BC Football Camp vs. NE Elite Football Clinic
StuAth15
1 replies1 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 2 New Member
Has anyone attended the Boston College Football Camp and/or the New England Elite Football Clinic? I don't think I can attend both, but I'm interested in knowing which camp would provide the best exposure to college coaches? It looks like the BC camp also has coaches from the Ivy League, Patriot League, CAA and NESCAC, similar to the NE Elite Football Clinic. I also have the feeling that the BC camp may have less campers. Any thoughts on these two camps would be helpful. Thanks!
15 replies This discussion has been closed.
Replies to: BC Football Camp vs. NE Elite Football Clinic
Otherwise I think they are comparable camps. You don't need to do both, I would actually recommend against it. You will be seen well enough in shoulder pads and helmets by enough coaches that matter to make the appropriate contacts. There are very few non-overlap coaches which would make the effort of attending a whole other camp worthwhile.
If there is a dream school in the conferences you listed, however, and a coach will be at one but not the other, by all means go to the one where your favorite school will have a representative.
At whatever camp you attend, make sure to have a snapshot of your unofficial junior transcript and your SAT or ACT score report, as well as a quick resume of your senior classes, cumulative unweighted and weighted GPA and any quick honors that MATTER. President of Student Gov't or Captain of your team or an instrument is helpful to paint a quick picture of you to bring back to the home office from a camp. Just make it brief. Like half a page, max.
Also, by snapshot - I mean take a cell photo of these documents that you can send on the spot at camp from your phone during a break. They are constantly evaluating you over the day and will be sorting kids out all day long as to how well they fit the needs of their program and how hard it will be to get the kid through admissions.
We never attended the BC camp, but NE Elite gets bigger every year. Last year was 1100 kids with 700 seniors alone. It's a zoo - however, every school that recruited our son spotted him at NE Elite first.
There is no underestimating the value of attending at least one. GL
My S would recommend the NE Elite camp if you are looking to be recruited. Its seems to be in place for that purpose where the BC Camp is rigorous with little down time. Recruiting happens at both but, the BC camp is exhausting with a focus on training. There is little time for chit chat.
However, what I hear my S recommending to younger players is - if you are interested in a certain school or schools, see if they have their own camp. The coaches prefer these over the larger camps because they can run their own drills. They will want to see your interest especially if its D3. My S was pulled into the office of one top program in the country. That can't happen at larger camps.
My S was "discovered" before these camps took place, so most of the contact had already been made. The sell to come to their school just continued at these camps. He made other contacts but, by this point he had an idea of the division, academic school, etc. he wanted.
Every player/position will have a different experience with what worked for them. Not all schools are represented at these camps. There are many great ones out there that don't do this circuit. While some attend these and will still want to see you at their school as well. My S attended these larger camps with classmates that didn't get one look or have one coach approach them. The hardest thing to say to players is be realistic. You will see many great players. A smaller group may give you the best visibility.
1100 kids at the NE Elite Camp is a lot! I've been in touch with some coaches who will be there, but can you receive a good evaluation with those numbers? How may players are at the BC camp?
I will definitely attend a few one-day camps at colleges, too. I will probably select those based on interest I receive, unless there is other criteria I should be looking at?
Speaking of interest, when does that start to pick up for juniors heading into their senior year this fall?
I think a lot of the colleges go to these camps with names in hand already. If you are lucky enough to be in a position/drill that you stand out in, you have the potential to get some good contacts.
If you get even a form letter in the mail from a college and you are interested in the college, fill out the online recruit form and attach film. That may lead to a handwritten note or to a phone call. Then the camp invite will come or some such visit request. If you receive personal contact out of the gates, it pretty much works the same. Some colleges showed my son a ton of attention until he didn't attend the camp, apply to the college or wasn't what they wanted/needed. So, early interest can turn to no interest. This is why its recommended on this forum to cast a wide net and entertain everything. How much you want to manage is up to you.
Interest for my son I believe started in late Spring/early summer.
Hope this helps.
We went through the summer camp dilemma two years ago now. Here’s some of the advice I gave then, it may be a bit repetitive because it was culled from two separate posts. I think it remains relevant.
1- New England Elite is likely the best multi-school camp if you are looking for academic colleges. It is heavily attended by the NESCAC and D3 coaches, and many head coaches. The individual Ivy camps are also attended by many NESCAC and other D3 coaches. My suggestion would be to try really hard to work out the dates for NE Elite, and also figure out which schools you are most interested in and find out which Ivy camps they will have coaches attending.
Get your tape and other info into the hands of the coaches BEFORE the camps. Unless your child is a superstar, it will be very difficult to attract attention at these camps without having first made contact.
I disagree that coaches are looking for position players. I believe coaches are mostly looking for athletes. I read a statistic somewhere that more than half of Ivy and D3 football players end up playing a different position in college than they played in high school.
