Summer football camps and the best way to
put together your lineup for the recruiting processIt is always interesting when
talking with athletes about what their plans are for summer football camps.
These camps are obviously an important part of the recruiting process and
something that needs some serious thought from both the athlete and their
parents. But what is interesting when talking to athletes is them telling me
that their dad has signed them up for State University and that they will be
going to other big time programs around the country.
If your family has
money and you grew up following USC, Texas, Ohio State, or any other national
powerhouse, then there is nothing
wrong with going to their camps for the experience. But if you go in thinking
that you have a chance to get a scholarship offer from one of those schools,
chances are extremely high that you will end up mistaken. But in order to get
the best bang for your buck and be evaluated during the football recruiting camp
process, here are some things to consider before mailing in that check or
entering up the credit card number of your parents.
There are many summer
football camps that are on the same week. What I would do in this situation is
to think about all the schools that have been showing you interest at this
point. I am talking interest as in more than a camp invite and a questionnaire.
For example, ten schools are showing you interest and have sent hand written
letters as well as invited you to games. On top of those ten schools, two
programs have already stepped up early and called. One other has stopped by the
high school and spoken with you.
Now go to the website of all thirteen of
those schools (this will be time consuming but good to keep a handle of things).
If you search around on their football page, there should be a link that says
camps (there may also be a camps link on the main athletics page that has camp
information for all sports). Now get a calendar and write down the dates for all
the camps that may apply to you. There may also be other senior only camps that
need an invite so see what the coaches say if you speak to them.
What you
want to be doing here is getting a feel for where the dates are of the camps.
This will help you determine if you can get to camps at State University A,
State University B, and a school like Notre Dame. I would then try to rank the
interest that the schools recruiting you have shown. For example, the two that
have called should be on the top of the list. Then the ten that have mailed are
next followed by the one program that stopped by the school (expect them to drop
some camp invites out).
If money, travel, and time is not an issue, what
I would do is make sure to attend the two camps that called. They obviously are
interested in you so it is important to get evaluated at their camps. A
scholarship is the goal but being evaluated is what you need to do to get there.
These camps are ones that you should go to but I would hold off on sending back
the payment. The reason is because what happens if you signed up for four days
at this camp and then suddenly State University C comes to the table with a call
and the camps are on the same week. If no more calls come through outside of
these three, I would attend all three as well as a camp that may be great for
teaching and another stretch camp. A stretch camp is at a school that may be a
stretch but could be a dream if you can impress them enough.
In most
situations, you will also need to speak with the college coaches about attending
one day of camp. I will talk about this more later during the week but one day
of camp is definitely something you should be doing. If the coaches know what
they are doing, they should be able to evaluate you over that period and get a
feel for your skills. If they really like you, they will offer you. They may
still evaluate you but attending three days at the camp isn’t all that
beneficial, especially if there are hundreds of other kids there.
One day
camps are the way to go is that they save money and allow you more flexibility
in going to different camps. If you have the three camps that we talked about
above and they are all in the same week, then one day camps are the only way to
make this happen.
I would say once the month of May is nearing a close,
what you should do is re-evaluate the overall attention that you have been
receiving. Considering where schools stand with calls and then contact the
coaches yourself and speak with them about possibly attending one day of their
camp. In all honesty, if you are a priority to them and they know you will be
there, they should have more than enough time to evaluate your skills. This is
the best way to go about the camp process while saving money and going to
schools that really are interested in you.
