I thought of this thread last night while watching college football. CU had two starters who came out of junior college playing last night. CU has not been a traditional ‘JUCO’ transfer school, but one kid came from Independence, KS (featured on LastChanceU documentary this year) and another came from a tiny Mississippi school. The Mississippi kid had never played hs football but walked on at the JUCO and was ‘discovered’ for D1. It may help that he has world class speed on the track too 
having the 6th best time in the US and he’s on the CU track team too.
There were also several transfer students on both teams from other D1 schools. I guess I just noticed that more and more players aren’t fresh outta high school.
As for the prep school, I was referring to next year. I’ve not really been able to dig any of them up, unfortunately, it’s a hard thing to just search for. Jireh’s the only one that’s been popping up, and they declared bankruptcy.
@OhioDad51 Sorry, I should have been more clear, I’m definitely talking about next year. The goal right now is to push my body as far as I can before I actually get my shot. You’re probably right about d2/d3, and taking your advice into account, I’m doing game day visits of a couple d3 schools over the next couple of weeks. I know of one D2 school that tried to redshirt me this year, so I’m willing to bet that I could get in there. I have no illusions of playing pro ball, even if that would be my chosen career if it were truly an option. Will I work as hard as I humanly can? Of course. But I don’t think I have a shot to ever sniff an NFL scout’s passing glance. And you’re right about the crowd size and all that, but I’ll tell you what: I don’t want to play in front of a crowd of parents and a few dozen students. The amount of time I spent compared to anyone else I knew these past four years now is honestly absurd, and I want to play D1 ball. I think I can. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but that’s the goal. Thank you though, seriously, you’ve been very helpful!
“I don’t want to play in front of a crowd of parents and a few dozen students.” = Then D3 football is not for you.
Best of luck to you @mornin23.
@mornin23: Please consider @Ohiodad51’s suggestions regarding DII schools.