And it's not too late, but will be in a couple of weeks. camps start in June/July, and all the Ivies still have camps open. Most important, however, would be to send out those emails and information to coaches NOW!
2- Every coach is going to tell you he really needs you to come to their camp so that "his coaches can work with you." It's all a lie. Coaches want you to come to their camp because their camp is a revenue generator for the coaches, period. If you're a good football player coaches will recruit you whether or not you go to their camp. If you tell a coach you're going to the camp of a competitor but not theirs, watch how much immediate attention you get from them. It means nothing.
3- Unless your times (40, shuttle, etc.) are so impressive that you're going to wow everyone at camp, camps are likely to do more harm than good. If your times aren't that great, coaches will weed you out based on times alone and won't pursue you further and you'll never get the chance to have them see your film. Alternatively, if the coaches don't have camp times for you, they will recruit you based on film alone.
4- If you decide to go to one or more camps - if it's a multi-day camp, only go for one day (even if they don't offer a single day, they will let you if you ask.)
5- Know that the NESCAC and other D3 coaches will go to most Ivy camps, but an Ivy coach will never go to the camp of another Ivy.
6- NE Elite is fun but it's a zoo. Over a thousand kids. Very few kids get serious looks there, but it does provide you with an opportunity to get some face time with coaches.
7- Start sending film and emails now, then send them regularly whenever you have anything that resembles news to report (eg, 1st quarter grades, awards, etc.) You need to make the coaches familiar with your name, etc., so that when you introduce yourself to them at camps they recognize your name.
8- If you go to one or more camps, you MUST(!!!!) take every opportunity to go up to every coach and introduce yourself to him. If you're going to go to camps and run your drills but not be VERY aggressive in meeting coaches the camps will be of little value.
9- Be prepared that if you want to go to a NESCAC school you will only get coach support if you apply ED to that school. More support with ED1, less with ED2 depending on how many commits they already have.
10- Know that the only players who get serious looks and offers at these camps are those players that the coaches are trying to "pick off" from D1 schools or, at the very least, schools higher up the food chain than them. All other players (which includes almost all of the players who eventually end up on their team) are recruited through the regular fall recruiting schedule.
11- The Yale and Harvard camps are, for the most part, D1 camps filled with D1 prospects who are entertaining the idea that they might consider going to Yale or Harvard (maybe to make their moms happy).
12- Don't forget about the high academic non-NESCAC D3 schools that have football programs - MIT, Hopkins, WashU, UChicago, Carnegie Mellon. Your grades and scores may be good enough to get into one of these schools with coach support.
It's an exciting time, but filled with much stress and uncertainty.
Try to enjoy the process.
Best of luck!
Interest for my son started early - in the fall of his junior year - but that may have been because he attended several camps - including NE Elite as a rising junior. He attended several junior days and spring games in the spring (several unfortunately were on the same day), and beginning May 1, there were a slew of coaches that visited his school. He did 7 individual college camps last summer. In hindsight, that's too many. You don't need to attend a school's camp to be recruited, and I agree it's a revenue generator for the coaches - many of whom are not exactly making Nick Saban (Alabama coach) money.
It is exciting and stressful (all at the same time), but just be glad you play football. After hearing and seeing the horror stories about the difficulty of getting admitted to these elite schools, playing football is a great hook with admissions! Good luck!
Coach
It was worth it for the following reasons: 1) he got to measure himself physically up against a slew of other O-linemen; 2) he got to experience the "raindeer" games that these camps reflect, and it prepared him for his rising senior summer; 3) he did get a little exposure to the few coaches that actually spoke with him (again, juniors are not who the coaches are focusing on); and 4) he got to visit a few schools while we were there for general informational tours. It did not hurt that we have relatives in the area, and that the camp was within driving distance of the DC area.
Bottom line: if your rising junior wants to attend a camp this summer, and his grades and courseload are perhaps in the ball park for some of these schools, and the expense and time to attend is not that onerous, than by all means, go. You get good bang for your buck, and get to hear Coach Papa give his rousing speech to the campers. That alone is worth the price of admission!
We are trying to decide between the NE Elite Football Camp and the Boston College Football Camp. The thread posts above are VERY helpful, but I am wondering if there is some new information from those that attended one or both in 2015.
My identical twin boys are rising seniors, good players (a QB and a WR/Y back) that were all-state in Utah in 2015 and are also high academic kids. Not sure if that means anything in the northeast U.S. but they would like to go to a high-academic college and play football while doing so.
If we are going to drop serious money going to Boston for a camp for a week, my guys need the best (most) exposure possible. NE Elite sounds like a zoo, but may provide the most eyeballs. They do list the schools and coaches that will be in attendance, which is very helpful. BC sounds like a much smaller camp (~300 according to a phone call today with BC) and notes which conferences will have coaches attending but they don't name the schools or coaches.
