College football coaches see hundreds and hundreds of high school highlight films. The advent of Hudl has made it easier for recruits to get their highlights to prospective coaches.
But the flood of videos sent to a coach can make it harder for them to sift through all of them to find you. Well, how should you go about ensuring the best chance a college football sees — and watches — your highlight tape?
Here are five things to make sure your recruiting highlight video is top notch.
1. Get attention quickOne of the top mistakes recruits make is to not spend time putting their highlights in the right order. They will do it the easy way, the quick way to just get that video done. Take your time. The best 10 plays of your entire football career need to come first. Some coaches in top programs are getting 100 videos a day. Many coaches get far more than that. You have to stand out quickly. Your first play should be a "Wow!" play, meaning that everyone who watches it has no choice but to say "Wow!"
2. Don't waste timeDo not waste time with a five-yard out pattern where you made a basic catch and were tackled six yards later. That's basic. That's a waste of your time for putting it on your film, and it's a waste of the coach's time for asking him to watch it. Too many of those basic plays in a row, and your film will be deleted. I've zoomed through videos that were 15 minutes long, trying to actually find the highlights. Don't waste a coach's time.
3. Stick to gamesFor the most part, coaches don't want to watch your games first. Your highlight film should only have footage from your games, not practice, not shirts-and-shorts time. Stay away from those highlights. They don't really show coaches what they want to see, and that is real football in real pads so they can make a decision about you as a football player.
4. Show your athleticismIf you spent some time playing special teams then get some of those plays on your highlight film too. Find seven to eight kickoffs where you ran down the field and made athletic plays. Sometimes it won't be making the big tackle, but instead it is doing your job as a contain person, or something like that. So, show those plays off too. Coaches want to see athletes on film. These plays hold value for the coach.
5. Length of the tapeYour highlight tape doesn't need to be 15-20 minutes long — that's just too long. I recommend you keep it to no more than five minutes. In reality, most coaches are going to make a decision about you in the first minute. Giving coaches a 15-minute film might actually give them reasons not to put you on their list. That's a lot of film, and you might expose yourself on that long of a film, if the coach watches the entire thing. So, focus on a five-minute film. A coach who is very interested is going to want to see a few game films as well, usually. So, they will reach out to you for more film as needed.
Chris Fore is a veteran Head Football Coach and Athletic Director from Southern California. He consults coaches and programs nationwide through his business Eight Laces Consulting.
When making your highlight tape, be sure to get the best video clips of yourself and get to the point. Coaches see hundreds of tapes and grabbing their attention helps the recruiting process.
Photo by Robert Schlie
