As a high school student athlete I was fortunate to be a part of an outstanding high school football program. During my high school career we made three appearances in the Ohio High School State playoffs, comprising a 34-4 record throughout my career.
As a 3x All-Conference and two-time All-State performer I started to earn the attention of college coaches at a young age. While attending a camp at OSU I actually earned my first unofficial offer from Buffalo as a freshman. At that point in time I started to become serious about the prospect of playing in college but like most families I didn’t really have a clue as to what was involved in the process.
My parents and I really didn’t know much about how the recruiting process worked and as a result I was often left confused on how I should be handling the attention I was starting to receive. Letters, phone calls, emails, it was all very overwhelming and I wished I simply had someone to talk to about how I should approach the process.
I was fortunate to eventually earn scholarships from several universities from throughout the country and ended up accepting a full scholarship to attended Northwestern University. Coming to a decision that Northwestern was the best fit for me wasn’t the easiest thing to do. In the end it came down to where I had the best educational opportunity. It had also always been a dream of mine to compete in the Big Ten and I was lucky enough to see that dream come true.
The recruiting process changes rapidly, year in and year out there are new rules and regulations that make this process more difficult to navigate through. As a high school student athlete I wished I had started the process sooner. I had always been actively involved in training and investing myself in being the best player I could be, but I didn’t really invest any time into understanding the recruiting process. It’s important that you take your time to explore every option you are presented with. The more you look into each school the better understanding you’ll have of what you like and don’t like and it will be easier for you to come to a decision on which school is the best fit for you.
