NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

The summer is often a confusing time for high school football players. Leading up to the summer they tend to see a wave of camp invites from some major programs around the country. Most families reactions are the same, “Michigan wants to see me in camp! Where do sign up?” Their excitement level is off the charts. Who wouldn’t want to get recruited by a program of Michigan’s caliber? But before deciding to accept that invite make sure you ask yourself, “Is this camp right for me?”

 What families don’t realize about the camp circuit is that it’s a huge revenue source for college programs, most D1-a college football programs run several 3-4 day camps throughout the summer. Typically each camp will drawl in about 1,000 campers at 500 dollars a head. When student athletes arrive at these camps their reactions are typically all the same, “I thought I was going to get recruited at this camp, I don’t even think the coaches know I exist!” This is an understandable feeling, but one that can be avoided if a family asks themselves these 6 simple questions to determine whether or not the camp is the right fit for them. 

1. What type of camp am I being invited to?

    *Avoid large camps, the smaller the event the easier time coaches will have to identify and evaluate you. Aim to get into senior only/one day evaluation camps.

 

2. Have I been personally invited to the camp by one of the coaches on the staff?

        *A generic mailer inviting you to the camp is not a personal invitation. If coaches haven’t called or emailed you to make sure you will be attending the camp move the event to the bottom of your list.

 

3. Have the coaches specifically stated that they wanted you to come into camp to be evaluated further for a potential scholarship?

        *Be direct with college coaches, if you receive a camp invite you should call the staff to inquire about what their interest level is and why they want you to come to camp. The magic words you want to hear are, “Johnny we want you to come to camp to take a closer look at you for a potential scholarship.”

 

4. Am I focusing on schools that I don’t qualify for?

  *Everyone wants to play for schools like Michigan but the reality is not everyone will. Make sure you are targeting schools you qualify for both athletically and academically.

 

5. Am I putting all my eggs in one basket?

       * Too many times I see student athletes only focusing on camps of the top tier programs in their area. A student athlete from the Midwest will go to Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and then finishes it off with a stop in South Bend. Essentially what they have done is limit themselves to only getting exposure at the highest level. What about all the quality 1-AA, D2 and D3 schools in your area? Give yourself a chance to be seen by multiple schools at multiple division levels and you will increase your chance for success.

 

6. Will I have an opportunity to be seen by multiple coaching staffs at this camp?

      *Typically multiple staffs will work the camps of large schools. If you can get the opportunity to be seen by 5, 6, 7 staffs at one time you have instantly created a lot of bang for your buck. Make sure to call any program in your area that you are interested in to see if they will be working the camp you will be attending.

   If you ask yourself these 6 simple questions before you make the commitment to attend a summer camp you will have a greater chance of avoiding the summer camp recruiting blues. For further information on football recruiting click here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 12:17 pm and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.