Any thoughts? Many Thanks.
If what you are really looking for is solely an "aggregator" camp to get your kids in front of the most coaches possible in a one shot deal, I might look for one a bit closer to home. I would be willing to bet a lot of high academic NESCAC and Ivy coaches will go to Stanford's camps, as an example. I am also pretty sure there is a "NW Elite" as well as a "NE Elite", although I do not know who attends the later.
Either way, the very first thing I would do is get your guys hudl highlights together and reach out via e mail to your area recruiting coaches for some of the schools which peek your interest. See who responds, and what they say about camps.
One last point, but check your state's rules on summer camps. Some states prohibit shoulder pads, some even prohibit helmets. If I recollect correctly NE Elite is a "shells" camp where there is a fair amount of contact. If Utah doesn;t permit pads or maybe even helmets, its not going to do you much good at all.
Good luck.
There is a "NW Elite" camp, but it is only 4-hours long with >600 kids and no time set aside to speak to coaches. Many of western colleges attend including most of the PAC 12. One problem we face out here in the Intermountain West is that there are very few good camps (one exception is the All Poly camp in Salt Lake City) and very few D2 and D3 schools. In addition, Utah is kind of out-of-the-way and not on the typical recruiting circuit for colleges. We've got some good players around here but we ain't Cali so many colleges just fly right over on their way to the coast.
A private coach that we know has had some good luck with kids getting noticed at NE Elite and suggested it to us, then an Ivy League coach mentioned the BE camp. We have heard that NE Elite draws a lot of great academic kids that are good (but not a lot of 5-star) football players. Anyone know if that's true?
I will go out on a limb and say you will not see any four or five star players at NEElite. Unlikely you will see vey many three and two star players either. Looking at the commit list from last year, and assuming the reported thousand plus attendees is correct, what you will see is a solid minority of general D3/NESCAC level players with a few higher division guys mixed in. Look at the commit list from last year, and think about it in terms not just of raw numbers, but in relation to 1,000+ attendees. If you think of it that way, then the fact that seven kids who attended ended up at Middlebury is maybe not as impressive of a statistic.
I do not mean to imply that camps like NEElite are not valuable, obviously many people found the camp well worth the effort and expense. What I suggest is you realize what it is, a opportunity to test yourself against a large number of high school and small college level players where you can see if you can spark some interest in a few colleges. If you can follow up on that interest by attending a few more specific camps, then it might be a good idea. But if you can only come out once, I wouldn't use the trip for NEElite. I would try and get some interest by sending around highlights and identifying and contacting coaches.
One additional suggestion I'd make is to think about how likely D1 is v.s. D3 (Ivy v.s. NESCAC, for example). Nobody wants to admit during junior year they might go D3 if they're good at football. However, quickly into the recruitment I realized I generally preferred D3 and athletically that's where I was generally getting attention.
In that case, I'd suggest taking a massive college tour and put face time in with coaches. Only do camps at specific colleges if a D1 is showing true interest like @Ohiodad51 says. My personal feeling is that it's very possible to get a D3 offer without a coach having ever seen you play live and that highlights can be sufficient. At D1 it can be hard to get an offer without having done a camp, but at D3s I'd wager most folks who also went to a camp with them got the offer in spite of the camp
Instead, a college like Bates my sense is wants to know that a kid can likely get into Bates academically (given the coach's support, meaning somewhat lower academic standards), and the kid shows he's genuinely interested in Bates should the offer stage be approaching. Having visited the campus will show the coach that you know what the college is about and remain interested. (I pick Bates randomly and not to offend anybody, but I did have several phone conversations with the coach asking me what I knew about Maine and the college)
I'm based in the Northeast, so it was more feasible for me to visit NESCACs etc ... I thus never took a massive college tour of say 5-10 colleges in a 5-10 day window. Instead, I made short day trips to several colleges on occasional Saturdays during the summer and early fall where I could sense in advance that there was at least some mild interest in me athletically and where the coaches thought the academics could possibly work--maybe needing to retake the ACT to get the score up just another point or two. In each case, I feel the visit helped secure that I'd get the coach's support with admissions.
To be clear, the visits didn't generate interest that hadn't been there. I think it was more there was a reasonable amount of interest before the visit, and the visits helped solidify them because it helped show I was serious and that I remained serious after having become better informed about the college. At some places, I'm fully confident I would have received an offer regardless. However, at one place that was a reach academically (but not an impossible reach), the coach acknowledged that he was more inclined to give me an offer because I visited 2 times
I also liked the D3 visits more than D1 camps. They were cheaper financially, less taxing physically, more informative about the college itself, and more flexible scheduling wise because I could choose the dates rather than having to work around the camp dates. Though the downside of D3 recruitment is that it can feel like it has dragged on forever.