College Search
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College Search
Every Friday night, thousands of high school players put on the pads dreaming that this is their path to college football. Then the questions hit. When are coaches actually watching? Do my stats even matter? Who do I email, and what do I say? Why did that teammate get an offer before me?
The truth is that the college football recruiting process is not magic, and it is not random. It is a series of steps that college staffs follow to find players who fit their system, their roster needs, their academic standards, and their budget. Once you understand that structure, you stop guessing and start playing the game on purpose.
You do not need parents with connections or a high school coach who knows every staff in the country. You need information, a plan, and tools that keep you organized. If you are just getting started and want a clear overview, open Pathley alongside this article and ask yourself: How does the college football recruiting process work from freshman year to signing day?
This guide will walk you through how coaches actually recruit, what you should be doing at each phase, and how to build a realistic path from Friday night lights to a college locker room.
At every level, from Power Five programs to small NAIA schools, recruiting follows the same big pattern. Coaches identify prospects, evaluate them, communicate with the ones they like, and then decide who gets offers, who gets invited to walk on, and who they pass on.
The details change by division and by conference. Division I FBS teams have 85 full scholarships for football. FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA, and junior colleges all have different scholarship limits and financial aid rules. You can see official scholarship and participation numbers on the NCAA site at https://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/recruiting.
The important thing for you: this is a competition. You are not only competing against players from your city. You are competing against athletes across your state, your region, sometimes the whole country, and in many cases international recruits. The better you understand how the college football recruiting process works, the better you can position yourself inside that competition.
Instead of thinking only by grade level, it helps to think in phases. Most recruits move through some version of these stages, just at different speeds.
• Awareness: Coaches become aware that you exist. This can come from your high school coach, club or 7v7 coach, camps, combines, social media, recruiting services, or you emailing them directly.
• Evaluation: Coaches watch your film, check your height, weight, and measurables, look at your transcript, and see how you move in person. They compare you to players on their board at your position.
• Communication: Once you are on a staff board, communication ramps up. That might be questionnaire invites, camp invites, position coach texts, or direct conversations with you and your family, within NCAA contact rules.
• Decision: Coaches stack their board, offer a small number of players, and track who commits, who waits, and who moves on. You are also deciding which programs are actually a fit for you.
• Signing and enrollment: You sign your National Letter of Intent or other commitment paperwork, finish your academic and eligibility steps, and get ready to report to campus.
Pathley is built around these phases. It helps you see where you really are, what is missing, and which moves actually increase your odds instead of just keeping you busy.
Most frustration in recruiting comes from a mismatch between expectations and reality. Everyone wants to play on national TV on Saturdays. Very few have the size, speed, film, and academics to be recruited at that level. Many really good players end up without options because they aim only at the top and never build a smart list of realistic schools.
The right question is not How do I get a Division I offer. The better question is, At which level am I a difference maker, and which programs at that level need what I bring?
Start with honest evaluation.
• Compare your verified measurables to published standards from schools that interest you, especially at your position.
• Look at the sizes and speeds of current players on those rosters and recent signees.
• Ask trusted coaches who have placed athletes in college what level they believe you fit.
• Think about academics, not just athletics. Admissions standards vary, and coaches need to know you can get accepted.
If you are not sure how to line up your stats and film with actual college expectations, let Pathley walk through it with you. A powerful way to get clarity is to talk directly to the AI and ask: What level of college football should I realistically target based on my size, speed, and film?
On Pathley, you can also explore programs and rosters through the Pathley College Directory and compare schools using the Rankings Directory, so your target list is built on data, not hype.
College staffs are flooded with names. Your job is to make it stupid-easy for a coach to answer three questions in about 30 seconds.
• What position does this player project at for us?
• Is the athletic profile even close to our level?
• Can this player get into our school and stay eligible academically?
Everything about your recruiting profile should help them answer those questions quickly.
• Clean highlight video: For most football recruits, an initial highlight should be around 3 to 4 minutes. Lead with your best clips, show full plays when possible, and make it obvious which player you are on every rep. Coaches are not watching your video for entertainment. They want to evaluate your movement, toughness, instincts, and fit for their scheme.
• Game film access: Once a coach likes your highlight, they will want full game film. Make sure your Hudl or other film links are easy to access, organized by season, and not hidden behind weird privacy settings.
