Posts Tagged college football recruiting
College Football Recruiting – Look Out SEC – Alabama Rates No 1 As Saban Prepares to Go to War
If you think football in the Southeastern Conference is just a game that generates a ton of money for the schools and the NCAA that regulates it in a highly publicized environment, you do not understand what success is about in the SEC.
SEC games are not battles between teams, they are outright warfare with a fight to the last man standing won by heavy artillery (talent). That is why Wednesday’s (2-6-08) first day of signing letters of intent by high school seniors was so significant. According to several analysts, Nick Saban and Alabama ranked No. 1 with the nation’s best class of talent.
Among Rivals.com Top 50 prospects, Alabama picked up No. 4 Julio Jones, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound wide receiver from Foley (AL); No. 28 B. J. Scott, a 6-foot, 195-pound wide receiver-super athlete from Vigor (AL); No. 30 Tyler Love, a 6-foot-7, 290-pound offensive lineman from Mountain Brook (AL); No. 34 Jerrell Harris, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker from Gadsden (AL); and No. 35 Alonzo Lawrence, a 6-foot-1, 190 pound defensive back from George County (MS).
Add to that distinguished list No. 55 Mark Barron, a 6-foot-2, 202-pound athlete from Mobile (AL) and No. 60 Barrett Jones, a 6-foot-5, 271-pound offensive lineman from Memphis (TN), and no school in America had 7 of the Top 60 Rival.com prospects except Alabama.
Southern Cal had 6 in the Top 60, Ohio State had 5 and Notre Dame had 5. Notre Dame’s recuiting class was rated No. 2 by Rivals.com, Ohio State’s No. 8 and Southern California’s No. 10.
Nick Saban, the highest paid college coach at about $4 million a year, earned his pay. Saban was able to sign 7 of the top 11 prospects in Alabama. Auburn did not have a single recruit among Rivals.com Top 100 prospects; the Tigers came up sucking pond water.
Look for Saban and the Crimson Tide to start a concerted march to a higher place as a current Division 1A powerhouse and national title contender. Should the Top 60 picks stay injury free and reach their potential on the college turf, they will most certainly be playing in the NFL on Sundays.
If you are not stoked about Alabama football you need to live in another state.
Three other schools catch my personal attention because I have ties to Washington, Arizona State and Michigan State.
Ty Willingham’s Washington Huskies had the highest Rivals.com pick among these 3 teams with No. 57 Kavario Middleton, a 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end from Lakewood (WA). Middleton was joined by his teammate, Jermaine Kearse, a 6-foot-2, 175 pound wide receiver.
Washington also signed Everrette Thompson, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound defensive end from Burien (WA); Alameda Ta’amu, a 6-foot-4, 330-pound (yes, 330 pounds!) offensive guard from Seattle; Allen Carroll, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound offensive guard from Oakland (CA); Chris Polk, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back with 4.5 speed from Redlands (CA); and Jordan Polk, 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver with 4.46 speed from Portland (OR).
Washington’s catch is being called the best recruiting class since Reggie Williams and Charles Frederick in 2001.
The Huskies also picked up some speed with linebacker Kurt Mangum (4.59), cornerbacks Adam Long (4.45), Anthony Gobern (4.4) and Justin Glenn (4.5), safety Johri Fogerson (4.55), and running backs Demitrius Bronson (4.5) and David Freeman (4.4). Let me be the first to dub Kurt Magnum as Magnum P.I. (Personal Intimidator) and Demitrius Bronson as Death Wish Bronson.
All of this comes as a surprise as Ty Willingham, unlike Nick Saban, does not have a rep as a recruiter. The fact that redstart freshman quarterback Jake Locker started last year and impressed almost everyone with his agility, speed and savvy probably did not hurt a lick.
Scout.com rated Washington’s recruiting class as the 14th best among the NCAA’s 119 Division 1A schools. Look for the Huskies to finally win more games than they lose next year. If they do not, Willingham may be looking for another job.
Scout.com rated Dennis Erickson and his Arizona State Sun Devils class as the 17th best nationally. Among Erickson’s top prospects was Jack Elway, none other than the son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.
