This past Friday I was at the Crespi vs. St. Bonaventure game. I was on the sidelines watching the game visiting with a good friend of mine, and he started sharing with me a GREAT recruiting story that speaks volumes about HOW to WIN this game of college recruiting and INSPIRE you about what is possible in YOUR recruiting process.
My friend and I were discussing a STUD RB back in Southern California that was not getting any love from college coaches…college coaches were only looking at his variables: Height, Weight, etc. and they were missing the size of his heart.
They had not seen any film on the kid, so they just assumed based on his paper variables that he couldn’t play at their school. Well, my buddy started working with him on how to get his name out there; they started putting together a highlight video, putting it online and emailing coaches. One of the key components to his story is that when he would email coaches, he would use a UNIQUE subject line in his email…for example:
SUBJECT: I am the Running Back YOU need…; Running Back to help YOUR program; CA Star RB to help your program
Essentially, he was using subject lines that would peak the coaches interest, get them to open the email and then he would instruct the coach to check out his online profile.
***One key tactic he used is that he put his ONLINE PROFILE link in the signature of ALL of his emails…you never know who may end up seeing it!
Initially he began to generate some interest but no offers. Coaches either wanted to see his senior film or they were still a little weary on him.
This young man realized he had to turn his recruiting campaign into a PR campaign. He started contacting people at Scout.com to generate interest in him…as he began to build some hype around him he got his first offer.
Now, this is where things got good…he went from 0 offers to 8 D1 offers in a matter of few weeks. Once he got his first offer, he began to use this first offer to parlay it with the coaches he had been in communication with previously. He started emailing the coaches and letting him know that X school had just offered him a scholarship. He was TENACIOUS!
College coaches are just like you and me…they want what they cant have, so once they heard that one of their competitors had offered this young man they figured they should jump on the band wagon so they don’t miss out on a GREAT recruit. Let’s face it…the college coaches are going to POKER play you, so you gotta POKER play ‘em back. I hate to be so CANDID and I am happy to be so CANDID for your sake.
Later, he happened to be in North Carolina. He called up the coaches at the major universities across the state, told them he was in the area, and he asked them to stop by and show them his tape. His family drove around the entire state to meet with ALL the major colleges in the state of NC. By the end of the day, he had 4 offers on the table from NC schools.
This is a brief synopsis of HOW you go from 0 – 8 D1 offers in a matter of a few weeks!
So let me inspire you with you a couple of steps that will help you lead a more successful RECRUITING process:
1. BE HUNGRY and STAY HUNGRY – YOU will only go through this process once, so make the most of it!
2. PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE – this is YOUR PR campaign
3. ALWAYS have a way to get people to watch your highlight video – carry DVD’s with you like they are your business card or make up business cards with your online profile on it.
If you have any other suggestions or a great story please leave it in the comments section!
For more information on how to build your own PR Recruiting campaign go to: College Recruiting Videos
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I’m from California. While visiting my aunt in the midwest one day my dad stopped by the local 1AA college on a whim, walked into the football office and gave the coach my high light tape… I got offered a full scholarship the next day.
Upon joining that team, I found that many of my high school team mates could have started for this college team, but instead they were at home languishing at California junior colleges or out of football altogether, working at the gas station, solely because they were never ‘discovered’… Unlike the west coast, there are many many 1AA schools in the midwest that give full rides, but they don’t recruit heavily on the west coast because they lack the resources/connections/desire.
So don’t miss this opportunity to promote yourself to the several 1AA schools in the midwest. You never know what type of player they may be looking for… it might be you!
Illinois resident and “Libero” for sophomore volleyball high school team.
1st choice and 2nd choice school is Stanford University. Very interested in athletic
volleyball scholarship for Stanford. I am an honor roll student and love the game of volleyball.
I already sent Stanford University the internet questionnaire for recruitment.
What should I do next to get the coaches to notice who I am?
Mauri, glad to hear your 1st and 2nd choice is Stanford! “The Farm” is a GREAT place to go to school. Do you currently have a highlight video? The next step is put together a highlight video and send off the tools I talk about in the following post to the Stanford volleyball coaching staff – http://www.athleticscholarshipsecrets.com/3-keys-to-getting-an-athletic-scholarship/ If you have a highlight video online, I would love to take a look at it for you. Let me know how it goes, and if there is anything else I can do to help you out.