There’s a lot of talk around the internet from both kids and their parents touting a certain kid’s being a Division I FCS or FBS football prospect? What does it take to be legit? Here’s what the experts say.
We have lots of sources of information to access about this particular topic. We have been told we have the eye for spotting this level of talent too, and by the people whose opinion on the matter actually counts.
There is a way a D-I football player plays. There is a way a D-I football player looks. There is a way a D-I football player acts. There is a package, and colleges aren’t looking to get shorted for the investment they are about to make in a prospect from its recruiting territory.
We had a very good friend who was a FCS level recruiting coordinator for 12 years. He told KPGFootball this once…A Division-I level, college football player is elite in one of three critical areas. He has to be elite in either size, speed, or strength (Power, Explosion). Elite! Not good! Not even excellent! Elite! If he is elite in two of the three areas, he’s probably a FBS level player. If he is elite in all three of those areas, and he is probably a FBS, Power-5 guy.
We were talking to a Recruiting Coordinator for a D-II program. He told KPGFootball that for a HS player to be good enough to play either NAIA, D-II, or D-III college football, he has to be good enough to not just be first-team on the team for which he plays, but he would also start for any team, at his projected position, on any roster in his district and probably his region, depending on the kid’s home state.
We took the question to J.T. Powell. Powell is the Director of the very prestigious Appalachia Prep Combine (APC) and also affiliated with Carlos Younger and his Tennessee Recruit Status. Powell is also a contributor to KPGFootball.
Powell has been putting more Appalachia kids on college rosters than anyone in the mountain’s history and is known for being blunt. We like that about him, others aren’t too sure.
Powell, when we reached out to him said it this way…Man, if you’re coming to me with this “I’m D-I stuff,” then you are telling me, when I watch your highlights, you are going to look unstoppable. You should be making competing at your level of football look easy. If your numbers aren’t ridiculous, or if you aren’t making multiple bone-crushing highlights on defense, not only will I not be impressed, neither will the D-I college scouts I talk to daily.
Powell went on to differentiate between the Youth League guys and the high schoolers who he above addressed. For the Youth All-Americans out there, if you’re a skill player you should be scoring 4-5 TDs a game. If you are a defender, you should be completely owning the offensive backfield and making plays all over the place.
He continued by saying…Your film should speak for itself. You shouldn’t have to even tell me which number you are on the film. You shouldn’t need a cursor pointing out that you’re the player being featured. You should be so good that it is obvious which player you are.
Jeremy Pruitt, now head coach at the University of Tennessee, previously the defensive coordinator at Alabama, once put it this way…If I even have to ask which player I am supposed to be watching on a highlight video, the player isn’t good enough to play football for me. That certainly paints a clear picture.
Here’s the bottom line for all of you college football hopefuls out there…you can own every combine and prospect camp from here to Timbuktu; you’re not college football material until you come out under the Friday night lights and leave no remaining question about whether you can play in college to everyone at that game. You should stand-out. Your team should be substantially better just because you’re on the roster.
That ladies and gentlemen is all she wrote on that subject. End of dictation…Period!
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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