Senior Breakout Year
As you know by now, the best scenario for any high school football player to get recruited and land a football scholarship is to get on the radar of the college coaches early, even as early as the Sophomore year, but many football players, for one reason or another, do not start to show promising ability until their senior year.
If you are one of these senior year breakout athletes, you will have to work like crazy to even get your highlight video watched by the top level programs.
If you really do have a terrific video, by all means, get it out there to the public with the goal of garnering national attention.
Get your profile with verified measurables like your 40 yd dash, your vertical jump, and your bench press and the link to your highlight video posted on Rivals.com, Scouts.com, ESPN, Prep Nations, and GoBig Recruiting.
If you are really good, a Division I coach that happens to need your talent may take a look at your information.
Realistically though, you might want to consider and get your information to the the Division II schools and even lower level schools. Be honest with yourself, is your dream to play football at a certain big time program more important than playing football somewhere at the collegiate level and getting your college education paid for? This is the time to answer that question in your mind.
Walking on, could be something to consider, especially if it would help you start jockeying for a scholarship next year.
You might even play for a local Junior college and then transfer to the big state school. Use your head and consider all your options.
Tips To Help You Get Recruited At This Late Date
- Develop a fantastic highlight video, use excellent quality game tape and put together a professional looking video. At this point, the college coaches will have all but filled their rosters, if you do get few to watch your tape, make sure that it is top quality. Post your highlight tape everywhere…YouTube, Scouts, Rivals, Gobig Recruiting and so forth.
- Create a very professional looking recruiting profile, have it ready to send, and post it online to your personal website and to all the Internet recruiting sites like Rivals.com. Explain it the profile why you didn’t get the recruiting process started earlier. For example, were you injured s a Junior.
- Don’t just focus on in-state schools, broaden your list of schools to all Division levels all over the country.
- Try to get some local media attention. Good local publicity can work wonders.
Don’t give up until you get the attention of some of the coaches. Someone, a coach at some school may be looking for an athlete just like you, but it is up to you to get your information public. They cannot sign you if they don’t know about you. You must be proactive now.
Four Top Reasons Why You May Not Have A Scholarship Offer Yet
If you have done all the marketing that has been suggested in this program and you still don’t have scholarship offers, one of the following reasons by explain your lack of offers.
You have estimated your playing talent to be more than it is. This, unfortunately, happens a lot of the time as parents and high school coaches are naturally biased to see place your playing ability at a higher level than it actually is. It is a very real possibility, that you are simply not good enough for the schools where you have sent your information.
You failed to market yourself to enough schools across the country and at all levels. Quickly widen your search now.
Your highlight video is not of great quality. If your video stinks, it won’t be watched. Create a top quality video from quality game tape and get it public now.
Your numbers are not good enough for the college coaches to consider you. As we said earlier, some of them look at measurables first.
Composure Under Fire
It is a fact that during every game or in most practices there are many opportunities for someone to make a mistake that causes someone to lose emotional control. Either your coach, the referee, one or several of your teammates or even you will at sometime do or say something that may make you apt to blow your stack.
So what can you do to keep your composure when things get heated? That has been a question that sports psychologists have been working to solve for years. The experts have come up some simple steps that anyone can use to stay calm under fire.
- First, in order to keep maximum composure, you must recognize that mistakes are going to happen if you play sports. You must accept that they are inevitable. Everyone makes them no matter how skilled a player they are, and you will make them too.
- Next, you need to develop a strategy to deal with mistakes when they happen, and you should have this plan to regain your composure in mind before you engage in any game or practice.
- Then, you need to identify the things that cause you to lose it on the field. Knowing before hand what causes you to lose your composure is a big step in the right direction.
An easy way to start calming down when you start to boil is to remember the three R’s for regaining composure.
Recognize – First you must become aware that you are dwelling on the error, this keeps you from focusing on the next play.
Regroup – Next you have to break the debilitating circle of thought, you must challenge your emotions and convince yourself that your thinking is irrational. For example, say to yourself, I’ve trained for this and I’m good at it, just wait until the next play.
Refocus – Last, ask yourself, “what do I need I need to focus on to be successful in the next play, this will take your mind off your mistake and get your head back in the game.
What is Procrastination? How can it affect me academically?
