some interest but nothing will attract it like camps and combines etc. Perform good at camps and combines and you will get the attention you wanted.

[John Anthony]

Have size or 4.4 speed, or both.

[CoachJ]

From many years experience (and a lot of frustration, trial/error, and some success) I'd like to weigh in.

 

The original poster's points ("cover all bases") -- all on target.

The people who said make a great highlight film -- on target (in most cases)

The people who said send your highlights and full games to 100's of schools -- on target.

The people who said "coaches don't care about highlights" -- correct also (in some cases).

 

The truth is, there are several kinds of athletes out there and what category you fall into determines which of the above are primarily true for you.

 

1) Can't miss stud. Has all the measurables (ht, wt, speed, size, etc.). Honestly, if this kid goes to a camp or two his SOPHOMORE year and is head and shoulders (literally and figuratively) over others at his position and age, he'll probably get offers WITHOUT ever sending out any HS game film. If kid plays in an athlete-rich area like Georgia, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, or Texas (or even in the Cincinnati area) and has earned a starting job as a Soph, that helps more than what his film looks like (the perception that our best kids only are good b/c they play vs. weak competition is what HURTS Ky. kids w/ D1 schools--even those with the measurables...especially those outside of Louisville).

 

**Highlight film doesn't matter much for this kid getting offers -- but they VALIDATE that the kid is 'special' enough to offer early or for a big-time school to offer.

 

2) Marginal kid. Has SOME of the measurables, early on but won't 'fill-out' til later in HS, so colleges will take a wait and see approach. Colleges WILL want to see film -- yes, both highlights and full game film (may be more important overall than highlights) and ALSO want to see him in person at a camp against competition they can structure (1on1 drills and individual agility drills). They are BIG on seeing how a 'big kid' BENDS. If he's 6'5, 300 but has poor hip flexibility, they're likely not to want to offer unless he's a freak in footwork drills. You can't always judge hip-flexibility from watching HS film (some kids aren't part of HS programs that try to develop this in the off-season like we do Ballard every single workout).

 

** The highlights DO matter for the "Marginal Kid." College coaches have told me basically every year (and I ask almost every one I see -- about 30 a year who visit our school; 15-20 from D1 BCS schools) that they need to see their BEST PLAYS to see if there is some POTENTIAL there for them to one day be a stud. The kid may only have two outstanding plays that make him look like a D1 player, but they will say at least he has POTENTIAL to be that way full-time whereas the majority of films they get on kids have highlights that make them look like "above-average HS players" but nothing more.

 

Whether you think a school will look at highlights or not, you should have your first 2 or 3 showing you are TOTALLY DIFFERENT than most kids at your position. Even if some schools WON'T look at highlights, I'll guarantee that SOME will...and it might be those 2 or 3 schools out of 50 that see you make some unbelievably athletic play and be intrigued enough to want to see more. But realize, they probably WON'T look past your first 2 or 3 plays...they have too many kids to evaluate and not near enough time.

 

Also realize, often it'll be a GRADUATE ASSISTANT watching your film unless the full-time assistant is already recruiting you. He will NOT pass you on to the full-time assistant unless you STAND OUT to him (remember, they get HUNDREDS of random films on kids; they don't have time to watch much of each, so you must make your first play or two "POP").

 

3) Good high school football player, lacks measurables of height, weight, speed, etc. Sorry--unless you go to their actual camp and blow them away in 1-on-1 and individual drills, don't expect your film (highlight, full-game, etc.) to matter one bit. Even then, they're SO caught up on measurables (especially HEIGHT*) that even if you kill it in the drills they see in person, they'll likely just offer you a preferred walk-on spot. They have too much to lose (a $ix-figure job) if they go to the head coach and recommend you as someone that's under their list of minimums (OL at least 6'5, CB's run at least 4.5 on THEIR hand-timed clock, DL weigh 280 AND can move, etc.).

 

REGARDING HEIGHT. I've been amazed at how much more important HEIGHT is for D1 schools. Then I went to a UK spring game where I got to walk around the locker room area before the game to see these guys up-close. They looked more like BASKETBALL players -- the Frosh skilled guys were tall, long-limbed, and much more lean than I'd have thought...the UPPERCLASS skilled guys were tall, long-limbed and THICK. The big guys were much the same except some of the underclass big guys were kind of 'soft' in places where the older guys were big and more SOLID. But they were all VERY long-limbed.

 

The reason height matters so much is due to physics.

* Football is a COLLISION sport.

* The amount of FORCE you have when you collide is due to 2 factors: Mass and Speed (or, acceleration).

* It's tough to do much about someone's SPEED potential. By Jr/Sr year in HS, you can tell either they're FAST or not.

* You CAN have a great affect on MASS. But think of this...

** If you're SHORT and put on 30lbs. your frosh year in college, it'll likely have a great NEGATIVE effect on your SPEED.

