A good recruiting video can make a huge difference in your chances of getting an athletic scholarship. In many cases, your highlight video is your greatest shot to get the attention of a coach. Coaches look for specific things in video, and there are steps you can take to make your sure your video doesn’t get thrown in the trash.
Put Your Best Plays First
Make it a compilation of plays, with the best plays coming first. Coaches will make their mind up on viewing a video in the first fifteen seconds. If you don’t have anything to get their attention, they will turn it off.
Don’t Add Music
You should not have music on your video, especially music with explicit language. It’s all about first impressions; this is a recruiting video, not a music video. Coaches are watching hundreds of videos and having to listen to music they might not like isn’t going to make them like your video.
Use Spot Shadows or Arrows
Make yourself easy to identify. Use a spot shadow and/or freeze the tape before each play and highlight yourself with an arrow. Many times the video isn’t high enough quality to easily identify you on each play. Most coaches expect video to have spot shadows now.
Include Your Contact Information and Measurables
The first screen of every video should include your jersey number and team colors. Also add any sport specific measurements like height, weight, PR’s, etc. The last part to have on your opening frame is your complete contact information (your personal phone and email along with your coaches).
Get High Quality Video
The film your team or coaches use to break games down should be good enough. If you are going to need to record footage yourself invest in a good camera and use a tripod. Often times video companies can record your games for a very good fee if you don’t want to shoot it yourself.
Keep It Under 7 Minutes
The goal of your highlight tape is to show your best plays and get coaches interested. Most times, coaches don’t watch the whole video and if it is really long it can be off putting. If a coach likes your highlight tape they will ask you for more film.
Put Your Video Online
Put the video online so that coaches can see it easily—DO NOT MAIL DVDs unless it is requested by a coach. Upload it to a video-hosting site, such as YouTube, and send the link to coaches in our email to them.
Following these steps will help you create a highlight video that coaches want to see. The key is to create a video with just your best plays to keep the coach wanting more. Coaches do not give out scholarships based on a highlight video, but they can decide not to.
If you have questions about good video services to use or want to have our recruiting experts review your video, leave you video or questions in the comments section below. Also, check out our Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ and ask your questions there!
How do i get a big school like LSU or Alabama to recruit me
at such a young age like 10 yrs old in 5th grade or 11 yrs old in 7th grade?
Getting recruited by these schools you need to be one of the best athlete in the country. At your age I wouldn’t worry about it, I would focus on getting their interest once you enter high school. You want to begin going to camps and combines that Alabama and LSU recruits go to starting the summer before your freshman year. Good luck, let us know if you have more questions.
Sent from my iPad
But what if i really want to get it out of the way and get recuited early. If i work extar hard and keep my grades up. These are my favorite teams and when i graduate from high school in 2019 i want my oppurtunitys to be open. I think that by the time i get in high school it will be too late. Also is there a way that i can fly from new jersey to some of my favortie schools to check out the campus?
I am not sure what you mean get your recruiting done early. You won’t be able to officially sign for a scholarship until your senior year of high school. Visiting schools is a great idea. I would recommend you plan your visit at the same time as the football camps each summer. That way, you can work out in front of the coaches at camp and see the campus after the camps. I hope that helps.
I see what your saying. What i meant is that is there a way that i can get an early scholarship before my senior year like that eighth grader. Plus i dont know how to sign up for the camps or get there or have a way to get there. Say i wanted to go to a camp and its at LSU and i live all the way in New Jersey how am i supposed to get there with a family that doesnt have that much money.
The 8th grader (Dylan Moses) you are referring to hasn’t actually gotten his scholarship from LSU yet. What he has is known as a verbal scholarship offer, which isn’t official and doesn’t guarantee he will get a scholarship offer his senior year. If you aren’t going to be able to attend camp at LSU you can find a camp near you where you can get verified combine numbers. I wouldn’t worry about getting a verbal scholarship offer right now, it doesn’t mean you are guaranteed the scholarship your senior year.
Oh ok I think i can at least make an effort for it.
I need to make a tennis recruiting video; some of these tips do not apply. How should a tennis video be arranged? Personal introduction followed by ground strokes then serves and so forth? Is there a specific arrangement coaches prefer?
Tennis videos are pretty straight forward. Try to show your whole range of shots (serves, volley’s ground strokes), Also, get some footage of you engaged in some longer rally’s and show your court movement and footwork. The key is not to spend too much time on a single shot, 3-5 reps of each shot finished with some good rally’s will be good.
I’m pushing 5’5″ 120 lbs as a freshmen and I haven’t really hit my growth spurt. Is there still any chance that I can D1 get a scholarship as a QB or is that hopeless?
As a freshman there is a lot of time. The key is to do everything you can to get bigger and stronger over the next few years and then see where you are going into your Junior Year.
I started lifting a while ago, but is there anything else you would recommend to increase my size?
Height specifically is genetic. There isn’t really anything you can do to change how tall you are or when you will grow. Lifting weights and working on speed are the best things to be doing right now. Good luck.
I started lifting a while ago, but is there anything you can recommend to increase my size?
Thank you.
My son is high school Junior, 16 years old (Oct 2012) 6′ 4″ 245 lbs. AAA 1st all star Center for the Province on one of the best teams in the country. He is a 4.0 student set on studying Engineering – Civil & Environmental or Alternative Fuel Research. He is fast, strong with an excellent work ethic and is focused with goals firmly in place.
We have researched over 300 schools, organized them is order of preference based on academic standing in Engineering, size & location. Our challenge is getting our intros noticed by perspective coaches. Biggest challenge? He is a Canadian Kid!
We have a highlight video ready to go.
This is an excellent athlete that is smart with a remarkable work ethic! What advice do you have to get him noticed by coaches? What should we use in our subject area re emails?
Thanks for your time
gm