<p>My son, a passionate and skilled football player, has made contact w/a number of coaches. He's got appointments for interviews and meeting w/coaches at priority schools (range of academic levels). He's signed up for a few "showcase" camps at colleges which will occur this month. Our goal, as parents, is to see him in a school that will nurture him both intellectually and athletically.</p>
<p>What's next? and
How do we navigate offers, if any? Seems like there will be a few from a range of schools.
How long do we wait around for top choices to make space for him?
Do we push for first choices, and if so, how?
Any other advice as this is the next step in the recruiting road for us and we're doing it on our own.</p>
<p>Hi, mom. Your son sounds like a talented athlete! I’m sure you’ll get some helpful replies here, but just FYI, there’s a forum dedicated to discussing the college admission process as it pertains to athletic recruits at:</p>
<p>How helpful is his high school coach going to be? Usually the coaches are pretty hooked in to the system. The college guidance geeks not so much. </p>
<p>I am speaking from personal, although limited, experience, where the public school guidance counselor had absolutely no clue about athletic recruiting.</p>
<p>Good luck. And enjoy the ride. The athletes generally have a different college application experience than non-athlete students, and people won’t understand.</p>
<p>For my D, the academic fit and general fit were far more important then the fit for her sport (they may not stick with it after-all and need to love their school choice without sport being a factor)</p>
<p>Keep contacting coaches at all schools of interest, research the school for academic fit and visit the school for fit (interview/meet coaches then - they will fit your schedule when you come to them unless out of town).</p>
<p>If you are not getting pressure from a coach to commit (D1 wont be easy to put off, but D3 you can generally wait till after you find out all acceptances mid spring), DON’T commit.</p>
<p>It was a very exhausting process I must say - but my D ended up in the perfect school and the perfect team - she begins this fall!</p>
<p>I hope everyone involved is telling your son to choose a school as if he broke his leg on the first day of practice and could never play again. Unless he’s good enough to go pro, there’s a reasonable chance the football will not work out for all four years (injury/interference with academics/new coach/. . .). (In fact there have been threads on the athletic recruiting forum about how many kids actually stick with their sport all four years.) He needs to be in a place he’d be happy to stay without the football component.</p>
<p>My S10’ HS classmate/friend plays football at a private college. He’ll be a junior this year. Freshman year he was red shirted and played full time last year. We’ll call him “S” .</p>
<p>A few important things you might want to ask…from talking with his mom and from what he has told my son…</p>
<p>Ask about their academic plan/requirements. At “S” school, they are required to go to the athlete study session from 7-10 pm each night. Even if they do not have homework that particular day. he uses the time to rewrite notes, study, etc. This has been key to keeping up grades. They report early morning for practice and again later in the day for weights training, etc. For away games, they miss school on Fridays sometimes. “S” did try to make his class schedule with Fridays off.</p>
<p>Ask about summer commitments. “S” does a specific weight lifting and strengthening routine daily as well as run 2 miles. My son does this with him once in awhile after work. It’s intense.</p>
<p>As a football mom (me too) you’re well aware of the extra work…just think to ask about those extras in addition to the football program. Maybe one of the schools offers that little something extra.</p>
<p>One thing to get a handle on is what level is reasonable for your son to play. One thing I see a lot of is parents who focus only on the big D1 schools when their son is not D1 material. What level of schools are interested in your son, and what kind of offers is he getting? Really hot D1 prospects already have several offers going into their senior year. If your son has not had any D1 offers you need to consider lower level schools. Even though D2 schools give partial scholarships they do give money. And D3 schools do not give athletic scholarships but so many athletes wind up with good scholarships and financial aid that it is hard to believe that the coaches do not have some influence in that area.</p>
<p>As others have said make sure your son would be happy at his school without football. I know a young man who went to a school that was not a good overall fit for him because it was the only D1 school interested in him. He got hurt almost immediately and did not even make it through his first semester. It was a school he would never have considered if it wasn’t for football. He had offers at quite a few D2 schools that would have been better for him, but he was so stuck on the D1 thing that he went to a school that he hated. Once football was over for the season he realized what a mistake it was for him to go to that school.</p>
<p>Do you have highlight videos? Did he send them out to coaches at schools where he would like to attend? What was the response? Did he go to any camps/combines? How was his peformance? How is his size compared to the requirements for his position?</p>
<p>Hi ProudPatriot,
Thanks for the valuable information. He’s sent out his film and received some favorable responses and he’s planning to attend some camps soon. I think your focus on the fit is very important to us. Thanks for sharing the helpful story as well.</p>