Lessons Learned on Recruiting

[RaiderCat]

Thanks for the advice fellas!

Gonna try and make 3 camps this summer. Of course since I'm in Afganistan the wifey will have to caravan the kid around. Thanks again and take care!

[chargermom]

Rule of thumb is that if the letter is hand written than they are showing more than just random interest. I'd encourage your Son to go to a few camps this summer and participate in the Under Armor combine in your area next year as a Junior. Nike is great but its a cattle call, UA is limited and you pay for the opportuity versus the free Nike. If your school uses HUDL start sending his link to coaches at schools he may be interested in. We found a HUDL site was the best marketing we had.

Best of luck to your son!

UnderArmour is not doing combine this year. Hopefully they will be back next year as my son is a Sophmore also this year so will be a jr next year.

Best of luck to your family

[thptrek]

I have learned a lot from the guys on this board and my son is heading to play ball in college this fall for a "highly selective" DIII school. While much of the focus on this board may be for D1 kids, keep in mind that if your son has football aptitude combined with great grades this may open admission doors for him that normally would be closed.

The Ivy league schools, schools like University of Chicago, John Hopkins, Washington&Lee, Washington U in St. Louis, Centre College, etc are all fantastic schools that look for football players that have the grades that can past muster with their admissions office.

The football camp that is run by Princeton is very good. It is a combination of great instruction and recruiting. Besides Princeton coaches there are a lot of DIII coaches from other schools.

[papaw]

I have learned a lot from the guys on this board and my son is heading to play ball in college this fall for a "highly selective" DIII school. While much of the focus on this board may be for D1 kids, keep in mind that if your son has football aptitude combined with great grades this may open admission doors for him that normally would be closed.

The Ivy league schools, schools like University of Chicago, John Hopkins, Washington&Lee, Washington U in St. Louis, Centre College, etc are all fantastic schools that look for football players that have the grades that can past muster with their admissions office.

The football camp that is run by Princeton is very good. It is a combination of great instruction and recruiting. Besides Princeton coaches there are a lot of DIII coaches from other schools.

Good post! I believe the main thing for parents is help with college expenses. They need to get their education foremost.
My Grandson started school in West Virginia in June. They take one class and it is intense. He goes everyday and I believe it was 2 hrs a day. They get up every morning at 5:30 am to get to the weight room. Josh was a gym rat. He worked out at the fieldhouse in HS and then went to LA Fitness daily at night. That really helped, but they busted his and every body's butt with the workouts and running Lawyer's Hill. They go to the field after class and either do 7 on 7 or in Josh's case, he kicks. I called him yesterday at 8pm their time. He said"Papaw, we are in bed and tired. Can I call you tomorrow"? He is loving it and made a 4.0 in his first class. He was lazy in HS, but they stay on their A$$ about their grades.
Too bad his younger brother is not as motivated, but all of us are made differently.

[rsmantx]

To all parents and players. One thing I can't express enough is to keep watch on the GRADES. To many players and parents have the idea that if they are good and get an offer,, they will get into the school. This is only going to happen if you are a 5 star nationally ranked player. I know of three players (2012 graduates) who have had their scholarship offers rescended because they did not meet the requirements / grades to get intot the school they had originally signed with. Their attitude after they signed was, I can get in no matter what because I signed a letter of Intent. Parents need to stress academics and not athletics to the kids. The athletic ability will only get a player so far. Just a reminder, especially to the younger player interested in playing at a higher level. Also, sometimes the difference between getting a D1 and D2 offer can be your grades. If you are on the bubble, so schools will look at the academic record of a recruit and it could sway their offer.

[CCCSportsFan]

To all parents and players. One thing I can't express enough is to keep watch on the GRADES. To many players and parents have the idea that if they are good and get an offer,, they will get into the school. This is only going to happen if you are a 5 star nationally ranked player. I know of three players (2012 graduates) who have had their scholarship offers rescended because they did not meet the requirements / grades to get intot the school they had originally signed with. Their attitude after they signed was, I can get in no matter what because I signed a letter of Intent. Parents need to stress academics and not athletics to the kids. The athletic ability will only get a player so far. Just a reminder, especially to the younger player interested in playing at a higher level. Also, sometimes the difference between getting a D1 and D2 offer can be your grades. If you are on the bubble, so schools will look at the academic record of a recruit and it could sway their offer.

Also keep in mind that a whole lot changes during the course of high school with these kids. Mine was extremely gung-ho about playing D1 football his freshman year but as time went on his interest waned. What did not wane was his focus on grades. He did very well on the ACT test and nailed the math section of it. Because of this he was accepted to every school's engineering program he applied to. Also got scholarship money to most of them. While it's not a full "football ride", it does help out my wallet.

Another note... A couple of his friends who played collegiate athletics their freshman year decided that wasn't for them for a variety of reasons. The one's who had good grades were able to easily transfer to very solid academic schools and receive some academic scholarships going into their sophomore year.

Regardless if your son is a 4-5 star recruit, if he has math aptitude do everything you can to develop that for him. There is significant academic scholarship money offered to kids with high math ACT and SAT scores. Besides, having an engineering degree sure helps when their football career eventually ends

[papaw]

Plus 1 on the previous 2 posts. To me the whole program is for the kids to get a degree.

