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Football Recruiting Guidelines: How Do You Compare to the Average College Football Player?

IMG football player

Have you considered where you stack up next to a D1 linebacker or quarterback? To help you find out, we went to the source: college football rosters. We pulled data from all NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA football teams’ rosters for the past five years.

Coaches aren’t just recruiting student-athletes based on their measurements—they also have a list of skills those recruits need to have based on their position. So, our former college football coaches at NCSA came together to add the specific skill sets that college coaches are looking for in recruits based on their position and desired division level. 

How to use the football recruiting guidelines

To get an idea of what it takes to be a college football player, athletes need to consider both the desired skill sets for their position and their awards and varsity experience. Here’s why each of these are important to include:

These guidelines aren’t going to answer every question on how good you need to be, but they are meant to be used as just that: guidelines. Families should use them to get a better understanding of what division levels an athlete is best suited for. 

Insider tip: College coaches are always interested in seeing a recruit’s third-party verified height and weight. This shows the coach that an impartial measurer accurately captured these numbers, versus the recruit inventing them or taking them on imperfect equipment. The easiest way to get verified numbers is to go to a football combine, like the free Rivals adizero Combines hosted in various cities across the country.

Quarterback football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS

NCAA Division 2

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA

Runningback football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS

NCAA Division 2

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA

Tight end football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS

NCAA Division 2

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA

Wide receiver football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS

NCAA Division 2

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA

Offensive line football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS

NCAA Division 2

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA

Defensive line football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 2 recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA recruiting guidelines

Defensive back football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 2 recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA recruiting guidelines

Linebacker football recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS

NCAA Division 2 recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA recruiting guidelines

Kicker recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS 

NCAA Division 2 

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA 

To learn more about kicker recruiting guidelines, click here.

Punter recruiting guidelines

NCAA Division 1—FBS

NCAA Division 1—FCS 

NCAA Division 2 

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA 

To learn more about punter recruiting guidelines, click here.

Long Snappers recruiting guidelines

NCAA D1, D2, D3 and NAIA

To learn more about long snapper recruiting guidelines, click here.

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