First I would like to start this blog by sending my condolences and prayers to the family of Jasper Howard and the Uconn football program. My thoughts
on the situation are the following: It is definitely a tragedy that another family has lost their son. The football community has lost another great player. On behalf of RMCFE.com we send out our thoughts and our prayers to the family of Jasper Howard and the Uconn community.

Adversity and College Football

Yesterday I went to the University of Rhode Island Homecoming game against Hofstra Pride. Unfortunately URI lost but I wanted to write this post because I spent time at the game with the Daniels family. This is the family of the young man I mentioned that I invited to stay with my and my teammates during our spring season for an unofficial visit. I was already plainning a follow up blog on that topic. But the idea was solidified when I spoke to with and his family after the game.

Football Players helping Football Players

As a captain I told them I felt obligated to help. I wanted Karl to be somewhere where school was free, family could support him at games and they offered the degree that he wanted. Now a senior he is overcoming adversity on the football field, and doing great in the classroom. To say the least, they were very appreciative, they couldn’t thank me enough for taking care of him. His mom said thank you for letting him stay with you before he actually came to this school. And I said it’s no problem I just wanted to Carl Daniels to experience the school, the team, night life (party scene) outside of an official visit. A lot of time an official visit consists of actors, or players who can play a good role and sell the school. But me and I’m sure Carl will co-sign I was 100% real with him, I told him about our record, the last time we were champions in 1984. And he made a choice without any influence from me and I told him that was the best way to do it.

The adversity that Carl like many other football players has to deal with, is a new coaching staff coming in his Junior year. I used to go against Carl Daniel in practice when I was a senior Shamel Lewis. I played offensive line and he played defensive line. We were like brothers off the field but on the field we gave it to each other. And I’m going to tell you as a 2 time all conference player, 2005 All New England player, 2006 best offensive lineman and 2006 captain that Carl Daniel shouldn’t be on the side line. He is to good of an athlete, he has great feet at a near 300lbs and great work ethics. But you do have to overcome adversity and sometimes it comes in the form of playing time. I told Carl like I tell other readers, other football players keep your head up. It’s hard to not just want to quit when your faced with adversity like this. But I’m behind Carl 100%. And on that note I will write a post in the near future about the impact of bringing in a new coaching staff.

Unofficial College Football Visits

Now I understand it may be difficult for some of you high school football players to go on an unofficial overnight visit at a college. But if you could it is definitely worth it. If you want to get a raw picture of how it would be to be a college football player at a particular College or University. You have to observe it unofficially. Somewhat catch them off gaurd so you can see how it really is.

I have been giving experienced based advice for 2 years. So I do have plans and approaches that families can take to go on unofficial visits:

The advantages of most of the suggestions above is that you will see the school in a natural setting. Not a stage that is setup to lure future college football players and their parents into commiting to their school. If you register for a campus tour you will get a guided tour of the campus as a student and not a football player. At the end of your tour go stop by the football office. Now you can catch the coaching staff off gaurd and see them in their nature state. They may be coaching, having meetings or anything but expecting you. Get to the game early and watch the team warm up, see how they appear to be getting ready pre-game. Is there something that stands out. For example Uconn huskies have a fan section called the dog pound. The fans are very intense in this section and I am speaking from playing on that field against Uconn and observing from the stands and their sideline. Something like that may appeal to you. And just so I don’t keep it Division 1a I’ll mention University of Delaware Blue Hens have a great fan base section in their stands as well, for a Division 1aa program.

Secrets the Pros use for fast 40 yard dash times!!

Recruits that need advice

If your a junior or a senior you should start looking at College asap especially if you haven’t spoken with any coaches or scouts. Some high school football coaches will with hold information from their players, in hopes of keeping them focused and humble. I’m not going to say this is necessarily a bad thing. But on that note I’m definately not saying this is a good thing. My take on the situation is opportunity knocks but it doesn’t necessarily knock more than once. I recently spoke to a player who said one day during practice his coach nonchalantly said “Hey guess who called for you? UNC! but you can’t talk to them until the end of the season” What is that all about…? I think many of my supporters will agree with the fact that by the end of the season UNC will have found at least 20 other skilled athletes for the same position. To some extent I told this player to use his own judgement, use the provided resources the College football Coaches Directory and College Football Questionnaires.