• Accurate measurables: Height, weight, forty time, shuttle, vertical, bench, squat, wingspan, hand size if you are a quarterback. If you have verified numbers from a camp or combine, say so. Do not lie. If a coach offers you based on fake numbers and then finds out the truth at camp or on a visit, that offer can disappear.
• Academic snapshot: Cumulative GPA, core GPA if you have it, any test scores if you have already taken the ACT or SAT, and your current classes. The NCAA and NAIA have specific academic eligibility standards, which you can review at https://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/eligibility-center and https://www.playnaia.org/.
• Contact and social info: Email, phone for you and a parent or guardian, plus your main social accounts if you use them for football. Many coaches check social media as part of their character evaluation.
Pathley lets you build and refine an athletic profile in one place, so you are not stuck juggling random documents, links, and screenshots. Once you have the basics loaded, the AI can help you identify gaps and prioritize what to fix first.
One of the biggest myths in recruiting is that if you are good enough, coaches will just find you. That might be true for a tiny group of five-star prospects. For everyone else, you need to be proactive in the college football recruiting process.
Cold emailing or messaging college coaches can feel awkward, but it is completely normal. In fact, most staffs expect serious recruits to introduce themselves. The key is doing it with respect for their time and with clear, useful information.
• A clear subject line that includes your grad year, position, and school.
• A short introduction with your name, high school, city and state, and position.
• Your height, weight, key measurables, and basic stats that matter for your position.
• Your GPA, test score if available, and intended major if you have one in mind.
• One highlight link and one or two full game links.
• Your high school coach and position coach contact info.
• A short line on why this specific school interests you.
Notice what is not in there. No long life story. No begging. No copying and pasting the exact same message to fifty schools without changing anything.
If writing that message feels overwhelming, you can have Pathley help you draft it in a few seconds. You might start with a prompt like: What should I say in my first email to a college football coach so they actually watch my film?
From there, you can adjust the language so it sounds like you, not like a robot or a copy-paste template. Coaches can tell the difference.
Coaches are busy. They are in season, on the road recruiting, watching film, dealing with their own players, and trying to keep their jobs. If someone does not reply right away, it might mean they are not interested, or it might simply mean your message is buried.
Give a reasonable window, then follow up with a short, respectful note. Update them with any new film, new measurables, or new academic information. If you go to one of their camps, mention it. If a coach explicitly tells you they are not recruiting your position in your class, say thank you and move your energy elsewhere.
Camps and visits are where the online part of recruiting meets real life. They also cost time and money, so you cannot just say yes to everything.
• School-run prospect camps: These are camps hosted by a specific college. They are useful if that school is already on your realistic target list.
• Satellite or multi-school camps: Multiple staffs evaluate at once, sometimes at a neutral site. These can be efficient if you choose the right events for your level.
• Third-party combines and showcases: Often focused on measurables and testing. Good for verified numbers and competition, but do not confuse a good combine with real recruiting interest.
• Game day or junior days on campus: These are opportunities to see facilities, meet coaches, and experience the environment. They can be unofficial visits you pay for yourself, or later in the process, official visits covered by the school, within NCAA guidelines.
The NCAA sets rules for when and how often coaches can have recruiting contact, what they can pay for on an official visit, and when you can make certain types of visits. You can always review their latest information on eligibility and recruiting at https://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/recruiting.
The goal is not to collect camp shirts. The goal is to get evaluated by the right staffs for your ability level, then turn that evaluation into real conversations.
Football is one of the few college sports where some levels offer full athletic scholarships for all players on scholarship. At the FBS level, football is a headcount sport. That means each of the 85 allowable scholarship spots is a full scholarship. No splitting that money between multiple players.
At other levels, like FCS and Division II, football is an equivalency sport. Programs receive a set number of scholarship equivalents that they can split among a larger roster. That is why one player might be on a half scholarship, another on a smaller percentage, and another on a combination of academic and athletic aid.
Then you have Division III and many high academic programs where there are no athletic scholarships at all. Those programs often build generous academic and need-based packages for recruits who fit their roster and admissions standards.
Finally, there are walk ons. Some are preferred walk ons, meaning a staff has specifically invited them to join the team with a clear role in mind, just without athletic money. Others are true walk ons who try out once they arrive on campus with no guarantees.
