We did ask if the HC if he can offer soft support, but he said that “offering soft support would end up not really helping in the [admissions] process.” I guess it means soft support has no value.
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westwave:
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understood. you can cross off that school. (unless you do RD to see what happens)
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there is a lot of uncertainty out there. i would encourage you to embrace that uncertainty and continue to learn and adjust. and “keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars” (casey kasem).
i wish you and your son the very best. -
FOOTBALL RECRUITING=BUSINESS. for those who have time, i would highly recommend, david claerbaut, “recruiting confidential” (taylor trade publishing, 2003). the author was a college professor (sociology/psychology) and also an athletic director of a small college in the chicago-area. the book focuses on his relationship with his step son, as he navigated football recruiting as essentially a 2 star recruit. (fast: legit 4.55, but small for big time football: i think his true height and weight may have been 5 feet 8.5 inches and 170 pounds even after bulking up). in the beginning, the son dreamed of big time glory (big ten), and in the end, the ivies and the naval academies recruits him hard. claerbaut recounts how:
a. western michigan assistant coach keeps calling but never offers a scholarship noting the head coach’s strict scholarship policy (the school envisioned him as a walk on)
b. a mid-level I-A school offers a scholarship in writing, and the son never hears from the school again.
c. bowling green’s urban meyer offers a scholarship, but meyer’s plan was to have the son play db, not rb (claerbaut and son never seem to realize this)
d. several coaches treat them like kings. a few months later, the coaches act as if they were paupers.
e. the naval academy’s slot back coach jeff monken (currently army head coach) made the father and son very comfortable. (at that time, head coach paul john ran the trip option).
f. the father thought that monken would serve as a good role model and another father figure for his step son, who did not have an easy childhood. when monken visited their home, monken said that his players talk to him about anything: school work, social life etc.
g. the father thought that harvard’s tim murphy was fidgety. murphy emphasized how attending harvard will make the son very financially secure. both navy and harvard see the son as a rb.
h. the father recommends the son to attend navy. the son commits to navy. at the induction day in july, the son decides not to sign the roll book, and decides to renege on his commitment. the father contacts harvard that month, and the son enrolls at harvard that fall.
i. unfortunately for the son, harvard took in a transfer from I-A school, and that rb set school records, and the son lettered 2x as db (and did not play much).
j. the son’s life course took a dramatic turn upon graduation from college, but not in a way that that neither the son or father could have envisioned. in the end, the father was right.
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@westwave I would not give up on applying to the 1AA high ranked academic school If it is your top choice. I do know athletes that were in similar situations (i.e., just missed out on getting a LL , were told if they applied and got in on their own they would be welcome on the team, etc.) and got admitted and played their sport.
The D3 coaches may understand and given the size of football rosters, if the 1AA did not work out, and you got into the D3, there would more than likely be a roster spot for you. Good luck.
Football is a little out of my wheelhouse, but I do know roster sizes are being reduced at many D1 programs. What is the trickle down impact on Ivy/D3? Football is not quite the same animal as high AI, sports like swimming and XC but I’d still expect some impact on roster depth.
NESCAC football rosters are limited to 84 for this fall after the limit had been expanded from 75 a few years back due to COVID.
I am not sure if there are limits at other similar D3 football conferences
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Yes, NESCAC limits the football rosters which I think is a good thing and the coaches would typically note that during recruiting. I didn’t know that the NESCAC increased from 75 to 84 for football. NESCAC football season is also shorter than most other D3 seasons which I felt was a recruiting selling point.
Many non NESCAC D3 football teams have very larger rosters of 100+ , with quite a few kids not dressing for away games.
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Many a walk on has received a scholarship as a soph or jr, even in D1. Last year the freshman center at CU became the started by midyear (and then Prime didn’t give him a scholarship so he transferred). Sometimes it’s being in the right spot at the right time, sometimes it’s good coaching, sometimes luck.
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Westwave:
I haven’t read every word on this thread, but from what I’m seeing, right now, your son has the choice of:
- Applying to Div 1AA school with essentially no coach’s support. If he gets in, he can be on the team. If I’m hearing this from the coach, I wouldn’t be that excited about potentially playing football at that school, because unless he develops, the coach doesn’t see a potential player in him. Plenty of the 30 supported recruits won’t see much playing time and will quit. Sitting the bench isn’t much fun for most players, and most quit when they see that they’ll never play.
---- He has to get in on his merits, and he can play football or try to walk on to other sports like rugby or perhaps crew. But he faces the same long odds of any other applicant there. And at 170, unless he grows, he’ll be very small in that league.