Coaches that don’t help

Atleast 10 times a month I speak with players or families of players who have a coach that gives them the run around about making films for them to send to colleges. Boy have I got a few solutions:

Recording your own game footage means you own it. Your in control and you don’t have to wait for any coaches. And with youtube and all these video websites forget about it, a recruiting coordinator is very likely to find you. Even if you don’t pay $100 to some promising football recruiting agency (Save your $100 bucks Youtube is free)!!! Also if you have that game footage on your hard drive you can edit it and do so many things to ensure your give the football recruiting coaches what they want to see.

The reason you can pay someone is because when there is money involved or you take a business approach things are more likely to get done. You could actually pay someone who does photography to record your game footage. Now you will have a professionally recorded game film to send off to coaches. But back to the title of this section, what good is a coach that don’t help. He shouldn’t be called coach. For the love of god coaches support your players whether you think they are good enough or not, they want game film sent to USC atleast give them that much. What does it cost like $4 to ship a vhs or dvd. If the player isn’t good enough let the school decide not you as a high school coach. The doctor told me I’d never run again when I was 14 after a car accident. Man I ran like hell and got me a full scholarship and played on TV a bunch of times. Don’t let No one stop your dreams. And before I close players do your part and get into the best shape of your life!
Train hard
Coach Lewis

Increase your 40 time-Adrian Peterson used this!!

How I got Recruited

…And earned a full football scholarship. Well it all started
around this time my junior year of High School. I was left gaurd and left defensive end at the time. I remember being pissed when they moved me from tail back, because nobody couldn’t tackle me. Not even the gauntlet. Actually it didn’t bother me in a selfish sense about moving from tailback because I needed to help the team. At last sentence is something that not enough football players appreciate. You need to help the team. I guess I was a better blocker. We went 7-3 my junior year. I was all conference and I was receiving my first few Football Questionnaires. I didn’t know what to make of them I thought they were pretty cool. At the same time I had no thought of even playing college football. My thought process being this is a new sport I just started playing as a sophmore I still don’t even understand the game. But the University of Rhode Island came and they liked me. I went to their junior day, toured the campus, and spoke with players and coaches. Then I came up and had free tickets to a football game. They were losing by 6 points with 30 seconds left and they broke a 60 yard touchdown to win it. Actually at that game I was the only recruit that the coach wanted to see in his office that day. I went on the sideline during pregame. They treated me real good. (now I get sideline passes all the time) Then I came up for an official visit. I ate all you could eat at multiple restaurants, went out with players to a few parties came back to hotel at about 5am and had a 7am breakfast then meeting. By 10am I had given them my verbal commitment.

Big decisions for recruits

Other schools came and they liked me. But I saw University of Rhode Island almost everywhere I went. I went to a New England high school football combine, I went to the Uconn Huskies football camp and there were scouts from everywhere not even just Rhode Island but there whole Atlantic 10 conference. Coaches began showing interest and telling me how good of a fit I would be for their program. Umass offered me, University of New Hampshire offered me and Maine just to name a few. But who I chose was the school that showed interest first and recruited me from jump.

Not only is picking the right college to play for a big decision so is every other aspect of the business. By business I am referring to the whole College and College football experience. You have to be satisfied academically. Make sure the school you choose has a reputable education program. You also have to be satisfied with the distance. Make sure your close enough or far enough away from home. Make sure you factor in the idea of your family coming to your games. Would they be able to afford it if your far away? If your playing college football at a school far away, are you games televised?

Don’t take recruiting personal

There are schools that may recruit you and bash other schools, perhaps schools that you are interested in. But take it with a grain of salt because after all its your choice not theirs. I think I did a recruit a huge favor, to help him make his decision I told him pick a time off the record and come up and stay with me and my roomates. This would help you get a sense of how it really is up here, aside from coming on an official visit. He came he had fun and it helped him make a decision. Also another reason not to take recruiting personal is because if you choose a big time D1a school and things don’t work out you need to be able to market yourself to those other schools you turned down and see what you can make happen. Most coaches like when a player can approach them and admit they made a mistake. Actually they admire that because it shows accountability and the emergence of a man. So don’t burn bridges with schools that are recruiting you even though your not interested. You never know you may need a coaching position, a graduate assistant position or something along those lines. Anyhow it’s my turn to help other players get recruited. I’m glad to be here helping all of you. mel@rmcfe.com
Coach Lewis