Procrastination is putting off or avoiding doing something that needs to be done. This is a natural reaction. Excessive procrastination can lead to problems and can interfere with academic success.
In the spring of your senior year there are still many tasks that have to be done. Giving in to procrastination can affect your grades which will affect your GPA and which could affect your college acceptance. Colleges require a final transcript after graduation to look for these last minute grade drops.
How can I tell if I procrastinate excessively?
If you agree with five or more of the statements below then procrastination is a problem for you.
1. I often put off starting a task I find difficult.
2. I often give up on a task as soon as I start to find it difficult.
3. I often wonder why I should be doing a task.
4. I often have difficulty getting started on a task.
5. I often try to do so many tasks at once that I can’t do any of them.
6. I often put off a task in which I have little or no interest.
7. I often try to come up with reasons to do something other than what I have to do.
8. I often ignore a task when I am not sure about how to start it or complete it.
9. I often start a task but stop before completing it.
10. I often find myself thinking that if I ignore a task, it will go away.
11. I often can’t decide which of a number of tasks should completed first.
12. I often find my mind wandering to things other than the task on which I am trying to work.
Ten Things College Financial Aid Offices Won’t Tell You
1. You waited until April? Sorry we gave your money away. Many students miss out on financial aid because they miss deadlines. Yes, each school seems to have its own set of deadlines but you have to keep track or face the consequences.
2. Your mistake, your problem. If you make a mistake on your FAFSA form, the computer will spit out your form and return it to YOU, rejected. It will not be sent to colleges which may delay any action on your application. It is better to use the online form because it asks you to check on blanks you left and some obvious errors.
3. Our lower tuition means lower financial aid. Less expensive public schools tend to award less financial aid. You might get more at the more pricey private schools than you think.
4. You’ll pay dearly for early decision. Once you commit to early decision, the college “has you” so to speak. Why should they award you large amounts of financial aid. You may be better off skipping this option.
5. We don’t believe that you are poor. Some parents try to look more “needy” on paper by spending income. That method may not help as much as making sure assets are not in the child’s name.
6. We’ll judge you by your house and your car. Luckily the value of your home is not considered in most financial aid formulas. To calculate amount of financial aid, colleges calculate your expected family contribution from your adjusted gross income and assets. This does not take into consideration your real disposable income (high mortgage amounts, etc.).
7. We’ll let you borrow more than you can afford. Many colleges are not concerned if you will be able to afford to repay the loans you get. If you must borrow exhaust federal programs first since they usually have lower rates.
8. Outside scholarships help us, not you. Federal guidelines require that outside scholarship money (such as local scholarships) be considered as a resource in meeting financial need. That means you may get less from the college if you get local funds.
9. We won’t “negotiate” but we will “review”. Many college financial aid offices will be put off if you question their decisions and try to “negotiate” with them. Don’t use that word. Instead, ask them to “review” their decision and try to develop rapport with the person you are talking to in the office.
10. Think freshman year was expensive, wait till senior year. College tuition keeps increasing yearly. Costs for everything will go up over time.
NCAA Upholds Multi-year Scholarships
According the NCAA’s press release:
“Multi-year scholarship legislation, one of several measures the Division I Board of Directors adopted in the wake of an August 2011 presidential retreat, was upheld in a membership override vote that concluded Friday.
As such, Division I schools will have the option to offer scholarships guaranteed for more than one year.”
This new rule by the NCAA will no doubt be a huge recruiting tool in years to come with schools that offer multi-year scholarships having a distinct recruiting advantage over those that don’t, but you should remember that more that 62% of the member schools voted to override this new rule.
This means that while some programs may offer guaranteed mult-iyear scholarships, you and your parents should comb the fine print of the contract to look for loopholes that will let the schools out of the contract if you become a liability to their program.
As marketing specialists like to say, “What the bold print giveth, the fine print taketh away.”
As examples, what if you become a disciplinary problem, or if your conduct off the field becomes an embarrassment to the institution, or if you perform poorly as an athlete, can the school terminate the scholarship?
College football coaches will insist on ways to address these potential problems. Look for well-written contracts that will allow the individual schools the discretion of terminating the scholarships should the athlete fail to live up to expectations in any of these ways.
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