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Three-letter Boston D3 school: This sounds to me like a weak offer. Granted, that school is unbelievably difficult to get into, but a 30% to 50% chance at getting in sounds kind of meager to me, when there are other schools that will give him a 90%+ chance of getting in. Is 3-letter school that much more desirable than other elite academic Division 3 schools that could give him a guaranteed admission?
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UChicago’s EA requirement is odd, but if that can be done quickly and you can get a true commitment, that would be a true bird-in-the-hand. Will the coach really commit, or does that have to wait a few months to materialize?
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D3 Pittsburgh is likely the great school I’m thinking about. Will they commit? Is a 90%+ commitment from them better than waiting for 3-letter school? I’m really not sure that employers will make the distinction between that school and 3-letter school or U Chicago, should that happen. And I am someone who makes employment decisions.
I was recruited back in the Stone Age when the system was far different, but heard plenty of coach’s lies when I was recruited (one coach even made up a game that he said they won – easy enough to confirm that the game was never played) and saw the recruitment at my school at that time. I’ve also seen my roommates’ kids get recruited at elite D3, Ivy and scholarship programs. Part of the message is be wary of coaches, many of whom can be tricky with their words and some even ruthless. Find a way to force them to make a true commitment.
To me, it seems like the best option would be to go to the school that offers a real bird in the hand.
Granted, your son will certainly have other options, such as RPI, if everything goes awry, which I think is a great school with a comparable football team to 3-letter school. In my eyes, RPI is almost-elite and way underrated because of its small grad school, unless you need a lot of aid (they can be stingy with aid there, but do have some good merit scholarships). For some reason, admission there is fairly predictable based on GPA and test scores, and they admit 58%. You haven’t mentioned if you have need for aid, but if so, I’d highly recommend going for the meets-full-need school that offers a bird in the hand.
I simply don’t like what I’m hearing from 3-letter school, and in my opinion, would recommend that your son not make any commitment to the coach based upon it. Is the coach willing to support him if he makes an EA application with no promise to commit to 3-letter trade school (as their nextdoor neighbors call it)? I’d consider Boston FCS as an RD option if the admissions gods smile upon him, and he isn’t really that interested in playing college football. U Chicago is great, of course, if you can get some kind of formal commitment and your son likes the school. And it seems like he has or will have other options.
Good luck with all of this and to your son. I’d really like to see this work out for him.
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Additional thoughts:
Bear in mind that the schools mentioned have one thing in common - tremendous academics. Beyond that, Boston, Chicago and Pittsburgh are very different locations and locations alone shape the school vibe and college experience significantly. With an athlete, I like to look at the coach and the program as a critical factor, but as someone mentioned, we have to take the ACL factor into account. We’ve all seen career-ending injuries (along with the coach getting fired after the first year, which happened to me and my teammates, to our dismay).
Also, with 3-letter school and Pittsburgh school: I always get a bit nervous with schools that don’t offer the full breadth of classes. Your son may be STEM-oriented now, but so many kids change, and at the STEM schools, the major they want may not really be there. I went to Princeton assuming I’d be a STEM major, probably Chemistry, over the summer decided to sample some courses throughout the many departments and wound up as a psychology major, because that was what interested me the most. I would have had to really grunt through any STEM major, because I don’t have the attention to detail that it requires, even though my math and science skills have always been great. 17-year-olds change their minds a lot, and I did meet a grad student in college who actually was the only BS in French I’ve ever met (an MIT grad). It’s easier and cheaper if you don’t have to transfer if you change majors. (No one I knew ever would have imagined me as anything but a STEM major from when I was 10 years old through high school).
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This thread has an amazing amount of info and perspective. Thanks to all who have contributed. I’m bumping to ask for some input. I have a sophomore who just finished a pretty successful season (on JV but in a strong suburban county) and the idea of perhaps playing DIII or maybe even FCS is starting to appeal to him. He is in our public school’s honors program, has one AP under his belt, is taking 4 this year, so far all A’s, his PSAT is 97th percentile, his mom and I are thrilled and grateful.
I played DIII at a good academic in NY but that was obviously a different era (mailing vhs tapes!). Can anyone share or point me to some references on the summer camp circuit? I see there is a “Jon Poppe” camp at Columbia, a Davidson “mega camp” and others. So apparently these camps have coaches participate from other selective schools? Is it helpful to attend? Should my son just try to go have an awesome junior season next year and instead see about getting “invited” to a summer camp the following year?