The key is that the label does not define you. Plenty of walk ons become starters and earn scholarships later. Plenty of scholarship athletes wash out because they cannot handle the transition. Your job is to understand the financial picture clearly so you and your family can make a smart decision.
If you want to go deeper on how scholarships work across sports, including stacking academic, athletic, and need-based money, you can explore Pathleys library and tools on https://www.pathley.ai/ and related guides.
Every athlete is on a slightly different timeline, especially in football, where physical development can change a lot between ages 14 and 18. You might be an early bloomer with offers in tenth grade, or a late bloomer who explodes as a senior or even in junior college.
Instead of comparing yourself to other players, focus on the controllable moves for your current grade and phase.
In your first two years of high school, the priority is development: body, skill, and academic foundation. Take strength and conditioning seriously. Learn real technique for your position. Build habits in the classroom that keep your GPA strong from the start.
You can still lay early recruiting groundwork. Start collecting film. Create a basic profile. Attend a few well-chosen camps to see the level of competition and get feedback, not to impress every staff in the country.
As you move into the middle of high school, usually sophomore and junior seasons, your varsity film matters more. This is when many prospects start to see real interest if they are on track for college football.
Refine your highlight each season. Begin emailing coaches at schools that match your academic interests, playing level, and geographic preferences. Keep your measurables updated. Be intentional about which camps and visits you attend, based on the feedback and interest you are receiving.
In your final high school year, you should be working with a focused school list, having real conversations with coaches, and comparing actual opportunities, not just interest. Some players will commit early. Others will see late traction as injuries, transfers, and coaching changes open new spots.
If the opportunities you want are not there yet, that does not mean the dream is dead. Junior college and prep school routes can be powerful paths for late bloomers. Many college rosters are filled with athletes who took a non traditional path, developed, and then re entered the recruiting cycle in a much stronger position.
If you are trying to figure out where you fit right now and what actions matter most, take thirty seconds and ask Pathley directly: What are the most important next three steps in my college football recruiting process right now?
Sometimes the difference between getting recruited and getting ignored is simply avoiding a few unforced errors.
• Waiting until late in high school to start taking recruiting seriously.
• Chasing only the biggest brand names instead of finding real fits.
• Sending sloppy or incomplete information to coaches.
• Posting immature or reckless content on social media.
• Ignoring academic reality, then being surprised when admissions blocks an opportunity.
• Treating multi sport participation as a problem instead of a strength. National federations like the NFHS have highlighted the benefits of playing multiple sports for overall athleticism and injury prevention, which you can see at https://www.nfhs.org/articles/why-being-a-multi-sport-athlete-is-beneficial/.
Remember, coaches are recruiting your habits as much as your highlight. They want to know what kind of teammate, student, and person they are bringing into their locker room.
The old model of recruiting help was expensive services, outdated databases, and generic advice that did not really fit your situation. Pathley flips that script with an AI first platform built specifically for modern athletes and families.
Inside Pathley, you can chat in real time about your sport, position, grad year, and goals. The system helps you discover colleges that fit, understand how competitive you are for specific programs, and figure out the next right moves at every stage of the college football recruiting process.
Instead of juggling random notes and spreadsheets, you build and refine your athletic profile, track your progress, and keep your school list in one place. Pathley adapts as your film improves, your body changes, your grades shift, and your interests evolve.
If you are a parent or high school coach, Pathley gives you a clear view into what is realistic, what is noise, and where to focus your support. You do not have to learn every NCAA rule or master every recruiting calendar update. You get smart, sport specific answers when you need them, in language everyone can understand. For example, you might open it up and ask: How can I use camps and visits strategically as a college football recruit?
You do not control your height, your genetic ceiling, or what offers a coach decides to extend. You do control how well you understand the process, how early you start, how consistently you work, and how clearly you communicate with the programs that might be your future home.
The college football recruiting process rewards athletes who are organized, realistic, and proactive. That is exactly what Pathley is built to support.
If you are ready to move past confusion and start acting on a real plan, create your free account at https://app.pathley.ai/sign_up. In a few minutes you can start building your recruiting profile, exploring college options, and getting personalized guidance that keeps you a step ahead instead of a step behind.
The dream of playing college football is real. The path is more reachable when you have a smart guide walking it with you. Let Pathley be that guide.