[swac panther]

don't turn your nose up at any schools who you think your better than...simple as that

[datacomboss]

My son just started camp at D-2 Truman State in Missouri and I couldn't be happier (unless he was at Stanford). We played around with Tulsa, Kansas and Texas Tech, but in the end it was about the education (excellent), environment (small town) and playing time (PR/KR for now). Never heard of Truman before their initial letter, but the more I looked into it the more I liked it.

The NCSA's Collegiate Power Rankings was a good tool for us in evaluating schools. http://www.ncsasports.org/who-is-ncs...)/2011/(tab)/2

[CSM85]

Wow, I started this thread a year ago after my son signed, and it's great to see so much dialog and good advice over the past 12 months....it's been awhile since I flew by the board.
Now that one of his college seasons has passed, here's a few more thoughts on playing scholarship FBS college football:

* It is a full time job. Between going to class, practice, meetings, workouts and mandatory study hours in the academic athletic facility, he will have little time for himself. He will sacrifice a "normal" college experience if he plays D-1 football, even in the "offseason" (which really doesn't exist, he will go to summer school every year to stay under the eye of the conditioning coach). My first piece of advice is make sure HE--not YOU--truly loves football in all aspects and wants to make this sacrifice. The glamour wears off quickly with 5:30 am wake ups, mat drills at 6:00am and vomiting into trash cans by 6:45am. :-)

* As tough as Texas high school football is, he ain't seem nothin yet.
If your son has signed this month, make sure he doesn't take too much time off. Ramp up the workouts and get ready to compete at a new level.

* Redshirting sucks...mostly. My son, like 70-80% of freshmen, redshirted. The positive part is time to learn the system, adjust to college, and get bigger/stronger without the pressure and physical toll of playing every week. The downside is feeling less a part of the team, playing scout team after being All-This and All-That a few months ago. Some of his teammates really struggled with this. Get over it and realize it's a rite of passage most guys go through to benefit the team and themselves.

* You cannot hide from poor academic performance. Maybe it happens in some places, but at his school we have yet to hear stories about athletes being given unearned grades or special treatment by professors. If your son thinks he can slide by he's wrong, and poor academics will kill his scholarship after one year. The athletic academic advisor will definitely try to put your son in easier classes if he's not strong academically, and will monitor his performance, but he can only do so much. Make sure he's ready to compete in the classroom as well as on the field.

Finally: If your son has another year or two to play in HS, try to enjoy his experience in and of itself. Smell the roses. Make sure you are letting him have fun with football, be a teenager and live in the present. If he's good enough, the colleges will find him or he will walk on and impress them.

Good luck!!

My son is starting his true freshman year in the Big 12 and this is really accurate. Be ready for a huge step up in the workload, expectations and intensity. Even for the Texas 5A players. If kids aren't all in with the school they choose and playing ball at this level, it will be a struggle. My kid is doing well, some of his teammates aren't.

Make the most of your senior year and then get ready!

[collegesports1984]

I think you have hit some great points about getting exposure during the recruiting process. Congrats to your son for signing a D1 scholarship. That's very impressive! Unfortunately, many kids will not have the opportunity or privilege to have a D1 scholarship. Athletes to market themselves as best they can in order to get exposure. There are so many more athletes than there are college coaches, its hard for each coach to find the best players for their team if these athletes aren't on the top teams in the state or country. I found this site that is very helpful in assisting student athletes through the college recruiting process. See if it can help someone you know.


www.webstarrecruits.com

[RocklandDragon]

I think you have hit some great points about getting exposure during the recruiting process. Congrats to your son for signing a D1 scholarship. That's very impressive! Unfortunately, many kids will not have the opportunity or privilege to have a D1 scholarship. Athletes to market themselves as best they can in order to get exposure. There are so many more athletes than there are college coaches, its hard for each coach to find the best players for their team if these athletes aren't on the top teams in the state or country. I found this site that is very helpful in assisting blah blah blah blah (shameless plug)


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Can anyone delete this post? Just by scrolling through it, my phone begins to ooze out some green material.

[FloMoMom]

Thanks for all of the recruiting information it has been very helpful. Could anyone offer me any suggestions on what to do when a school is requesting senior film from your son but he is a junior.

[papaw]

I'm sure his team can help. The coaches on my Grandson's Garland Owl team put a video disc together for him.

[FloMoMom]

Thank you. He sent a reply back letting the coach know that he is a junior not a senior and added a link to his HUDL page. He is going to work with the coach to get some game film sent to the school.

[papaw]

Thank you. He sent a reply back letting the coach know that he is a junior not a senior and added a link to his HUDL page. He is going to work with the coach to get some game film sent to the school.

You need to get on it now. Don't wait for his senior year.

[FloMoMom]

You need to get on it now. Don't wait for his senior year.

Thank you.

[protrainingKT]

Send them what you have...we sent film when he was a sophmore and it got him on the radar with some of the schools....since he did not play varsity he probably does not have a HUDL account so take the film you have and make a highlight video, post it on Youtube so you can at least give the schools a link to the highlight video....whatever you, make sure you start to complete the online questionnaires, this is a good way to let them know who you are and keep your kid on their radar...follow up by attending their one day/half day camps.....make as many as possible. Be realistic when choosing what camps to attend....HOPE THIS HELPS....BEST OF LUCK