Many thanks for the thoughts. We are at the very early stages of all this (twitter here we come) so appreciate any other tips!
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Welcome to College Confidential! You will find many knowledgeable people here who can offer advice for you and your son. It would be best to start your own thread so as to not derail this one.
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My son is a senior and is committed to a NESCAC school for football. We concentrated on Ivy, Nescac, & Patriot League schools. The first thing your son should do is to get on X and start following the position coaches, recruiting coach for your area, & recruiting coordinator (if there is one) at every team he’s interested in. Have him post a highlight film from hudl and start developing a presence on X. Also, make sure his DM’s are open so coaches can DM him. I’d do that right away. He’ll start accumulating followers. You want to start that first because then coaches will start sending out camp invites for the summer (there’s a whole other conversation about generic versus personal invites). You want to avoid going to camps where coaches don’t know who your kid is, they won’t be watching him. We were very strategic in what camps we attended and the Davidson one was very good (that was where his Nescac school found him). Other good camps are Wesleyan & Yale (we did not attend Columbia). We also attended Brown, but we didn’t like that the camp was at night and they limited coach interaction after the camp to 30 minutes - they literally turned off the lights and forced everyone to leave. The D3 coaches will typically post on X which of these camps they’ll be at. It won’t hurt to start now so he can get on coaches radars. Feel free to dm me if you have more questions. Good luck!
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There’s solid advice here, but I’d add that your kid really needs varsity film or elite traits such as size or speed to get on coaches’ radar. Otherwise, most camps next year will be tough to get noticed unless he can truly dominate. A good plan is to get organized now by building a Twitter profile, posting Hudl film (even JV just to learn the process), and being ready to be efficient heading into next fall. Ivy camps, like Yale where D3 schools are present, can be worthwhile. For example, my own D1‑level junior actually caught the eye of a NESCAC coach at Yale last summer without the coach knowing who he was beforehand or having seen his film, so it can happen.
I would still recommend going to a camp or two so he can see the level of competition, which is really all over the place, and learn the drills so that he can dominate before his senior year. That in itself is worth the effort even if he doesn’t get on a coach’s radar right away. Your kid’s timing is solid for D3, though it may be a bit behind for FCS, but that is still possible as well.
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Thank you to westwave for letting me ride coattails on this thread. I considered starting a new thread, but since my son is two years behind westwave I think/hope my questions are adding some helpful context to “recruitment, timeline, and offers”.
Thanks to CTmom1971 and Bronc for the invaluable summer camp info (reminds me of the chaos that is AAU basketball, yikes). Also while doing some internet research I came across this super helpful vendor website that has a great youtube video about the Davidson camp, really great context: Over 200 Athletes Use PlayerData at the National Academic Camp
One thing I can’t get my head around - rising juniors being recruited for high academic FCS/Ivy? These guys are barely 16, are still growing, and generally haven’t taken the SAT or ACT, right? Not to mention in my county you don’t play varsity as a 10th grader unless you are really really good (or the varsity team has some big holes). My take is there are plenty of future college football players who play JV as a 10th grader, are still growing, and don’t have their SAT/ACT score yet. Can someone explain this timeline discrepancy to me?
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The recruiting timeline is a bit crazy. Here’s what I know right now, from both direct conversations and Twitter:
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FBS schools are already offering 2028 and 2029 kids.
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FCS schools began offering 2027s this past summer, but the bulk of offers will come spring/summer 2026.
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Some FCS programs are still making offers to 2026 players.
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Ivies and other high‑academic schools often include GPA/SAT targets with their offers.
So if your kid is a 2027, they’re not too late for FCS or D3. You may just be a bit behind the curve for FCS. The key point: most traction doesn’t happen until coaches see varsity film. Also, CTmom1971’s info in this thread is spot on.
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Some have been prepped for recruiting and have taken early SAT/ACTs, knowing that the schools want them. One of the kids on my daughter’s hs team had an older sister athlete so had taken early SAT prep courses and basically had a recruiting package. She didn’t have the highest scores, but she had some scores. Back in the olden days (circa 2012), sophomores were recruited for that sport, even by the Ivies, so those who were good at their sport knew what was needed for recruiting early. My daughter was not that prepared (and we moved during her sophomore year) and thus was never going to be recruited by the top teams (D1 or D3). However, she did just fine when SHE was ready for recruiting.
Then the rules changed and sophomores couldn’t commit to schools (but they were still recruited secretly). Now with NIL, all the rules have changed again.
