College Football Recruiting: Want to Get Recruited by the Best?
In a great article by David Fox of Rivals.com, Fox explains how the success of Urban Meyer is built on a relentless drive to be the best recruiter in the country. Meyer is known for being maniacal and willing to outwork anyone on the recruiting trail to get the best athletes he can. If you are a college football fan, it is a great article to read and see what life is like for one of the best coaches in college football.
If you are a high school football player looking to get recruited, there are a lot of valuable lessons to learn.
1. You Need to Work as Hard or Harder than Coaches in the Recruiting Process
Many recruits will read this article and assume that a coach will find them. That just isn’t the case. If you read the article closely, Meyer and Ohio State are focused on only the top 100 and 250 recruits. If you have any dream of playing major college football and you are near the bottom or not on these lists at all, you will need to contact coaches yourself.
2. Coaches don’t Just Show up at Your High School Games
While Ohio State might have the recruiting budget to just fly 800 miles for one day to watch one recruit, 99 percent of schools don’t have this budget. Most coaches try to schedule as many games as possible on one road trip; this means you need to get your schedule to coaches early and stay in constant contact with them to arrange a time you know they will be in town.
3. What Will Happen if Coaches Dig Around to Learn More About You?
There was a really excellent bit of information about how Meyer will look to learn as much as possible about a recruit and make up a game plan for recruiting them. Are you prepared to have a coach digging around in your past and personal life to learn about you? If you aren’t, here are some tips in preparing your social media accounts for the recruiting process.
4. Learn Something About Each School and Make a Genuine Bond with the Coaches
In the book Through My Eyes, Tim Tebow told the story of his time being recruited by Urban Meyer when he was at Florida. Meyer knew religion and faith were very important to Tebow and his family, and he made sure that during Tim’s visit, he got to meet with other Florida students who shared those same beliefs. Don’t expect a coach to just make the connection for you. Learn about coaches personally. Send them congratulations after big wins or when they sign a great recruit. Establishing this emotional tie to coaches can be the difference in getting an offer over another recruit.
Alcorn State University. Sports Recruiting.
Do you have questions about the recruiting process? Are you looking to play college football and don’t know where to start? Ask your questions in the comments section below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+!
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