My coworker has a son who is a sophomore in HS right now. He's already 6'2, 170 and wants to play WR or safety in college. But he goes to a smaller school and doesn't have much info on the process of finding camps or how to attend Junior Day at schools. I'm sure with the wealth of knowledge on this board, someone could give me some info to pass on?

I'd love the same into for some of our players- it isn't listed on the calbears site at all..

I believe that with respect to making contact @ Cal, there us a link titled recruits on calbears.com. I also know that Rivals advertises camps and Scout and ESPN may as well. There is also the old standby, Google.

Also....try the web site Hudl. It's tailor made for athletes to market themselves. His team should be using it or something similar for game film distribution. You can telestrate the player in the play.

I can speak what is involved where I live - I would guess it would be about the same where you are. It depends on the position but there are numerous multi day skill camps at all levels of college ball. These are great opportunities to sharpen your skills and maybe catch the eye of a coach. For instance, if he were a wide receiver from a small high school in Texas I would focus on the camps at the DII and DIII levels,- around here that means Tarleton State, Harden Simmons, Abilene Christian, etc.

Some schools like UTEP and TCU have open tryout camps for all comers. You can give those a shot but understand they are cattle calls - you are measured, weighed, and run a few forties and pro agility drills. With wideouts, they usually cull 4-6 out of that cursory review to catch balls for the qbs they want to look at. The real big time school camps and junior days tend to be invitation only.

A key to marketing your prospect is good video. You want two tapes - one of your best 20-25 plays and a second of an entire game - preferably against a good opponent where your prospect shined. Within your 20-25 plays if you have a play or two where your kid beat a 2-3 star recruit, label who the star opponent is on the tape so that fact is highlighted. If your schools video guy is not good, consider hiring your own for at least a few games.

Talk to the hs coach, ask for an honest assessment and ask if he has contacts at colleges which seem like a fit. A well written letter from a coach with vidoe is a good way to get a serious look

Finally, it is expensive but there are recruiting advisors/ consultants who will guide and assist you through the process. One of the best known around here is Randy Rodgers - he markets the prospect to the appropriate level and has extensive contacts.

If all else fails, look at which schools have a history of a strong walk on program where kids have actually earned playing time. Around here that means Tech and TCU.

with a friend whose son went to a private, small school. Get good (not poorly done) game tapes to the position coach, with a schedule of games. The son is in the NFL, so it worked. Also make sure the coaching staff appreciates the kid's academic ability if the kid is looking at certain schools.

Great question which will get a lot of opinions. Here's mine.

First, do well in school! Stay out of trouble. Bad grades and off field issues are tough to overcome.

Film. As mentioned good film is critical. Most high schools hire a student to sit on the roof of the announcers booth and shoot enough video to be able to use for the teams film review, but they tend to shoot terrible video. They might have a Hudl account. Garbage in, garbage out. If your team doesn't shoot good film you either need to shoot it yourself or hire someone to do it. There is plenty of free software for making a highlight video. Try CNET.COM for free software. Make your tape no more than 4-5 minutes. Don't include marginal plays to extend the video. Parents tend to look through rose colored glasses and make tapes too long. Don't use crazy effects, slow motion repeats of plays, long intro's, nasty rap music, etc. Look at how Scout and Rivals format their tapes.

Important: Pick the 4-5 absolute best plays and start with them. Many coaches will move on if they aren't impressed by the first couple of plays. Get your coaches to help select the plays. What might look good to you might show terrible form or some other detrimental feature to a coach.

Publish the film on YouTube and send links in every communication you make.

Resume: Put together a one page resume with all your contact info, parents names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers, stats, GPA, test scores, awards, etc. Generate a .PDF and include with all communications.

Recruit forms: Most colleges have a potential recruit form. Take the time to go to the websites of any colleges you are interested and complete their forms. That gets you into their systems. Most will have a spot for your YouTube or Hudl video link.

E-mail letters to coaches, area/position scouts and recruit coordinators expressing your desire to play for their school. Always attach your resume and include links to your video.

Register and get profiles on Scout.com, Rivals.com, 24/7, etc.

Camps and combines: Look at doing SPARQ testing. Try to get invited to the Nike Football Training Camps (NFTC's). Attend camps at your top colleges. Possibly attend skills camps in your area. Get exposure.

Visit colleges, meet coaches and establish relationships.

If things don't seem to be happening you might want to get a professional evaluation as to your true skill. Aiming for a D1 career when you are truly a D2/D3 player means you might be ignoring the schools you should be talking to.

If all else fails you might pony up the money and put yourself in the hands of a recruiting agency like NCSA. Remember that their job is to get you into a school, but it might not be where you were hoping to go. There are tons of schools in the midwest and northeast looking for players. Most of the players are in the south and west. NCSA hooks them up. FYI their prices are negotiable.


Work hard, be persistant.

Good Luck!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the insights and feedback. This is exactly the type of info I was hoping for. I'm going to share it with my coworker and hopefully it helps. If there are more thoughts, feel free to post them. If he's got more questions I'll post those too. I think this helps get this started though. Cheers!:gobears:

I hadn't read your thread the other day. I would only add: make sure your friend is checking out Nike Camps. Our friend had a kid who went, found out he wasn't as good as he thought he was, but he then went to the strongest academic school he could (and he went to a great one), and played some D-III.