Ohio’s Hiram College assistant football coach J.P. Emond has seen just about everything a coach can see in recruiting.
It’s not rare for the small division three school to discover potential recruits exaggerating or flat out lying about everything from grade point average to average yards per carry. Coach Emond has seen kids pad stats and switch schools specifically for an easier schedule. He, like every respectable coach in any respectable program knows every trick in the book. So one of the biggest pieces of advice Emond can offer to any player trying to get on the radar of any college football team is simply to be honest.
Be honest. Be straightforward. Be genuine, and show as much interest in the school that you want to attend as the school shows in you.
Highlight Films
“When you start dealing with things like highlight films and statistics, many of those are against the weakest teams on their schedule that they just padded their stats with,” Emond said. “If you see a highlight film and you see that it’s the same team over and over again, right away we know something smells.”
How D3 Schools Recruit
Emond, along with his fellow assistant coaches search for recruits all over the country. “We use a shotgun shell. We just keep blasting it out there,” he said. “It’s a combination really, thank goodness for the internet. And then also your local connections and your relationships with high schools. We use recruiting services, some of which we subscribe to, some of which don’t charge us but charge the high school student…they will send us profiles…We also actually go to the local high schools, and the local high school coaches will provide us with contact information about the recruit.”
Test Scores and GPA
But if Emond doesn’t notice you, the coach explained that there are several ways to get the attention of any division three football program.
“First and foremost, and the most important thing is ‘Can the student get into the school and succeed?,’ so obviously we look at test scores and GPA,” Emond said. “The higher the test score the more the student is going to be recruited by many of the division three colleges because they tend to have very rigorous academics. But the whole idea behind division three football is based on the student athlete.”
Keeping Contact With Schools
Once you find and establish contact with the school and teams that you want to be a part of, Emond stressed the importance of taking the initiative of keeping that contact with both the schools and coaches.
The Friendly Email
Beyond just sending highlight films and transcripts – which Emond says can get lost in the shuffle of countless others that are constantly coming into his office – things as simple as a friendly e-mail can have an enormous impact.
“The more a student calls back when you leave a message, the more mutual interest there is,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with people reaching out to you almost much as you reaching out to them.”
D3 Football vs. D1 Football
On top of all that, Emond stressed the importance of being realistic. He points out that, although the chances of a D 3 athlete going pro is slim, that it isn’t unusual to see an athlete with D 1 ability playing D3. “Most kids play football for us because they want to be a student athlete and because they don’t want to give the game up yet.” He mentions “They only have four years of eligibility so they might as well play those four years. Some of these kids can get into a national powerhouse but some of these teams have over 200 athletes and two JV teams so its very difficult to break the roster. What we offer is the opportunity to participate early in your football career and for all four years.”
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