This forum is a wealth of information. Thanks for all of the great posts. My son is class of 2019. Tall CB, 6’2, playing 6A Football in Northern VA. Received All-Conference Honors as a Junior. 1470 SATs. Great tape from Junior Year. I posted his tape on a couple of the free websites and also filled out questionnaires for the Ivies. Received a couple of Junior Day invites/Game Day invites from the Ivies. Has heard from over 20 schools, mostly generic e-mails, but some personal e-mails from some of the top DIV III coaches, one of the NESCAC coaches indicated that he could give him an offer from film alone. Recently got back from one of the Ivies Junior Days and was pretty surprised by the numbers there. It was a zoo. He was told by the position coach that he would be tier 4 at all of the Ivies, which is great, but am still concerned about the numbers and getting lost in the shuffle at the Ivies. He is scheduled for a couple of camps at the Ivies in July. Based on others experience, how early do the Ivies start showing real interest from film alone? Is there anything else we should be doing at this point? Thanks!
My experience is that “real” interest, if by that you mean personalized emails, messages, etc., builds through the late winter and into spring. My son was getting some personal interest from a number of Ivys by this point, and it seemed to pick up after a series of junior day/unofficial visits we did over his spring break. I agree with you that the junior days in the Ivy were not really great. Way too many kids.
I would probably try and gauge whether interest picks up now that junior days (and spring ball) are over. I don’t know the level of the program your son played at, or whether college coaches generally visit during the spring contact period. But certainly if the coaches are coming in it would be a good sign if they are meeting with your son. I know Virginia generally is not thought of as a high school football hot bed, and for that reason it may take some time for programs to ferret out the kids they are interested in. But honestly I would hope to see some level of personal contact over the next month or so before I shelled out the money for the Ivy camps.
Best of luck to your son.
Thanks Ohiodad51! He played in the top conference in VA, so there is definitely some top competition. Penn State commit Ricky Slade, the top RB prospect in the country, played down the road. His school does have a history of sending FB players to the Ivies. I have heard that the numbers of players submitting film to the Ivies has exploded in the past three years, which could be part of the issue. At a recent Junior Day they indicated they were just starting to go through all the film and would be done by 4/15. He did hear recently from the head coach at a very top academic DIII school. Thanks for the input.