Jack Elway has his father’s arm but apparently not his speed. Nonetheless, he comes from an excellent gene pool. In addition to his dad, his mother Janet was an outstanding college athlete as a swimmer for Stanford University.
Here are two facts you may not know about John Elway. 1) He may have played football at Stanford University but he was born and raised in Port Angeles (WA). 2) He had 47 career game-winning or game-tying drives in the 4th quarter, an NFL record.
Mark Dantonio and his Michigan State Spartans (my alma mater, Class of 1966) did not fare as well as Washington or Arizona State. Other than any local coverage in Michigan and a little among Big Ten teams, the Spartans received zero national attention.
That tells me they ended up with the short end of stick, and that is indeed bad news.
Dantonio knows that Jim Tressel and his Ohio State Buckeyes are only going to get better; Dantonio was the defensive coordinator for Ohio State’s undefeated (14-0) national championship team in 2002. Tressel also won 4 Division 1AA national championships at Youngstown State, and his won-loss record as head coach at Ohio State is a stunning 83% (73-15).
If Ohio State is not enough competition for Michigan State, Michigan will cause the Spartans headaches as well since Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia to coach the Wolverines next year.
Michigan has won more games than any other team in college football history, and now along comes Rodriguez, who spent 7 seasons at West Virginia compiling a 60-26 record (69%) with 4 Big East titles.
Rodriguez, 1 of only 2 Hispanic head coaches in Division IA football, went 32-5 (86%) his last 3 years at West Virginia. Rodriguez is great for Michigan; for Michigan State he is two legs and bad news. The Spartans may get the snot kicked out of them by Michigan for the next 5 years.
I am praying that Dantonio can find a couple of nuggets among the scrap heap of players that are left over after all of the good programs have used up their scholarship allotments. The Spartans need talent and speed immediately, they do not have nearly enough at the moment.
The justified enthusiasm among Crimson Tide fans at Alabama does need to be tempered by the knowledge that recruiting is not an exact science. While we know that the sun will come up tomorrow, we do not know how these recruits will play out.
What we do know is that coaching can make average players better; Rich Rodriguez is an example. His recent West Virginia recruiting classes were rated mid-30s to mid-50s yet he led the Mountaineers to 2 BCS bowl wins in the last 3 seasons, and he came within 1 win of playing for last year’s national title.
We also know that a position player like a quarterback, who touches the ball on every play, can make a team much better. An example this year was Todd Reesing of Kansas who led the Jayhawks to a 12-1 record and an Orange Bowl victory. Reesing was rated a 2-star to 3-star player by the rating services (5 stars is best) yet he became a 5-star player when given the opportunity to do so.
Since many of these kids will become redshirts (meaning they will not play their freshman year) and become redshirt freshman (like Jake Locker of Washington) when they start playing their sophomore year. It may take all of 5 years to determine who among the many players just signed will become tomorrow’s stars and NFL draftees.
In the meantime, I will be praying for Mark Dantonio and my Michigan State Spartans. I view myself as an important intercessor as the Spartans have continued to disappoint in recent years. Wherever they have been I do not want to go.
Tags: bcs bowl, coaches, college, college football, college football history, college football recruit, college football recruiting, football, football history, football recruit, football recruiting, high school, quarterback, recruiting, recruits, rivals, scholarship, universityRelated posts
College Football Scholarships and How to Receive One
Most high school athletes dream of being offered college football scholarships.
The truth of the matter is that most will not, but don’t let that stop you from doing your share when trying to receive one. College football scholarships are not just for the best high school players. It’s just too few of those players out there and available to go around.
During college football recruiting, college scouts are also looking for players that are good, but has the potential to be great, once in their system. My brother and I were Blue Chip Athletes coming out of high school so we know what it takes to go through the college football recruiting process, and receive football scholarships. Believe me, it is a process.
Do you have what it takes to play college football? Consider the following…
- Passion. Do you eat, drink and live for football? You better, if you want to survive at a Division I school.
