Well, then Wyoming or Montana might be problems! Really, people adjust pretty quickly. My daughter went from Florida with her 50 sundresses to Wyoming with fleece lined jeans and flannel shirts - in Sept. Really it is easy to adapt as they have tunnels and buses to get kids around. And when it is 25 degrees and ‘lightly’ snowing, I’ve seen kids in shorts and flipflops heading to the gym or to the student union. Sometimes on bikes!
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That’s a very good point, definitely no assumptions, we are just going with what we know. what we’ve been told and what we hope 
TBF in general, JUCO players are not getting much interest at the moment. The current situation for most JUCO players is that the early recruiting cycle has shifted for them and is dominated by the portal guys. D1 coaches tend to focus on building their rosters from available D1 transfers first, then the very top JUCO guys and high school 5 star players. Last season, a fair few of our guys (top 5 Cali JUCO program) were recruited to D1 programs but mostly way after the end of the season and some during spring ball.
In terms of my S’s ability, he started playing at age 13 so a lot later than most US college players. However, he works like a demon; he’s fast (also runs track), very athletic, strong, very coachable, his I.Q. is off the charts, and he knows the playbook inside out. He has caught up very quickly and had to beat out D1 bounce-back players to earn his current spot. He’s the most improved player on the team, is apparently “getting better every day”, and has mostly A grades on his transcript. His coaches are very impressed with him and have high hopes for him.
It’s still fairly early in the season, so we’ll have to see how he goes from here on out. The dream is still alive but the contingency plan is to apply to schools with D1 (FBS & FCS) and D2 programs and apply to BFA’s and BA’s. If an athletic scholarship offer comes in, great! but at the moment, we are focusing on mostly affordable football schools that also offer merit or arts scholarships to international students.
Lots of unknowns at the moment, we’ll just have to wait and see where we are at early next year 
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Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be fine.
We are in Western Australia, Football is a summer sport here as our seasons are opposite to the northern hemisphere. We spend Christmas morning at the beach and the holiday parties are mostly BBQ’s and pool parties. We’ve even had to cancel games in the past due to dangerously high temperatures. Playing in the snow or minus temps will take some getting used to, but his love for the game is such that if he ends up somewhere really cold, he’ll deal with it.
On the flip side, we fly out in a couple of weeks and have already bought heated stadium seats for his games, in SoCal!! 
Yeah, H and I are lightweights 
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The coaches keep reminding all the players that recruiting happens a lot later for JUCO guys now so they are not farming the guys out much at this stage. Things tend to heat up on the JUCO recruiting landscape much later now because of the portal.
It’s my understanding that the portal is for NCAA DI, II, IIl players at 4-year institutions not JUCO players and definitely not CCCAA players.
We are aiming at the lower-level D1 schools, basically, schools ranked around 50 and below. The top schools understandably have a preference for top national players from the portal and 4 + 5 star HS players; lower ranked schools may allow a little more flexibility? We have dropped Maryland from our list and Cincinnati is a reach school re football but so good re acting we decided to go for it.
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Two other schools that your son may want to consider/reach out to:
U. of New Mexico (currently ranked #90 for football), which I’ve recently learned has a lot of opportunities for film students. I don’t know if your son prefers the stage to film, but I thought it worth mentioning:
Georgia State (currently ranked #129 for football) is in Atlanta which is often referred to as Hollywood South. There are lots of entertainment industry connections in the city as well as at Georgia State itself, I believe.
All football rankings were sourced from this site. Additionally, I went ahead and pulled up the rankings for the schools I mentioned upthread. Some seem as though they may be too competitive for your son’s level of football, but others may not be.
