It is almost time to hit the circuit again already here in the Pacific NW and get out and see who the best looking prospects are. From time to time we share our thoughts and experiences with parents and kids on how this process works. The process of making it to college and turning Friday Night Lights into a college opportunity.
Now of course we have covered combines for years Once the main event for Coaches to attend they are in fact now a colossal waste of time and money for the most part.
We have covered recruiting services and the myriad of carnival barkers and snake oil salesmen who pull kids and families in every year for thousands of dollars with the promise that they will deliver. They rarely if ever do even if they make you believe they were the reason good fortune visited.
In it’s simplest form the process is simple to understand. The best athletes with passable grades are going to get the scholarships. All emotion and hype and press articles aside that is the reality. Our readers are sharp and you all get that. If your not very fast or very big or very gifted for your positions your probably not going very far up the ranks without some real luck or some real unique circumstances. Nothing will replace hard work and anyone can make it happen but knowing the facts of the way this works should help every athlete build a base from which to move ahead.
You see nothing will ever replace the High School experience. Nothing.
Not playing on Saturdays or even on Sundays. As great as those things are for the most part they do not fill the same space in the heart and soul that Friday Nights will.
Millions of boys have experienced Friday Night Lights. Focusing on playing in college is a full time job and should be managed carefully.
So embrace that and know that. Keep your eye on the prize because every waking moment of every week and every day your pursuing that collegiate dream your missing out on the greatest thing you may ever be a part of. It is like trading Gold Coins for Pennies. Not a very good deal.
Balance in all things is crucial. So as you plot out your recruiting efforts make sure you plan what your going to do. Try and hit some camps and clinics as you are able and of course work on your skills and your skill development on and off the field. And the one thing that will most assuredly make the difference for some of you guys is that you have to show some love.
Showing Some Love
We all get this right? Showing some love simply means taking an interest and getting to events at colleges. As simple as this seems I am always just shocked at how many kids are off at an exposure event with no Coaches at it while a college within driving distance is holding a 1 day mini-camp.
If you think the coaches are going to wait around until they are able to come see you and recruit you your wrong. It is in fact incumbent on the recruit to know when the schools are hosting an event and to do everything in their power to be there. Taking the time to get to a college event and to show that your invested in them is one way you can bet they will be invested in you. At least your going to get a chance.
Give Love To Get Love
I recently asked a Head Big Sky Coach what was his suggestion to kids on the rise and playing well in regards to landing an offer from his school? His reply was, “They need to give love to get love”.
The conversation went on to discuss the fact that the school and football program gets a lot of calls after the season is over from kids wanting to know how they can get recruited. Kids the Coach says he liked on paper and film but that he never got a chance to see live or to even meet.
How is he supposed to burn a full ride on an athlete who had chances to come to Junior Days and to camps but who never put out any effort and never showed?
The answer is he probably will not. More and more coaches are saying they are not offering a player who they do not see and evaluate in person. There is no doubt a crisis of confidence as more and more writers and bloggers and agents have stepped in to market kids. The “Noise” all that attention is generating is creating a situation where the Coaches at really good programs are going back to really wanting the 1-1 relationship and interaction. Because that is real. FB and Twitter and blog posts and stories can bend the reality to something better or worse then it really is.
There are not enough days in the open evaluation periods for kids or coaches to meet up on a widespread basis. So recruits have to show love to those schools showing it to them. If you have been getting mail and letters, phone calls, tweets, and or texts from a Coach and or school the message they are sending you is “we are interested”. That is a good place to go and visit and or pad up and spend a day demonstrating what you can do.
And if you do not make it to the camp or event at the College, regardless of the reason, it will usually divert attention to kids who the prospective school likes who did in fact make it.
In effect the unintended consequences of not showing up can be that the school thinks #1) your not interested or #2) that you think your too good for them. So network and communicate and give love to get love.
You do not need an “agent” or a “Middle man” to set this up. Call a school or coach and ask them what they have going and when? Ask them how you can come to them and show them what you have to bring to the table. Last year at PSU there was a skill position camp on a Thursday, a big mans camp on a Friday, and another skill session of the following Monday. The number or impressive recruits there was amazing and you know what? PSU offered quite a few of them right after camp and throughout the 2012 season. Those kids listened and went and showed love and ultimately they got love back.
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Let me help some of you out:
PSU Vikings
June 21 , 2013- Skills Camp in Pads at PSU
June 24, 2013- Skills Camp in Pads PSU
June 25th, 2013- Big Mans camp in Pads PSU
Oregon Ducks-
– Individual Camp is June 18-20. Full information, including online registration and printable applications is available by visiting: http://oregongridiron.com/camp
Oregon State Beavers-
June 22nd is the Day Coach Locey has stated Indivduals wishing to work out could attend
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/
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These Dates were just in my head from having asked. Please verify all these dates and make your own plans. You do not have to go for the whole week to a college camp. These dates I listed are all 1 day stops and all chances to get personal and get to know the Coaches and staff. Your efforts will not be in vain because the communication that will come from that will help you as a player and you parents too. Help you to figure it all out. Knowing how you did and how you fit in is as important as anything and it sure helps as you move into the 2013 season that you can say to yourself that you put out some love and went to the source where decisions are made.
Coaches keep saying it to me.
“We want to see these athletes where we can evaluate them.”
Go do it if you get a chance. Give Love to Get Love.
