Youth/Incoming Freshman

At this stage of the game only college football coaches at the top level programs are looking to evaluate elite level athletes. You will see perennial Top 10 programs on occasion offer players in the 7th and 8th grade, although the trend continues to accelerate every year. These are the rare “physical freaks of nature”. Very few D1 programs outside of that elite class will actually be offering scholarships to players in this age group. However, if you aspire to play for a top program like an Alabama, or LSU, etc., you need to take early action.

If you aren’t playing varsity football at a K-12 school prior to the 9th grade and believe you are a high level prospect, you have a lot of work to do if you want to be evaluated by those types of programs. Your best bet at this point is to film some workout footage; running a 40, pro shuttle, 1-on-1s or for QBs throwing 7-on-7. Specialists (Punters, Kickers and Snappers) can always submit skill video – do not feel as though you must submit game footage. Once you’ve captured this football submit it to the programs of your choice via a viewership-enabled video submission platform. Again, only elite level athletes who don’t yet have varsity footage should take this route. If you have varsity footage you should be getting that in front of college coaches along with a profile as soon as possible.

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Now that you have a full freshman season under your belt it’s time to start level-setting.

• Did you start or play heavy snaps on the varsity?
• If you didn’t play varsity, were you called up onto Sophs or JV?
• If not, did you start and do well on the frosh squad?
• If not are you projected to start on the varsity as a soph?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then you should already be getting recruited and receiving a lot of generic mail from college coaches at a minimum. If that’s the situation you’re in, great! It’s time keep the momentum going and go ahead and send an updated viewership-enabled video back out to coaches at elite college programs. Show them your latest and greatest video so they can see the gains you’ve made over the past 6 months.

If you’ve answered yes to any of the questions above and didn’t receive any letters from college coaches during your freshman year, you’re already being under-recruited! Your talent and hard work is being overlooked! Remember – there are 7th graders out there getting offers – you’re going into 10th grade and you don’t even have any mail? You had a great freshman year and yet nothing is happening! Why not? There could be many reasons but the key now is that you don’t procrastinate and fall further behind. Expand the list of schools you send your profile and viewership-enabled video to right away.

For example, if you believe you are a high level D1 prospect and you didn’t receive mail from any Big 12/ACC/SEC/Pac-12 schools, you should send your video to those conferences in addition to D1 schools in other conferences local to your area as well as to as many FCS, D2, NAIA & D3 schools as possible. Casting a wide net early on is very important because the more coaches that become aware of you early, the better chance you have of getting an early offer. Getting early offers for elite players is crucial as it can really snowball your recruiting process.

Once your first offer is reported through the recruiting media circuit – others tend to follow quickly after that. Any player that aspires to play at a high level should do everything possible to get his video out early and often if coaches aren’t coming to him. Doing this increases the odds of that early offer, and that early offer will accelerate the entire process. The unknown talented athlete who lays back in recruiting until their junior year takes the chance that they could be “frozen out” if other players accept their offers and stay committed to those schools.

If you answered no to the questions above, there is no need for concern, but from a recruiting perspective you shouldn’t focus on the top programs right now; continue to work hard to develop your skills and get your profile and viewership-enabled video out to as many local programs as possible at all levels as well as all of the NAIA, D2 and D3 schools in the region. You may be an elite player at a high level high school program where D1 players don’t start as juniors sometimes. You may be a late bloomer. Either way, the most important thing for you to do is cast a wide net and understand where you are in the process.

Rising Juniors

Maximizing your Full Scholarship Opportunities

For this age group, the recruiting picture is really starting to clear up. Players have started to separate themselves. Elite players have for the most part received at least one offer. They have had stacks and stacks of mail. They’ve been on campuses. Coaches have visited their high school. They’ve been told to call college coaches through 3rd parties, such as their high school coach or the media. From the college coaches’ perspective, the top programs have a pretty good idea of who the top athletic talents are out there at each position, however the situation is a little fluid depending on time of year. By the time most elite programs get into June, their board for Rising Seniors is done. For some it may be done much earlier, even back into the Spring. Others may have a large percentage of their class filled by verbal commitments at this point. By the end of the year those top programs have moved to your class – the rising juniors!

Be Strategic About College Football Scholarship Offers

By the end of the summer headed into their junior year of high school – many elite players are being heavily recruited and many have verbal offers. One of the biggest mistakes recruits make at this stage is to still hold on and just think that they’ll magically get discovered just because they want to play at a certain school. You may be a rising junior and it’s been your dream to play at Ohio State – but so far you haven’t been on the varsity and you haven’t received a single piece of recruiting mail. Is your dream of becoming a Buckeye gone? Absolutely not! Should you start becoming proactive and getting your viewership-enabled video to as many schools as possible right away? Yes!!

Why? Simple: The Ohio State Football Coaching Staff has already identified their top prospects in your class. They know who they want. Will they add to their list? Yes. If you have a big junior year can you get on that list? Absolutely. Go have that huge junior year – but in the meantime be sure you let as many coaching staffs as possible know who you are and what you can do academically and athletically. It’s time for every single HS football player with aspirations of playing in college to get their viewership-enabled video video out to as many programs as possible. The less you’ve heard from coaches, the more schools you should be sending your profile and viewership-enabled video out to at this point.

Rising Seniors

Getting That Football Scholarship

It’s crunch time. Top recruits have offers and should be focused on getting more of them. Continue to send out fresh viewership-enabled skill videos. Remember even as a top recruit with offers, it’s not over until you sign on the dotted line. Coaches leave, things change – keep in contact with coaches and send out fresh video. Constantly try to improve your position.

If you don’t have offers or you haven’t been getting phone calls, it’s time to come to terms with the fact that college coaches either don’t know that you exist or don’t want to seriously recruit you. If they’re talking to you and not offering you, remember – they’ve already offered someone else. You need to create more options for yourself. If you have little to no contact, especially if you have no personal emails or phone calls at all, what are you waiting for? If nothing changes then nothing changes! It’s time to pull out all the stops and realize High D1 may not be the best fit for you. Consider Second Tier D1, FCS, all D2/D3, NAIA and JUCO and Community College Programs. Get your viewership-enabled skill video to 75 to 150 schools and get ready for a great senior season!

Late Seniors

Your Football Scholarship Chances Are Not Over

By now you’ve either gotten a few offers with minimal funding, some walk-on opportunities, or nothing at all. However, there are still coaches out there looking, especially at the lower levels. It’s never too late. Limit yourself to local FCS, D2, NAIA, D3 and JUCO or Community College programs. Freshen up your profile with all of your senior year accomplishments, make sure you have your best possible highlight film done and send it out again to more schools. Some lower level, less competitive programs will continue to look throughout the summer, so do NOT give up on your dream, just be realistic about where you’ll be able to play.