I’m about to be a high school junior, and I’d like to give FBS football recruitment a shot. Like ACC colleges
My brother plays FCS, so I’m extremely familiar with the football recruitment process for FCS and D3.
If I’m not good enough for FBS then so be it and I’ll turn to FCS and D3, but I figure I’d like to give FBS a shot.
Do I begin the same of just emailing highlights and then planning to go to their camps?
For starters, I just looked on the websites of the 3 of the colleges, and I’m not quite finding email addresses for the football coaches, like there are on those of the FCS and D3 colleges my brother had looked at.
I just feel like it must be an entirely different game-procedure than FCS/D3. Like maybe I’m already too late? Or maybe I need more recognition on the state/national level already?
Thank you very much in advance for any feedback.
You are not too late. The heart of Division 1 recruiting will occur this coming spring and summer. Like in all things, there is a pecking order and the top programs are going to fill the bulk of their classes first and then things trickle down to the bottom of the P5, into the G5, then into FCS and then into D2 and 3.
That said, several FBS level recruits will have camped extensively this summer at both large school camps and at the Rivals/Opening events. If you have not done that then you are a bit behind. Generally kids camp as rising juniors to start getting followed by Rivals/247/ESPN/Scout, and to catch the eye of some larger scholls with the hope of sparking some recruiting interest. That is usually how FBS recruiting begins. Another way the ball starts rolling is with conversations between the high school coach and the college’s area recruiter.
I don’t want to sound fatalistic, but few if any FBS schools are going to respond to “cold calling” the way some of the smaller and lower budget Div 2 and 3 schools do. They have neither the time nor the need to do so. I think sparking recruiting interest by unsolicited tape in the non Pioneer FCS is rare enough, and it is unheard of in the higher reaches of the FBS.
If you do want to send hudl links of highlights, they will all have places to send them (since you mentioned the ACC, here is a link to the e mail addresses for the FSU football staff http://www.nmnathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=32900&ATCLID=209592590#football) but I doubt seriously anyone will pay much attention to uncsolicited tape.
At the end of the day, huge numbers of kids get offers and compete successfully in the ACC and throughout D1 FBS who do not camp at all until junor summer. Make some plays, knock some people around, put out good tape this year. Then go camp next summer and see what kind of interest you generate. Good luck.