College Football Scholarships and Recruiting

What You Need to Know About Football Scholarships. How To Get Recruited For College Football.

There are over 850 college football programs and more than 80,000 college football players currently playing college football. Football is the number one scholarship sport at the college level with more full-ride scholarships than any other sport. There are 248 NCAA D1 FBS & FCS schools; 170 NCAA D2 schools, 244 NCAA D3 schools, 85 NAIA schools, 68 NJCAA schools and 69 CCCAA Schools.

So you’re after a division 1 football scholarship, you have checked out the top college football schools and filled out football questionnaires,  so what’s next? Do you wait for the football scouts and coaches to read your questionnaire  and then contact you? You need to be proactive , read on to learn how to get scouted and recruited for college football.

Learn more about how to choose a football college and how the recruiting process works.

Everything you need to know about football recruiting.

Recruiting Links

College Football Admission/Academic Requirements Best/Top Football Colleges
NCAA Football Scholarships How to Contact College Football Coaches
How to get a Football Scholarship NJCAA Football Scholarships
NAIA Football Scholarships How the Football Recruiting Process works
How many College Football Programs are there How to get Recruited for College Football

For most high school athletes and families the process of identifying the right football colleges, getting a coach to take notice, and making the best choice on a school can be very daunting. Below is an explanation of the different scholarships and how coaches use football scholarships at the various division levels.

How to Get a Football Scholarship

Getting Recruited for Football

The process of getting a scholarship first starts with getting recruited. Most athletes and families think that recruiting doesn’t start until their senior or maybe junior year; that is not that case. In an effort to get the best players from each recruiting class, coaches are looking at athletes as soon as their freshman and sophomore years in high school and sometimes earlier. Coaches are restricted in contacting you early in high school, but they can view online profiles of athletes and watch video of them if it is available. That is why we recommend every football player create a free online profile and get their information online for coaches to view.

You can create a free online football profile by clicking the parent or athlete button on the left-hand side.

Here is more information about college football recruiting.

How Football Scholarships are Used by College Coaches

Each program has different rules for how they like to award football scholarships and how they evaluate players. The most important thing to understand is that every college football team has more players than scholarships. Coaches use scholarships to try and get the best players for the most important positions on the team. The rest of the roster is full of players who are known as walk-ons, meaning they are part of the team but not receiving an athletic scholarship. Because each division level is different, the breakdown is as follows.

NCAA DI FBS (Football Bowl Series)

This is the top level of college football. These programs have 85 scholarships and all scholarships are full-rides; there are no partial scholarships at this level. Every year a coach can hand out up to 25 new scholarships, not including the scholarships they might take from a current player and give to another. When most people think of college football, they think of the FBS level. However, even with more scholarships than any other division level, 80% of the opportunities to play college football fall outside of the FBS level. It’s always good to pursue the dream of playing for an FBS program but your recruiting efforts should include other division levels as well.

NCAA DI FCS (Football Championship Series)

This is the second level of college football, formally known as DI-AA. These programs have 63 scholarships per team and can divide their scholarships up and give partial scholarships. The level of football for FCS schools is still very high. Many times athletes, who could have played at the FBS, chose to play at an FCS school because they could come in a play right away or the school was a better fit for them personally. While not all scholarships are full-rides, the vast majority of the time, coaches give full-ride scholarships to the most important players and positions on the team.

NCAA DII

Football programs at this level have 36 scholarships per team. Not all of the scholarships at this level are full-rides and many times coaches divide them up in order to get as many high quality players as possible. NCAA D2 football is still very competitive and increasingly we are seeing athletes from this level go on to careers in football after college.

NCAA DIII

No school at the NCAA DIII can offer an athletic scholarship. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other forms of financial aid available for athletes. Many times schools have other combinations of financial aid that can often be a larger scholarship then an athletic scholarship you might have received at another division level. This division level can be a great option for athletes looking for a healthy balance of school and sports.

NAIA

NAIA football programs can offer up to 24 scholarships per team. The coaches can divide the scholarships as partial scholarships in order to get more high quality players on the team. The majority of high school athletes and families do not know about the NAIA division level. Here you can find a more relaxed recruiting process and opportunity to get recruited ahead of other players who simply aren’t looking at NAIA schools.

NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association)

These schools are known as Junior or Community Colleges. These are two year schools and are most well known because many athletes who are not immediately academically eligible to go to a four year school will play two years at a JC first. There are 85 scholarships per team for a fully funded program. However, most programs are not fully funded and in California, there are no scholarships at all. Playing at this level is best for getting exposure and maturing as a player, not necessarily to get a scholarship right away.

Football Academic and Admission Requirements

If you do not meet the Minimum standards required by the NCAA/NAIA and also the school of your choice then you wont be recruited. Being a great high school football player is only part or the recruiting equation. Here is a detailed brake down of the requirements for every Division level.

How to contact College Football Coaches

Don’t just rely on your high school coach to make the running for you. You need to be proactive and make sure that the football coach of you chosen school and those on your short list know who you are and what you are capable of. Find out what else you can do by following our tips.

How many College Football Programs are there

There are over 850 college football programs at US colleges/Universities covering all three divisions of the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA. Of these, 131 are are NCAA Div. I.

Best/Top Football Colleges

Here is a list of the best performing College Football programs over the last 10 years.

University of Alabama-Alabama Crimson Tide, Clemson University-Clemson Tigers, University of Georgia-Georgia Bulldogs, University of Oklahoma-Oklahoma Sooners, Ohio State University-Ohio State Buckeyes, University of Central Florida-UCF Knights, University of Wisconsin-Wisconsin Badgers, Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Nittany Lions, Auburn University-Auburn Tigers,University of Miami- Miami Hurricanes,  University of Michigan-Michigan Wolverines, Texas Christian University- TCU Horned Frogs, University of Notre Dame-Notre Dame Fighting Irish, University of Southern California-USC Trojans, Michigan State University-MSU Spartans, Oklahoma State University- Oklahoma State Cowboys, Louisiana State University- LSU Tigers,  Northwestern University-Northwestern Wildcats, Florida State University- FSU Seminoles and  Stanford University-Stanford Cardinals.

If you haven’t registered for the NCAA Clearinghouse Eligibility Center, do so here.

The best thing you can do for your football recruiting is attend camps and combines.


Check out where your height and weight stack up against college offensive football players and defensive positions.

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Learn more about football positions.

Learn more about offensive positions in football.

Learn more about football plays.


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