We focused on camps that appeared to be taking my sons position for his class by researching current rosters. We then prioritized the camps that we felt he had a chance to truly compete. We also chose a couple of local MAC colleges to attend their specialist camps early in the camp season to get a feel of what to expect when we attended our prioritized camps later in the summer. It is a difficult puzzle to put together. Last summer my son ended up attending approximately 6 Ivy camps and 2 MAC camps. Film your player at the various camps if you can. We had collected a nice amount of film to then follow up with coaches after the camp season concluded. *Also the school my son will be attending originally stated they were not taking a LS in his class when we arrived at camp. Still have your player give their best on every camp appearance. Things changed for his school in November of 23 and they started the recruiting process with him. We realized how quickly things can change for specialists. Several of his friends both LS and Kickers also got recruited around that same time period so don’t give up and keep communicating with coaches.

What I wish I knew this time last year was that the recruiting process is an emotional roller coaster and be prepared for it to possibly last a year as a specialist. As a parent maybe try to harbor any of your feelings of excitement or discouragement from your player as they are feeling immense pressure. Be realistic and honest about the process but also be open to all opportunities for your athlete. We had a very large list of schools for LS and then narrowed by examining their current rosters. Attending camps is HUGE for the Ivy League schools and it also opened the door to many smaller high academic institutions as they too were present at many of these camps. We also explored taking a PG year and non football schools as a traditional student if he didn’t receive offers.