** If you're TALL and put on 30lbs., your speed is a lot less likely to be affected.

 

So, the guy who said "have size or 4.4 speed or both" is the most correct of all if your desire is to get a full-ride to a D1 school (if you take "4.4 speed" to mean in the top less-than-1% of kids your age for your position...AS TIMED by the college coach at one of their camps). If you want a full-ride to a non-BCS D1 school, maybe you could be in the top 2%; for 1AA maybe you could be in the top 4%...but any way you slice it, you MUST have the measurables or your film--highlights and otherwise--is useless.

[CoachJ]

REGARDING THE COACHES WHO WON'T HELP THEIR PLAYERS (*HumbleBrag alert*)...

 

I have a hard time believing any coach would actually do NOTHING to help his players, but I've heard from some kids that have transferred to us that some coaches have a policy to 'hold back mail' from colleges until after the season or some other later time. My guess is they feel this will be a 'distraction' from the "TEAM" concept and cause some to be motivated more by their individual success. I believe these coaches are RARE these days.

 

I also know there are coaches who say, "my job is to coach the game; getting a scholarship has to be 100% you and your parents' cause." They are known not to send out highlight films and maybe to even restrict college coach visits to the school. I think these coaches are even more rare.

 

If EITHER of these are the case, I'd simply ask -- if the parents had a CHOICE of places to send their kids -- did you put the coach on the spot and ask for their overall philosophy as far as marketing their athletes and then ask for SPECIFICS of what they've done in the recent past? If you didn't, I don't feel you should complain when your son isn't getting promoted the way you'd like.

 

I'll say publicly here that our approach is to do everything we can to promote our players to the next level, all year long. Most of it happens off-to-the-side as opposed to in front of the rest of the team (like handing them recruiting mail). I'll stay up late (after watching all the practice film for the day) sending out highlight & full-game film on our Jr. and Sr. players of every college-ability level while also directly emailing college coaches of all levels individual player bios. My Christmas "Break" is usually filled with sending out film to schools on the 10+ seniors who tell me they'd like to keep playing after HS -- that's Junior College or Prep School for some, D3 for some, D2/NAIA for others, and the rare 1 or 2 a class that have what it takes to play D1 or 1AA).

 

We'll also provide our kids with a database of all 1-day exposure camps (ones where actual college coaches will be present) in Ky and the surrounding states.

 

We take 20-25 Jr's and Sr's to at least one "multiple-college" camp in June -- last year it was U. of Illinois where there were over 20 college coaches at all levels.

 

We structure part of our 5-day a week off-season program to work on their "combine-skills" (40-dash starts, shuttle run, vertical jump, and other drills we know they do).

 

I will also meet individually with any player and his parent(s) to lay out a plan from Freshman (or usually Sophomore) year as to what they will need to do to play football at their top potential -- and I am VERY honest about the things I mentioned in the previous post...for some, I'll tell them their best chance is likely D3 or NAIA or D2 unless they GROW TALLER or somehow start RUNNING FASTER. But then I'll lay out all the options there are at those lower levels. I'm also VERY clear that while we'll do a lot for them, the bulk of it will need to fall to them: the training, attending the camps (which means saving up the money to afford them), and even sending out film to schools if they desire to go outside Ky or surrounding states.

 

So again, for parents that have a choice on where to send their kids and that part is important, why would you not ask for specifics up front and then hold the coach to that as your kid progresses through the program? I know some will say they went in knowing there would be no help...if so, the help IS out there. This is exactly why there's a market for one of the $300-$1200-per-year 'recruiting services' -- they DO fill a need for kids who are schools where the coach's philosophy is not to help kids get to the next level.

Edited March 30, 2014 by CoachJ

[bballguy]

Film or no film. The #1 way to get noticed by DI schools is attending camps/combines. Attend as many as you can and when invited to elite camps or 5 star camps etc. Go! Don't be fooled into thinking if your kid just doesn't have the size etc that they look for at D1 level that his playing ability alone will have the recruiters knocking down your door without attending camps because it just won't happen.

 

Get to camps period. How do you think Lex Sowards got looks and interest from DI schools before he even started a game his sophomore year? How do you think Drew started to get a ton of interest when he was only a sophomore? How do you think Olmstead has gotten interest before hismJR and SR year at SK?

 

You can send all the tapes out you want and some will attract some interest but nothing wils. What that strategy is, I don't know, but I do believe you have to be some what selective.l attract it like camps and combines etc. Perform good at camps and combines and you will get the attention you wanted.

 

While going to camps and combine are good, I don't know about a "go to as many as you can" strategy. We went to about 17 camps and combines last year and on some of them, my son was clearly fatigued. I think there needs to be a strategy for attending camps. I wish had one to offer, but I don't.

[BobcatAlum]

Go to camps during the summer and absolutely bust your butt to make the best of your opportunities.

[bballguy]

REGARDING THE COACHES WHO WON'T HELP THEIR PLAYERS (*HumbleBrag alert*)...

 

I have a hard time believing any coach would actually do NOTHING to help his players, but I've heard from some kids that have transferred to us that some coaches have a policy to 'hold back mail' from colleges until after the season or some other later time. My guess is they feel this will be a 'distraction' from the "TEAM" concept and cause some to be motivated more by their individual success. I believe these coaches are RARE these days.

