CRASH COURSE

"YOUR" cannot be emphasized enough here. The experience for most Prospective Student Athletes (PSA's) will be entirely different. Even if multiple players on your team are pursuing their opportunities to play at the collegiate level, chances are all of your journeys will be different. You shouldn't compare anyone else's success or experience to your situation - nor should you have any negative feelings about yourself because of it. Your focus should be on your studies, improving your play on the field, and crushing whatever task you take on next. We're going to focus on you - no one else. Use your energy to control the things you can. Stars DO NOT matter. Rankings DO NOT matter. The only list you should be concerned with is the list on the coach's recruiting board that is in their office at whatever school you wish to attend.

1. KNOW YOUR OPPORTUNITIES

College football is not for everyone. You need to be realistic in your approach. If you are going to play in college, you're probably one of the best players on your high school team. Understanding your opportunities will provide you with the best chance to find success at the end of your journey. If you're not sure that you have what it takes, or maybe you're not sure how to even begin to find out - don't worry - you're not alone. Gather all of your athletic and academic information and start putting yourself a resume together. Reach out to your high school coach for help. It's key to understand that it is not your high school coach's responsibility to get you a scholarship. They oversee an entire team that, in most cases, have over half of your teammates reaching out to them for help as well. TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR RECRUITING PROCESS. No one cares more about your future than you and your family.

2. CREATE AN ONLINE PRESENCE

We also like to refer to this as "building your brand." There is no place where recruiting goes on more than online. College coaches no longer have to invest the resources they used to in traveling around the country, from high school to high school, trying to identify all of the talent thats out there. More often than not, chances are that if a coach is visiting a high school, they are there to see a recruit play in person that sparked their interest after seeing their athletic and academic information online. Make sure your athletic and academic information can easily be found online by college coaches to increase your chances of playing at the next level. Social media accounts can also help you out, but they can hurt you as well. Do not make yourself a ghost, but be smart with them - keep it clean.

One of the main reasons we started G.E.M. Class was to provide PSAs with a FREE Player Profile that is live and viewable to all college coaches. Over 7,000 coaches throughout the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, and CCCAA have profiles with us that allow them to login and check out our Player Directory. While that is just a tiny part of what we do - take advantage of the opportunity. Once you sign in, and fill out our recruit form, our Scouting Director will look over your information. Just like college football is not for everyone, neither are we. We only work with the best 400 PSAs for each year across the country, so treat your Player Profile like a resume. Fill in all of the information you can beyond the required info. A good highlight reel that is put together professionally can single handedly make or break you. If you need help with that, let us know if and when we reach out - or even if we don't - we can take care of it for you! Our Scouting Director can more easily evaluate your film than he can your contact information. If we feel like you have what it takes to become a part of our ELITE 400, we will reach out to you or your family directly and see if you qualify for our FREE Scouting Evaluation. If we do not reach out, keep grinding. Things can easily change for you in the future. Your profile will still be visible to ALL college coaches and they can reach out to you directly if they like what the see.

3. DO YOUR RESEARCH

Coaches know when they are receiving the same message you sent out to twenty other coaches right before the one you sent to them. One of the best ways to let a coach know you're serious about their program is to be personable. Including specifics that are attractive to you about their program can generate a higher response rate to your messages. We can help you craft your emails! The only way to write a good one, though, will inevitably require you to look into their school and/or program - so do your research. This is a good time to mention that this should be something you WANT to do. We're talking about your college education. That is something that no one can ever take away from you. Find a school that will allow you to be successful in life in the event that your football career ends after college.

4. CONNECT WITH COACHES

Football is all about relationships. Ask any coach you know. Same goes for your chances of playing at the next level. Build your relationships. Get to know coaches. More importantly, make sure the coach wants to get to know you. Five star athletes don't generally choose to go to UNC when they have offers from Alabama, LSU, and Clemson - but it happens. You want the coach to RECRUIT you. That means he/she will want to get to know you and they will do their best to make sure you know (without a doubt) that they have you and your families best interests at heart. It's truly less common than you think. Be prepared for these conversations so you know how to communicate effectively. If a coach called you today - would you know what to ask? What he's going to ask? We can help you prepare for these things.

It is EXTREMELY important to become familiar with collegiate rules and regulations in order to get the most out of your recruiting process. Understanding how to connect with college coaches and when it is and is not permissible to do so will give you a huge edge on the rest of the PSAs that your are competing for a spot with. Most PSAs are under the impression that recruiting starts their junior year. The biggest mistake you can make, in the event you want to play NCAA Division I football, is waiting until your junior year before you start getting to know college coaches. 85% of NCAA DI athletes are identified by their sophomore year. Coaches have to win to keep their job. In order to win, they need to recruit the best talent possible. Identifying elite athletes before other coaches is key to that process. There are numerous 7th graders today that have DI offers. Do not wait to begin to get your name out there. Below is a table that identifies what type of communication is allowed between PSAs and college coaches for each grade level.

NCAA DIII coaches can contact you day one your freshman year. They do not extend athletic offers. Instead, if they want you to play for their program, they will put together an academic package to pay your tuition and guarantee you a roster spot.

NAIA does not regulate communication between high school students and their coaches. There are regulations in regard to visits and tryouts. They also have guidelines for PSAs who are enrolled at another collegiate institution.

Nothing raises more questions by PSAs and their families than the recruiting calendars. The purpose of the calendars are to create a level playing field - in all aspects of the recruiting environment - throughout each division. More importantly, they are designed to keep the well-being of the PSA as the priority. The calendars essentially set the rules and regulations that govern the recruiting process. They specify who can be involved in the process, when they can be involved, and exactly what type of involvement they can have. According to the NCAA, "a contact occurs any time a college coach says more than hello during a face-to-face contact with a college-bound student-athlete or his or her parents off the college’s campus." While this seems simple, it can be a complex subject if you are not aware of the terminology and the periods the calendars are broken down to. If you and your family would like to have a better understanding of the recruiting calendars, create your player profile and we can go through them with you. The periods are briefly explained below.