<p>I cannot believe I am thinking about this already, but here goes:</p>
<p>My #2 S is currently a sophomore at a competitive, suburban, 5A high school. He wants to play football in college. He started on the varsity as a sophomore at fullback, and is very respected by his coaching staff. He realistically is not big enough to play division 1, but could play division 1-2a or division 3. He is doing extremely well academically (all A's in most rigorous classes, tied for #1 in class), which leaves him pretty open as to where he could go. He is interested in a liberal arts degree at this point.</p>
<p>I definitely see him in a small school environment, preferably in the south or west. He has expressed interest in Rhodes because his 7 on 7 coach is the quarterback there, but he really doesn't know much about other schools, and would like to have some other choices.</p>
<p>Any ideas? or Tips? Such as when and how to contact coaches at schools. Does he do it or his coaches? One of the coaches talked to him about beginning a film for him, and with 3 years on varsity there should be plenty. </p>
<p>Any guidance we can get would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>In the south how about Davidson,Furman, W&L,Richmond? Also a local kid, also a running back, also smallish for Div. 1, got into Princeton on football merits .....northern and mid size but it may be worth your while to consider Brown, Dartmouth,etc.</p>
<p>He looked at the W&L website, it looks beautiful, but is Lexington kind of hard to get to? I have heard that Richmond is a really good school, but don't know much about it. Are they Div 3 or 1 2-A? I don't know anything about Davidson or Furman (even where they are). About the ivies, my son is kind of funny about going too far north. He may change his mind, he is only 16, and I think the idea of "ivies" scares him off.</p>
<p>Davidson is Rhodes' sister school(both presbyterian LAC's); it is located in the Charlotte, NC suburbs. Sounds right up your son's alley. However, it is quite competitive to get into. You should check the school out.</p>
<p>Richmond is Div 1 but smallish. Davidson is about 20 miles north of Charlotte and Furman is in Greeneville, South Carolina. All are good schools. Nice campus. All have extensive web sites.</p>
<p>I will get him to check out their web sites, thank you for the tips. Anyone else? Also, I would greatly appreciate any tips on how to contact colleges. Is there any information out there on procedures. I know there is for division 1 athletes, but how about for division 3?</p>
<p>I know nothing of LACs in the south or west, but a potential valedictorian varsity running back from Texas could be be in fat city among some really great northeastern small D-Is and D-IIIs, some would offer merit aid and everything. But no need to get into that if location is key for you...but OK, I can't resist---he really should at least check out Williams.</p>
<p>OK, I can't resist either, where is Williams? I think my son prefers the south or west because, at his ripe old age of 16, he feels like those locations are not so far from home, and the people are more likely to be like him. I personally think he would be ok wherever he ends up because he is really a likeable, laid back guy. Ultimately, his first love is football, and if the opportunity presented itself to PLAY somewhere, he would take it. He also wants to attend a good school where he can get a good education. Obviously, his attention to grades and ranking (which borders on anal) are a sign that he wants to attend an academically good school as well. </p>
<p>I really appreciate all of your suggestions.</p>
<p>Most colleges we looked at had an email form to fill out for contacting coaches. In certain leagues, NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference), for instance, preliminary contact can't be made by a college coach, so it's quite normal for a student athlete to initiate contact.</p>
<p>I am right now looking at the Williams web site. Thanks for the tip on the email forms. I am assuming they are on the websites. It is interesting that the preliminary contact cannot be made by the college coach.</p>
<p>Hubblegardner, can you explain what is meant by Williams + Rhodes = Davidson? BTW, the Davidson website has great links to the NCAA, with outlines of all of its extremely confusing procedures. Is there someone out there who has gone through this and can translate? </p>
<p>Williams, a very prestigious, highly ranked LAC that combines rigorous academics with athletics; Rhodes is a college your son has expressed some interest in. A Rhodes-like college that is on the level of Williams(academic rigor and DIV 1 sports) is Davidson.</p>
<p>ag54-
Ds#1 plays college ball now as a freshman. He is currently at a D3 LAC. However, he was while in high school being recruited for D1, offensive lineman. My best advice to you is 1)visit the NCAA website and acquaint yourself with the different rules and regs regarding eligibility, course requirements, when and how to fill out the clearinghouse forms, when and how to contact coaches or when they can contact you 2) figure out if he wants to play D1 or D2/3 ball or even D1-A 3) does he want/need athletic money for college or will financial aid be enough or are you paying for some of it 4) will he be going to college to play ball and get an education while he's there or will he be using football to get in and then playing to keep his education 4) what kind of climate does he like to play ball in (mine played in Vegas and is now playing Minnesota) 5) what kind of program does he want and last does he have any idea what he wants to do after college which would play into majors.</p>
<p>My DD (currently a hs senior) is also a recruited athlete and I feel like we have entered in major business negotiations. There are different rules in the NCAA depending on your sport. Football has different signing periods and contact rules than some of the other sports. Like I said familiarize yourself with the NCAA website. It will not only tell you rules/policy but links to what teams win/lose which coaches are going where, whose in trouble, and all new updates regarding the new SATs and course requirements. For example, for now NCAA does not and will not use the writing portion of the new SAT to determine eligibilty.</p>
<p>At this point I am sure I could write a book about this.</p>
<p>Feel free to ask questions.
Hope this helps,</p>
<p>ag54,
If you've found the website, I guess you've figured out that Williams is in the very northwestern corner of Massachusettes. Very rural, up in the mountains, lots of great skiing. Aso great D-3 athletics, and great academics. Here are a couple of articles I came across during our search 2 years ago:</p>
<p>Re: Davidson---A great call by Hubbell. I've never been there, but I know its reputation.</p>
<p>There have been some very informative threads here about NCAA rules and recruiting...I'll bet if you searched on Kat's username, you could find them.</p>
<p>Being a football mom myself, though S will NOT be playing college, I have seen a lot of boys on the school team go on to great schools because of their athletic/academic combo. I also know a lot of severely injured kids. When you look at the school, check the websites for the relative sizes of the positions your son will be playing and more importantly playing against. Check the athletic schedule and check what monsters are on the other team. It can make a big difference in safety and less importantly in your son's chances of being on the top of the coaches' lists at such schools. Someone who is pretty good though small in highschool can really get hurt in college. In my opinion, the southern schools tend to have some bigger players even in the smaller leagues.</p>