Advice On Earning A College Football Scholarship

Information On How To Create College Recruiter Interest

Jan 31, 2010 Brendan Smith

High-school athletes all compete annually for athletic scholarships. Knowing how the college recruitment system works, and implying this advice, can improve your chances

No time in a high-school football athletes life is more exciting than senior year. It can the most enjoyable time to play football, but it can also be the most stressful. For many players, the ultimate success of their high-school career is measured by the athletic scholarship offers they receive. College football recruiters have to comb through the millions of high-school athletes to find players that they deem worthy of the coveted full-ride scholarship. To many American high-schoolers, playing college football is not only for enjoyment, often it is their only means to obtain a college degree. With the economy in the poor condition that it is, and jobs difficult to find, a college degree has never been more necessary.

College Recruiting, Seeing is Believing

Unfortunately college recruiting is a numbers game. Colleges rely on statistics that they see in the newspapers to initially spot recruitable players. The problem with this is that numbers do not describe the events of a game. A linebacker or defensive back may have a phenomenal game against a team using a spread offense. They may cover their assignments so well that the ball doesn't get thrown their way and give them an opportunity to make a play. To attract interest on the football abilities that an athlete possesses a highlight film needs to be made. Colleges look for highlight tapes that are typically 5-8 minutes long. This highlight tape should emphasize only the most athletic plays, and the most fundamentally sound plays. If a film ends up being only 4 minutes, but every play demonstrates the athleticism and dominance of a player, then that player is more likely to get attention than a player with a 10 minute film that demonstrates only average ability. These films should also contain player information. Information that should be included is height, weight, 40 time, pro-agility time, career statistics, any awards, and contact information.

Scholarship Offers, A Numbers Game

An example of how powerful numbers are in the recruiting world is a former Arkansas defensive end. This player never started in high-school, but he had great numbers, and he knew that was his ticket to a scholarship. His film consisted of him stripping down, stepping on a scale, then walking from the scale to a track where he posted a 4.58 40 time. This was enough to earn him a full-ride football scholarship to Arkansas. For players without this kind of raw athleticism, it may be better to include a letter listing any accolades or accomplishments that will differentiate them from other potential recruits. Send the film and information to as many colleges possible. It is best to send it to every school in the division that an athlete intends to play in. The films should be sent out as early as possible, sometimes even before junior year. Once college coaches become interested in a prospect they begin sending out mail. Letters can be very misleading, often their are thousands of players on mailing lists. To determine the different interest levels of schools a few details from the recruiting mail should be examined. The letters in the images are a few examples of recruiting letters that demonstrate these details.

Determining College Interest

The first type of letter to show up is typically one similar to this LSU letter. Notice that it is addressed to the high-school, not the home address. Recruiters will call most high-schools and ask head coaches if they have any players that are noteworthy. They'll send letters to every player on this list to begin narrowing their search. This letter displays an early minimal interest.

The second type of letter, as demonstrated by the OU letter, is sent to the home address of an athlete. These letters often contain information to summer camps. These summer camps can be a good place to showcase abilities. If there are any questions as to how an athlete will perform, do not attend, as a poor performance can cause a college to drop all interest.

The third type of letter, as demonstrated by the Kansas State letter, is sent to the home address of an athlete. These letters often come after personal contact by recruiting coaches. They will sometimes have a link to a recruit database so that coaches can track an athletes season statistics and awards. It is important to accurately and consistently update statistics as well as awards. Colleges will be looking for what they call a learning curve. This learning curve takes the form of constantly improving statistics. They want an athlete on the rise, not one that has already peaked.

The third type of letter is a handwritten letter. The letter shown is a handwritten letter from Navy. These are the most important letters that a recruit can receive. They indicate that the school has enough interest to sit down and write a handwritten, personalized, letter. Recruits should focus on getting as much face-time and phone-time as possible with these schools, even if the recruit is not interested in committing to this school. Colleges frequently do not offer players until another school has made an offer. This is why it is important to hold the focus of schools showing the most interest. If an athlete can get an offer from one school it can trigger an offer from several other schools, giving the recruit options when choosing a college.

Slipping Through the Cracks

Not every athlete capable of playing college football will receive an offer. If this happens to be the case then walking on to a program becomes an option. For information on what the walk-on experience is like and how to improve chances look for my article on walking on to division one programs. The most important thing potential recruits can do is be coachable and stay healthy. Countless high-school athletes have lost their scholarship offers because of season ending injuries. Staying healthy and constantly looking for ways to improve are the keys to obtaining an athletic scholarship. Good luck and stay healthy!

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