College Football Recruiting Made Simple

I am writing this post because of inaccurate information that I came across on the internet about football scholarships. They said that you could apply for football scholarships, and that sounded to fishy. So I am going to clarify. Football scholarships are awards that are renewable annually. These awards are a part of an agreement between the student athlete and the athletic team of the specific College or University that they will be playing football at.

Football Scholarship Requirements

Years ago football scholarships were not as strict. Now they require that you get a high score that corresponds to your SAT scores and this is just so you can be on the team. As far as receiving and keeping a scholarship there are specific requirements. These requirements may vary slightly from program to program. Generally to renew a football scholarship you have to maintain a specified GPA and pass a specific number of courses each semester. The minimun number of credits you are allowed to take is 12. Before I leave this topic I want to advise players, coaches and parents to be prepared to receive varying scholarships offers for college. One school may offer a full ride while another school may offer a partial. Just be smart and make a good choice with no pressure!

Many Players Don’t know Scholarships aren’t Guaranteed

Many future College football players think that once they get a scholarship they are guaranteed for 4 years. This is not true, actually this is a false belief that has been made popular by individuals who don’t have or never have had a football scholarship. They give a scholarship the term “full ride” making players believe that they will have their scholarship for 4 years. The truth is that you will find out that your scholarship is renewable every year and you have to sign it every year. Some years it may be a little bit more or a little bit less based on whether or not your College or Universities tuition decreases. On that note not every school provides their scholarship athletes with scholarships for books. And let me tell you in advance some books can total up to $500. Also some scholarships may not cover room and board, which is food and dorm room. This is why it is imperative or very important that you know and understand the terms and conditions of your scholarship prior to signing it. Good Luck!

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As a parent of a recruit you may be faced with difficult decisions while keeping your son’s best interest in mind. Your sending your son away from college and what you really want is reassurance and peace of mind. The good news is you will began to get a sense of this when communicating with coaches. Most college football coaches are parents themselves or have been a college football recruit at one point or another. With that being said that’s what makes my blog so unique. I have actually been through the college football recruiting process. I have been through the official visits, complimentary football games, College Football Questionnaires, contacting and being contacted by football coaches. I can tell you first hand it’s a stressful process from beginning to end. Once your son commits to a school the next step is the planning for their departure.

Parents worried about College Academics

If your son has a 3.0gpa right now you won’t have to worry to much because this is showing that he takes care of his academic work. But do know that most college football programs have mandatory study halls a few times per week. In my own experience we had mandatory study halls but if you had a 3.0 or above you were excused because you were doing good in your classes.

College Football Study

In college football study halls you have a majority of the team in a specified area usually a room in the library. You are closely supervised, attendance is taken and you may go to other areas for additional academic help. From my experience study hall helped me to form a relationship off the field with my teammates. Here’s how the schedule would look out of practice by about 6:30pm and in study hall by 7:30-9:00 or 9:30. Now in study hall you could get help from teammates or give help. Cell phones aren’t permitted so don’t think your son is in study hall texting all night.

Parent relationships with coaching staff

Parents should have a relationship with college football coaches. From my experience I had coaches that after games would just walk by my parents without acknowledging them. Now granted some coaches are in the zone after games, but it’s very welcoming and reassuring if a coach can atleast acknowledge a players parents. Anyhow parents should feel that they can contact coaches whenever they need to. If you have a concern you need to express that to the coaches. The coaches need to know before any bad situations develop. I have spoke with parents that were concerned about playing time and they told me that they told coaches their philosophies were screwed up and yada yada yada. As a coach myself that is the last thing that I want to hear but I will say that those parents should atleast feel good that the coach took the time out to speak with them. Also parents you should network with other parents and you can do this by the following:

Get to games early

Take advantage of tailgating opportunities even if your not cooking, just be there

Introduce yourself to other parents

Go to family day

Be supporting of your son playing college football

I’ll tell you from experience that my parents supported me from day one. I’m going to briefly share an experience of mines.
My first week of football camp I was ready to go home. I saw everything from teammates fighting, on the field the locker room and inside the shower. I saw coaches grabbing face mask and jacking players up and calling players the following: You are a fucking dumbass, cocksucker, pussy and other explicit terms. I also seen a player baracade himself inside of his dorm room refusin to practice. He ended up quiting after his parents came to get him out. But me I said it’s time for me to go.

When I had seen enough, I packed my bags and told my mom and she told me to hang in there. She said if I came home my car was gone and I agreed to it. I just wasn’t happy. I think partly because I was only 18 I’m surrounded by men, not like in high school. I was with mature players and it was like mentally I wasn’t ready. Performance wise no lie I did a great job, and I actually have footage of me playing and practicing as a freshman. But long story short my roommate came in while I finished packing, “Yo what you doing you” with his Yonkers, NY mentallity. And I decided to stay, and after I graduated I was glad that I hung in there. One thing to note is that Your son is going to need someone to vent to so be there to take his calls. And keep in mind that they may only be allowed to call you at specific times. Be encouraging and be supportive.

I gained so much out of my college football experience. It taught me discipline, to be on time, and to appreciate opportunities for education. It taught me networking skills and leadership skills. It made me tough, stronger mentally and physically and it definitely prepared me for the real world.
Train Hard
Coach Lewis

Today I wanted to reiterate what college football coaches look for when they are recruiting you. Some of you are ready to hear the things that coaches look for. That means that you have already contacted schools by the following methods; questionnaires, email or phone. Now you can throw away that idea of having a film is edited with fancy labels and video effects. Coaches aren’t looking for a game film edited by a movie director. They are looking for a player that is playing with a high motor from the beginning to the end of the film. A player that is playing full speed from beginning to end of every play. A player that makes a mistake and next play redeems himself. College football coaches are looking for disciplined players. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying if you get into to trouble you won’t make it. I’m just saying that if that is the type of player you are it’s definitely going to be very hard for you. I have had players on my team like that and they didn’t make it in our program. Actually there are a few players that fit that category, they lost playing time and during their senior speech they cried in front of the team about their bad choices during the college football team and how they regret it because their career is over.

College football coaches are looking for players that can represent their positively represent and contribute to their program.
They aren’t looking for a player that is going to be calling them at 3am because they got into trouble. However don’t take this the wrong way. If you need a college football at 3am about 99% of college football coaches will be there for you. Coaches are looking for players that are honorable even though they know you may make some mistakes. An honorable player is a player with character. Character means to do the right thing even if no one is watching you.
A player with good character will make good decisions on and off of the football field.

Before I get off track I want to talk about sending film in to coaches. Your film should contain 1 full game and a few highlight clips throughout varsity career. I’ll repeat, 1 full game and some highlights throughout your varsity career. This isn’t show and tell please don’t
waste coaches time by putting how good you were in midget football or freshman year or any other stuff besides varsity. If you want to put something that indicates your strength that would be fine as well. I myself have seen players putting clips of their work out on their tape. That would be fine as well. Before I close I just want to say if your going full speed the whole game then you probably shouldn’t send that game. One thing that coaches won’t want to see is you standing around doing nothing while the whistle hasn’t been blown yet. That right there my friends could mean the difference between a scholarship offer and nothing at all.

What college football coaches look for on film:

That last tip is starred because it drives coaches crazy to watch a film and see players running and adjusting their helmets and pads at the same time. Here is why: Can you run full speed while adjust these things? Hell now. So don’t do it!

Train Hard
Coach Lewis