Lemming Prep Insider Mailbag
In this segment athletes, parents, coaches, anyone has a chance to ask me any questions they want whether its tips on recruiting, my thoughts on an upcoming game or even what I thought of the last season of Game of Thrones. As long as its relevant to high school football/recruiting or just plain entertaining I’ll consider it for this series.
RULES:
All questions are anonymous so nobody will know who asked it besides me.
No questions involving anything negative about a player, coach or team.
Please keep it appropriate.
In what grade do colleges start recruiting?
There is no one answer to this, but the best one I can give is this: early. To be more specific, there are some kids that have been recruited in middle school. When colleges recognize talent they want to get them as early as possible. D1 schools are the ones that try to recruit as early as possible IE: middle school. D2, D3, NAIA and JUCO schools will try to recruit kids early as well, but they usually do their heaviest recruiting a little later than D1 schools, as D2, D3, NAIA and JUCO schools jump at the kids that have D1 ability, but are being overlooked.
Fenwick got screwed out of a state finals appearance. Do you think that was the right call to let North play in the state title game?
It’s very tough to overturn that call. I understand Fenwick’s frustration and yes the refs did blow the call, but overturning a call such as that will open a huge can of worms for the IHSA. Schools will then start appealing other penalties in close games and all hell could break lose.
Should I send colleges my highlight tape or do they find out threw social media?
It is a good idea to send your highlight tape to as many schools as possible so you can gain exposure. However, if you’re a 6’0″ 220 lb OL you will most likely not get looks from D1 schools (in some cases you could get looks at a different position). I recommend that you sit down with your high school coach and figure out what division of college ball you can realistically play at then start sending out your film and contact info to those schools.
Also, there’s tons of free resources for athletes to get free exposure. Below are some questionnaires you can fill out that will be sent out to numerous college programs all over the country.
My son has great grades and is looking to play football in college. He isn’t very big so we are reaching out to D3 schools for him. Should we reach out to the head coach, the recruiting coordinator or his position coach?
Most D3 schools have a “recruiting coordinator”, but almost all the coaches including the head coach have a hand in recruiting. I suggest you fill out the questionnaire on their website and reach out to all the coaches. If they’re interested in you then a coach will reach out to you.
Why isn’t my son getting recruited?
This is a very vague question that I get a lot, but there is a lot to be uncovered in it.
Does/did your son play on varsity? Does your son have good size for his position? Does your son have good speed for his position? Does your son have good grades? Does his head coach speak highly of him? Is he a leader? What other sport(s) does he play? Does he get lazy in the weight-room or take plays off on the field?
These are some of the questions that college coaches ask before recruiting a kid. If all the answers to these questions aren’t what college coaches want to hear then that is a pretty good indication as to why your son may not be getting recruited.