Last Friday, there was a game between Crespi and St.Bonaventure and I, along with another friend of mine, were watching the game. Most of our conversation centered around a thoroughly inspiring story that is in fact, a great recruiting story. After hearing the story, I started viewing my college recruiting process through a different perspective altogether.
It happened in Southern California where my friend came across a STUD RB back who was not a top prospect with college coaches. Not a fault of the coaches because they were just browsing through his credentials like height, weight, etc. and they had no understanding of his most important accessory, that is his laser-like focus.
The coaches believed that he could not play for their school. My friend took it upon himself to coach this player and wanted to launch him into success. He sat with the player to help him make an online video for his profile and started emailing the coaches of major universities. The main point here was that on the subject line of the emails, the player wrote a unique line such as:
SUBJECT: “I am the Running Back YOU need”…; “Running Back to help YOUR program”; “CA Star RB to help your program”
Essentially, he was using subject lines that would peak the coaches interest, get them to open the email and then he would instruct the coach to check out his online profile.
***One key tactic he used is that he put his ONLINE PROFILE link in the signature of ALL of his emails…you never know who may end up seeing it!
The young boy had clearly understood that his recruiting campaign would become a success only if there was a PR tilt in it. Hence he adopted his PR strategy. Important people on Scout.com were also contacted to generate interest in him. The huge hype created due to his PR campaign resulted in his getting his first offer. That was a great start for him. He then sent mails to the other coaches recruiting him that he had received an offer. This acted as a catalyst and offers started flowing in. The number of offers went up to 8 D1 offers.
College coaches are just like you and me…they want what they cant have, so once they heard that one of their competitors had offered this young man they figured they should jump on the band wagon so they don’t miss out on a GREAT recruit. Let’s face it…the college coaches are going to POKER play you, so you gotta POKER play ‘em back. I hate to be so CANDID and I am happy to be so CANDID for your sake. Later, he happened to be in North Carolina. He called up the coaches at the major universities across the state, told them he was in the area, and he asked them to stop by and show them his tape. His family drove around the entire state to meet with ALL the major colleges in the state of NC. By the end of the day, he had 4 offers on the table from NC schools.
So let me inspire you on HOW to go from 0-8 D1 offers in a matter of a few weeks (of course you gotta be able to play!):
1. BE HUNGRY and STAY HUNGRY – YOU will only go through this process once, so make the most of it!
2. For promoting yourself, you should cover all possible avenues. This is the PR age.
3. You should be sure and carry DVD’s with you so that you can show your video profiles to all concerned. Treat them like your business cards, and they must also contain details of your online profile.
Coach Chris Berg wants to share all his athletic scholarship secrets with you, so you can achieve your collegiate dreams. Stop by his site where you can get all of his Athletic Scholarship Secrets.
Tags: athletic recruiting, athletic scholarship, athletics, baseball scholarships, college recruiting, Football, football scholarships, how to get a football scholarship, how to get an athletic scholarship, keys to college recruiting