If the sport typically has varsity and jr varsity teams (my daughter’s school did for her sport too, but daughter transferred in and immediately played varsity) the recruiting coaches know what to look for in the younger players.
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UPDATE / CAUTIONARY TALE FOR RECRUITING FAMILIES
Through the fall, our son received multiple offers from Top-20 D3 programs and selective liberal arts colleges, as well as an offer from an Ivy League Sprint Football team (weight-restricted < 172? lbs).
In October, we had a game-day visit at a highly selective 3-letter STEM school in Boston. Our son stayed overnight with football players in dorms and fraternity houses, and several other recruits were also visiting.
During that visit, I asked the head coach detailed questions,in front of other recruits and parents,about his admissions process and our son’s chances. He explained that he typically submits up to ~50 recruits to admissions (hoping to get ~25), grouped into three tiers (high / medium / low coach support). Historically, he said admissions accepts ~75–80% of the high-support group, ~50% of the medium group, and ~10% of the low group. He also shared that roughly half of his eventual recruits are admitted during EA, with the remainder deferred and accepted during RD.
Importantly, the coach told us multiple times that our son would receive his highest level of support. This was our third visit overall (two prior summer camps in 2024 and 2025). We were transparent that all of our other offers required ED, and that applying EA to this school would require us to turn down guaranteed offers elsewhere. When I asked how confident he was, the HC said he was very confident and encouraged us to proceed (turn down other offers). Based on that guidance, we declined the other offers and applied EA.
Day before Thanksgiving, our son had a one-hour alumni interview, and messaged the HC that the interview went well. The day after Thanksgiving, Friday evening, the coach followed up afterward saying he was glad the interview went well and that he was “hoping for good news in mid-December.”
Two days before EA decisions were released (this past Sunday, the HC texted our son ~9:30pm for the first time (previous communication had been via X), that he is hoping for good news and wishing him luck and using a four-leaf clover emoji. The next day, his position coach also texted wishing him luck and saying he hoped admissions would admit him. Naturally, we felt very optimistic, because we felt that coaches didn’t have to text him and we thought they probably knew how it is going to turn out.
Come (this) Tuesday, when decisions were announced for EA, my son was disappointed and somewhat shocked to find out that he was deferred (~66% of EA applicants were deferred). He had a missed from HC that evening (~8:30p) and couldn’t connect that evening; so, he left a message. They connected the following day. The HC shared that admissions admitted only 12 football recruits in EA this year, much lower than in prior years. When my son asked him if they were able to get recruits for his position (cornerback), he said no cornerbacks were admitted in EA (one safety was), and that he is still looking for 3-4 corners. He told our son he would continue to advocate for him and would speak again with admissions in January after the RD deadline and can let us know more.
As a parent, this was a difficult outcome—especially knowing our son had turned down multiple 100% guaranteed admission offers from excellent schools ((the one in Pitt, the one in Ithaca, etc) based on strong encouragement and good-faith communication.
Takeaway for other families:
Even with strong coach support, multiple visits, and positive late-stage signals, admissions at this particular school is a crap shoot. If you have athletic offers that come with a true admissions guarantee, weigh them very carefully. Sometimes, “a bird in the hand really is worth two in the bush.”
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I’m sorry your S didn’t receive the outcome he wanted. Hopefully he will be admitted in RD. He can also contact other coaches and see if their support is still possible in ED2 (where available) or RD.
It seems to me the MIT coach was transparent with his prior results. Your S decided to take what he thought was up to a 25% chance of a non-acceptance. That’s high relative to the other offers he had (typically given a positive pre-read, other elite D3s and Ivies have near 100% acceptance with full coach support.)
Although it sounds like the coach’s prior results didn’t happen this year, there is still RD to come. This is why it’s always been difficult for me to recommend recruits give up other choices for MIT. Most MIT coaches have lower success rates than what the football coach has (at least historically.)
Anyway, your S has to regroup after this disappointment, even though I know that’s hard. I hope MIT works out, but really encourage him to reconnect with the other coaches that offered him. Good luck to him (and you.)
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I am sorry this happened but I think this was stated many times in this and other threads. People like to think their kid is more special but this should definitely not come as a surprise.
Having said that, schools manage their EA numbers. Coaches/admissions make no promises for that reason. And lets be honest, the school will get the coach more than 12 football players. That he got deferred, in this instance, more likely than not means he will be accepted yet. They would almost certainly have denied him otherwise.
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Do you know how many recruits are in each of the high/medium/low groups every year? My son is in recruiting talks with an MIT football coach, but we were not aware of the groups.