- Ability. If your ability level is pretty high, talent and skill drills will be force feed to you. You must have the ability to quickly learn offensive or defensive (depending on your position) schemes and more importantly, have the will to perform every day.
- Mindset. College for a student athlete is a grind, but your mindset will become your greatest competitive advantage if it’s well trained. You must be able to balance your social life, team mates, living arrangements, intense football schedule and your work. Thinking of work;
- Grades. Be sure you know the NCAA Eligibility requirements for freshman student athlete for the school you are looking to attend. You will be required to attend classes’ everyday and maintain at least a good enough GPA too remain eligible for the year, every year. Many schools have discipline rules in place just in case your grades become an issue.
- Exposure. When college football recruiting starts, will you be ready to market yourself? With thousands of high school seniors seeking college football scholarships, it’s not too rare that some athletes that have the ability to play Division I end up not receiving any Division I football scholarships.
Each college has a limited amount of football scholarships available and a limited amount of time to give them out. They can not possibly know about or recruit every athlete in the country.
Therefore, sometimes, you must make first contact. We tell high school football players all the time that, college coaches must know who you are before they can recruit you. We were fortunate enough coming out of high school to not have too worry about exposure. We played in a big time conference and against some of the best players in the state of Missouri.
But what really mattered was our commitment towards achieving our goals. How committed are you to playing college football on a full-ride football scholarship? These are just a few tips you need to consider but the most important thing is to set a goal and to do everything in your power to achieve it.
During college football recruiting, don’t expect scouts to come and knock on your door; (unless you are ‘blue chip’) be prepared to take some action. When talking with college scouts, be sure you have a list of questions that you would like to have answered.
Don’t allow the scout to ask all the questions. Remember, you want to be sure the schools you are seriously considering is a good fit for you.
Some questions you might consider asking are;
- How often during the week is tutoring available and is it mandatory for all student athletes?
- What is the graduation rate of your athletes?
- When is an athlete allowed to live off campus?
- How do I fit into your plans for the up coming season?
- How many players at my position are you currently recruiting?
- How many verbal commitments have you received from players at my positions?
- Are you planning to be the head coach for the next four years?
- How many college football scholarships do you have left to offer?
Questions like these give you great insight to the expectations on student athletes off the field, rules and regulations and the coaches’ plan. College football scholarships are easier to receive if you dominate on every single play.
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College Football Scholarships – Start the Search Now!
The hunt for college football scholarships really picks up come September. College football coaches may begin calling you once per week if you are a Senior and may being sending your recruiting materials if you are a Junior starting September 1st. You on the other hand may call coaches as much as you want.
Many of you will begin to receive letters and phone calls from coaches starting next month. Does this mean you are being recruited for a college football scholarship? Yes and No. The mailing of letters and initial phone calls is just the start to a long exhaustive recruiting season by football coaches. Colleges will mail our thousands of letters and questionnaires to players of every caliber. We have heard of players receiving dozens of letters, but not so much as a phone call after that.
Coaches and especially the Graduate Assistant coaches (each team has two) as tasked with calling up to 100 to 200 players a day. From the coaches perspective they want to start with as large of a recruiting base as possible by contacting literally thousands of players. If you make the inital screening you will be asked to send in a tape for review. Rest assured, all tapes are screened. Coaches can make a decision to see more, pass on you, or place you in a potential pile within minutes.
We have a detailed strategy in our book how to deal with these letters and phone calls to help navigate the recruiting game. It can be hard to tell who is actually interested in you and who is merely making contact to build a base. During the month of August you should be making your initial recruiting list of 50 to 100 schools that match your academic and athletic profile. Begin making contact with coaches in September and mailing out your recruiting packets. The real rush of college football recruiting starts in late October. It is best to make contact early to beat out the thousands of other high school players who want the same college football scholarship.
Tags: coaches, college, college football, college football coaches, college football recruit, college football recruiting, college football scholarship, college football scholarships, football, football coach, football coaches, football recruit, football recruiting, football scholarship, football scholarships, for college, high school, recruited, recruiting, scholarship, scholarshipsRelated posts