The list in alphabetical order:
| School | Football Rank (as of 10-2-2025) |
|---|---|
| Appalachian State | 120 |
| Ball State | 131 |
| Baylor | 41 |
| Benedictine | Unranked |
| Bucknell | Unranked |
| Butler | Unranked |
| Colgate | Unranked |
| College of the Holy Cross | Unranked |
| Davidson | Unranked |
| Elon | Unranked |
| Fordham | Unranked |
| Furman | Unranked |
| Illinois State | Unranked |
| Kent State | 135 |
| Lafayette | Unranked |
| Miami U. (OH) | 94 |
| Middle Tennessee State | 133 |
| Missouri State | 124 |
| Northwestern (IL) | 76 |
| Ohio U. | 72 |
| Samford | Unranked |
| Southern Methodist | 45 |
| Syracuse | 68 |
| Temple | 93 |
| Texas Christian | 33 |
| Texas State | 73 |
| Towson | Unranked |
| U. of Central Florida | Unranked |
| U. of Kansas | 32 |
| U. of Montana | Unranked |
| UNLV | Unranked |
| U. of North Texas | 61 |
| U. of South Florida | 44 |
| U. of Tulsa | 119 |
| Valparaiso | Unranked |
| Wagner | Unranked |
| Western Michigan | 101 |
| Wofford | Unranked |
The list in order from unranked to highest ranked:
| School | Football Rank (as of 10-2-2025) |
|---|---|
| Benedictine | Unranked |
| Bucknell | Unranked |
| Butler | Unranked |
| Colgate | Unranked |
| College of the Holy Cross | Unranked |
| Davidson | Unranked |
| Elon | Unranked |
| Fordham | Unranked |
| Furman | Unranked |
| Illinois State | Unranked |
| Lafayette | Unranked |
| Samford | Unranked |
| Towson | Unranked |
| U. of Central Florida | Unranked |
| U. of Montana | Unranked |
| UNLV | Unranked |
| Valparaiso | Unranked |
| Wagner | Unranked |
| Wofford | Unranked |
| Kent State | 135 |
| Middle Tennessee State | 133 |
| Ball State | 131 |
| Missouri State | 124 |
| Appalachian State | 120 |
| U. of Tulsa | 119 |
| Western Michigan | 101 |
| Miami U. (OH) | 94 |
| Temple | 93 |
| Northwestern (IL) | 76 |
| Texas State | 73 |
| Ohio U. | 72 |
| Syracuse | 68 |
| U. of North Texas | 61 |
| Southern Methodist | 45 |
| U. of South Florida | 44 |
| Baylor | 41 |
| Texas Christian | 33 |
| U. of Kansas | 32 |
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Wow! Thanks very much for this list.
We’ve looked at and applied to some of these schools but certainly some I hadn’t thought of in the mix. He has already been accepted and has a merit scholarship at UNLV; he has yet to send in his pre-screen for the BA. They have remained undefeated this season and are currently ranked at 35 on CBS Sports. Dan Mullen is a great fit for that program. My S will be getting his coach to reach out once he has more film from this season. He has also been admitted to Missouri State and Coastal Carolina, both schools have mentioned scholarships but haven’t finalised the details.
I’m so pleased to get recent feedback re New Mexico. It was originally on our list, then I read a subreddit where they said it was really bad for film parts and only good for extras so we dropped it from he list. We will definitely revisit.
Yes, very interested in Georgia, we are looking at Kennesaw State also.
We were interested in Temple but then I read about how dangerous the surrounding area is so that kind of put me off it. What are your thoughts on Temple?
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Shouldn’t it be “from unranked to highest ranked” since that is the manner in which you listed the football programs ?
Great post. Lots of interesting info.
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Glad I provided my source, as that’s a big difference from unranked! I was just looking for a ranking…but I trust your family’s knowledge of football teams and rankings far more than I do my own.
Obviously, my football ranking source might be suspect, but these were some schools I dug in on a little more based on them not being super high-ranked:
-
U. of Central Florida: Offers a BA and a BFA and its BFA site describes Orlando as “an entertainment mecca.” Unranked football program.
-
Illinois State: Actors from here (per Google) include John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Jane Lynch, Sean Hayes, and others. Here’s the website on the School of Theatre, Dance, and Film (which offers a minor in stage combat…which I just think is cool) and the website on their acting major. Unranked football program.
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Western Michigan: Tim Allen is an alum from here (per Google), but so is Terry Crews who (according to Wikipedia) first entered on an art scholarship and then after his freshman year tried out for the football team and earned a full athletic scholarship. So, this may be a place that might be receptive to your son’s goals. It only appears to have a BFA in Acting, though there is a non-audition bachelor’s in film, video, and media studies, but that may not be as appealing to your son. Western Michigan’s program is currently ranked #101.
-
Temple (PA ): Outside of the BFA in musical theater, there is no BFA option. But the BA in theater with an acting emphasis requires an audition. The general theater option does not appear to require an audition. There also appears to be an Acting Certificate available (12-credits) available to students of any major. Football program is ranked #93.
