Hi. My son was hoping to be recruiting to play football in college. He will be a senior this year and has worked hard for the past 4 years attending camps, getting ranked, and getting his name out there. He has been a first team all conference kicker/punter his junior year…2nd team senior year and has played varsity since sophomore year. He has a good GPA, and is a member of national honor society. He is also a young senior (17). He had several camps/ sessions planned with coaches over the summer prior to covid19. With everything being canceled, he has heard nothing from anyone going forward. He has reached out to a few coaches but we haven’t heard much back. Our state just announced football will not be happening in Fall 2020, and instead will occur in Spring 2021. He doesn’t have to play D1, he would be happy just to play in college somewhere. He just loves to play and it is important to him to get on a team and he is willing to travel to make that work. I guess I am reaching out on what to do. I know it is an unprecedented time, but the radio silence is hard to ignore. Is there anything we can do to help his chances of being seen by a coach? He has tried posting videos to twitter and hudl but without a chance to actually meet these coaches, and prove in person what he can do, how does he go about earning himself a spot on a team. Thanks so much for any insight!
Has he filled out the recruiting questionnaires on the sites of the programs he is interested in? That is the first step.
After that, email the coaches (all of them on one email), introduce himself, some select stats, and include a link to his HUDL and twitter accounts. Pin a highlight video at the top of his twitter account. Follow the coaches/football programs on twitter.
This is an unprecedented situation, and the recruiting process is interrupted/even broken in some ways. Continue reaching out, and go from there. All your S can do is control what is in his control. Now that HS football may not happen in many states, some showcases/camps, etc. may get scheduled for the fall.
Good luck.
Thank you. He has done some but not all of what you have recommended. I will have him start reaching out personally to more coaches and maybe start looking at a wider net of schools. I appreciate the suggestions above. This is such a crazy situation for everyone. I appreciate you reaching out to help us.
Agree with @Mwfan1921 re the questionnaires - that is a must. Fill out more than you think. My son is also a rising senior football recruit. We filled out about 40 questionnaires focusing on particular conferences and geographies. About 20 schools responded in some way (like a Twitter follow) and he is actively in touch with about 10 . He recently got 2 offers and is trying to keep in touch with other coaches. The key is to be proactive.
Is your son getting Twitter follows from coaches? If not - he should follow coaches at the programs he is interested in and make sure to find out who has the recruiting assignment for your state.
Recruiting for specialists (kicker/punter/long snapper) is its own self contained world. The long snapper on my son’s high school team snapped in D1, the punter ended up a D2 kicker, and I have a buddy whose son is punting and kicking in D2 currently. All three were recruited through the specialist camp circuit (Kohl’s, Ray Guy. and whatever the log snapper’s camp is called). I don’t really think that hudl tape helps specialists that much to be honest.
You say your son has done several camps and has achieved a national ranking, I assume that is through Kohls or the like? Have you reached out to them to see what advice they have?
Thank you. Congratulations to your son on his offers so far. That is great. S has gained a few followers on Twitter. Not many. He did have one coach reach out and ask to speak to him which was great. He was so excited. We are working on adding more film to his Twitter account. He doesn’t use social media much and he’s a very quiet and shy kid which doesn’t help. We are trying to tell him this is the one time where he has to not be as humble and quiet. He likes to just prove himself on the field and not talk about himself but this situation makes that approach impossible. Thank you for the recommendations. And best of luck to your son getting on a team he wants!
Twitter is how my son got noticed (he was recruited for this year). Ironically, the school that ended up being a great fit was not one we had heard of. It was one in the same conference as a school he had visited. As soon as he tweeted his “visit” the next day the coach reached out to him. Have highlight film on twitter and be ready to send more. Mine isn’t a big social media person. He kept it simple and posted a few things. He also had great grade and that helped with D2. Being ranked will be an advantage. We couldn’t afford to send ours to all the camps so just did the local camps and he posted his info and started following coaches. It was fall of his senior year when they started following him back. Granted this year is so up in the air who knows (for mine included). Best of luck!