 

I also know there are coaches who say, "my job is to coach the game; getting a scholarship has to be 100% you and your parents' cause." They are known not to send out highlight films and maybe to even restrict college coach visits to the school. I think these coaches are even more rare.

 

If EITHER of these are the case, I'd simply ask -- if the parents had a CHOICE of places to send their kids -- did you put the coach on the spot and ask for their overall philosophy as far as marketing their athletes and then ask for SPECIFICS of what they've done in the recent past? If you didn't, I don't feel you should complain when your son isn't getting promoted the way you'd like.

 

I'll say publicly here that our approach is to do everything we can to promote our players to the next level, all year long. Most of it happens off-to-the-side as opposed to in front of the rest of the team (like handing them recruiting mail). I'll stay up late (after watching all the practice film for the day) sending out highlight & full-game film on our Jr. and Sr. players of every college-ability level while also directly emailing college coaches of all levels individual player bios. My Christmas "Break" is usually filled with sending out film to schools on the 10+ seniors who tell me they'd like to keep playing after HS -- that's Junior College or Prep School for some, D3 for some, D2/NAIA for others, and the rare 1 or 2 a class that have what it takes to play D1 or 1AA).

 

We'll also provide our kids with a database of all 1-day exposure camps (ones where actual college coaches will be present) in Ky and the surrounding states.

 

We take 20-25 Jr's and Sr's to at least one "multiple-college" camp in June -- last year it was U. of Illinois where there were over 20 college coaches at all levels.

 

We structure part of our 5-day a week off-season program to work on their "combine-skills" (40-dash starts, shuttle run, vertical jump, and other drills we know they do).

 

I will also meet individually with any player and his parent(s) to lay out a plan from Freshman (or usually Sophomore) year as to what they will need to do to play football at their top potential -- and I am VERY honest about the things I mentioned in the previous post...for some, I'll tell them their best chance is likely D3 or NAIA or D2 unless they GROW TALLER or somehow start RUNNING FASTER. But then I'll lay out all the options there are at those lower levels. I'm also VERY clear that while we'll do a lot for them, the bulk of it will need to fall to them: the training, attending the camps (which means saving up the money to afford them), and even sending out film to schools if they desire to go outside Ky or surrounding states.

 

So again, for parents that have a choice on where to send their kids and that part is important, why would you not ask for specifics up front and then hold the coach to that as your kid progresses through the program? I know some will say they went in knowing there would be no help...if so, the help IS out there. This is exactly why there's a market for one of the $300-$1200-per-year 'recruiting services' -- they DO fill a need for kids who are schools where the coach's philosophy is not to help kids get to the next level.

 

We have gone to some large school camps like UK and UL and there were NO GUEST COACHES present. Just makes me want to scream!

[ChiefSmoke]

Even with the HS coach sending video and calling the college coaches, it is still a major accomplishment for most of us if the video gets watched and is evaluated. It will usually take several phone calls to get someone to watch your players' video. That is the negative of Hudl....EVERYONE can send video now. I do think the HS coach can help get his players' videos moved up the food chain, but it is still tough.

 

A few other points:

 

1- consistently for 20 + years and still true today, the most important part for most guys is to go to that college's one day camp and excel.

 

2- be smart about combines...most of the time, the measurements are used to ELIMINATE guys, not find them.

 

3- if I can't get an evalaution back from a college, I encourage our guys to invest their time where there is an interest. In some cases, I may start tossing that school's mail in the trash, unless it is to a specific player.

 

I am happy to say that most of the Ky schools, big and small, do evaluate our kids and respond.

[Ram]

False. And coaches don't want to see your highlight film, if anything they want full game tapes.

That used to be true, but now coaches ask for a highlight video first then if they like it they will ask for two game films.

[NKY Bandit]

That used to be true, but now coaches ask for a highlight video first then if they like it they will ask for two game films.

 

Correct. Highlights and then 2 full game films.

[Justafan#85]

You must do more than that. D-1 schools receive hundreds of HUDL links weekly. autopart101 has the best advise. Just sending your HUDL tape and nothing else is not a good idea. Send a brief email with your HUDL link I mean brief. Telling the coach who you are, include your validated measurables and why you are different from other prospects they are considering. Just important are your grades provide them with your current GPA..ACT score and ranking. Parents must get informed to get their child recruited.

[NKHSF Watcher]

You must do more than that. D-1 schools receive hundreds of HUDL links weekly. autopart101 has the best advise. Just sending your HUDL tape and nothing else is not a good idea. Send a brief email with your HUDL link I mean brief. Telling the coach who you are, include your validated measurables and why you are different from other prospects they are considering. Just important are your grades provide them with your current GPA..ACT score and ranking. Parents must get informed to get their child recruited.

 

The ONLY thing on here that you might not include with your hudl highlights first time, might be GPA until senior year, and or ACT scores, which you can send later in the spring. Most coaches understand this. Parents DO need to get informed, but I'm telling you if you try and contact a coach by yourself, as a parent, and or friend of a player, college coaches WON'T take that call 99.9% of the time. Just trying to help ALL high school football players further there careers.

[autopart101]

Correct. Highlights and then 2 full game films.

 

It's 2014 they will ask for your HUDL password.