I am not familiar with the immediate area around Temple. I have heard conflicting things, and I suspect some of it has to do with how familiar your son and family are with urban life. There are those who have serious safety concerns about it, and others who indicate that if typical precautions are taken for those who live in urban areas, that things are fine. I would check out the Temple forum to see more recent feedback and perhaps ping some of the people who indicated that they are currently at (or have children attending) Temple: Temple University - College Confidential Forums .
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Yes, North Philly is dangerous–even during the daytime hours. Temple kids are very aware. One side adjacent to campus requires either avoidance or extra caution.
Otherwise, students & young professionals love Philadelphia, but North Philly has always been a high crime area. ( Many decades ago, I ate at the safest diner in America which was owned by the police commissioners brother or brother-in-law. At all times, many of the diners were fully uniformed police officers (the rest may have been plain clothes officers). Never a worry regardless of the time of day.
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I knew something was off 
. I was thinking low numbers = low rank…but not in this universe! I just changed it.
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If football doesn’t work out, would he consider running track? Track seems to offer more flexibility/opportunity for walk-ons, etc.
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There is a huge difference between being ‘unranked’ (and I think that list may be just up to top 100 in the FBS) and totally unranked, like they haven’t won a game in years. UCF is in the Big 12 but that doesn’t put them on the same level as Holy Cross or Elon. Those FCS D1 schools may be a good fit for OP’s son, but it is a whole different recruiting game than the Big 12, ACC, SEC, and Big 10.
Mountain West (UNLV, UNM,) and Big Sky (Montana) conferences may be good fits too. There may also be connections from the JUCO coaches to these in the west as that’s where the western JUCO kids have traditionally ended up.
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That’s a fair point but he is not as competetive in Track as he is in football. Track is really a means to an end, he enjoys it but is just using it to maintain his football speed and stay fit during the off season.
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Some great advice here thank you, I will definitely look into the schools you mentioned.
The JUCO connection is an important point. I like to look at the current roster and archived rosters at schools of interest to see if there have been any JUCO and/or interernational players recruited at a particular program or buy certain coaches.
Some awesome suggestions here, thank you. I will defo revisit Temple and jump onto the Temple forum.
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I can understand that. My son started running track after his soccer coach recommended it as a way of maintaining speed and staying fit during the off season, although in my son’s case, lightning struck at his very first practice and he became a sprinter. It is an easier sport in some ways - because it is mostly individual, the coaches don’t need to build teams based on specific positions and there is more room to add people.
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It would be so much easier if my S chose track, the scheduling would be 100 times more doable as a theatre major. In terms of sport, he has played a ton of different sports but he is deeply passionate and totally committed to football
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My nephew is a student at temple and grew up a city kid and has no problems. We have friends who were in their bfa mt program and did have issues with violence and crime. How street smart you are may make a big difference. Temple bfa acting and mt are highly selective and I can’t Imagine that they will allow a student to also play football
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Hopefully he has been taught the proper way to tackle.
My dentist was a first team all-state linebacker in high school, received a football college scholarship to a D-1 university, was an instant starter, and broke his back twice (once as a sophomore and once as a junior). Shares that he should be paralyzed.
I asked him what happened and he showed me how he tackled—head first (as in spearing or targeting) and the final straw was when he tackled a fullback crown of helmet to crown of helmet. I was shocked and showed him the proper way to tackle an opponent.
My dentist is under 40 years old so his playing days ended just over a decade ago due to breaking his back for a second time due to improper tackling technique. Plus, for a D-1 linebacker, he had a small neck (size 17.5) which is another concern.
Even in high school many decades ago, our coaches would have pulled us out of a game or practice if any of us tackled in a head first manner. And we had great football players, many of whom went to D-1 schools including Notre Dame & Penn State & Ivy League schools.
OP, my point is to make sure that your son is using the proper technique when tackling; do not assume that his coaches have taught him the correct technique (which includes always tackling head up position).
Football players frequently endure lifelong injuries even if coached properly (constant pounding, although cornerbacks are less likely to suffer repetitive hit type injuries than are safeties, linebackers, & receivers).
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That’s very useful information thank you.
We come from a fairly small beachside town, population 5500. We have travelled a lot over the years, and after 2 years in SoCal, he is pretty streetwise. However, as I suspected, him playing football and majoring in theatre at that particular school would be the bigger issue.
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