I have been a college in high school (not football) coach and recruited a lot while coaching college, I wanted to share my thoughts on recruiting and what I looked for when recruiting a player. There is so much more that goes into this than just a players physical ability. I am not sharing anything here a lot probably don't know, however the star gazers may not agree. By the way guys like Barnes who have done this for as long as he has usually DONT miss on kids. No matter what their ranking is.
I would show up watching the player I was recruiting seeing if he passes the things a I have listed below. It's like dating when you see a hot girl but then when you are around her, you find out her qualities and if you can trust her. Some just see how hot she is but the real job is too look further into it. Some 5 stars maybe sexy but when it gets down to it are they going to be the player you put your job on the line for. The sexy ones sometimes are just good enough to get you beat! They don't have the intangibles when things get tough, they may do things exceptionally well but you can't trust them with the game on the line.
Things that turned me off instantly
Laziness, selfishness, what does he do and how does he act when no one is watching.
Then I would get to the following
Does he have passion for playing and a desire to get better? How important is this too him?
Does he act entitled ?
If the kid felt entitlement I can't do anything with him and won't trust when things don't go well in a game.
I wanted to see a player fail to see how he responded when he did, how his teammates responded too him when something didn't go well during a game (throwing int, turning basketball over, bad shooting night, giving up home run, making an error) those types of things.
Did he get mad vs sad? Mad competitors get determined and win where Sad doesn't.
Mental toughness was probably the most important to me.
I wanted to see the player when he wasn't in the game, how locked in was he.
How were the parents, sometimes the parents actions could push me away.
How did he interact with his parents or family members, does he show respect to them?
If he doesn't respect his parents and family members he isn't going to respect his teammates.
How he plays in the biggest moments of games and against best competition, again I want to be able to trust him when the game is on the line. This meant more to me than stats.
I also wanted to hear that life hasn't always been easy for the kid, I liked when kids have had adversity in their lives, this can vary from A kid coming from everything from broken home, single parent, poverty, to guys like a Peyton Manning his adversity would have been growing up being a SEC legends son. That wouldnt be easy so how in each case did they overcome?
Could the kid handle a demanding coach on a day to day basis, if he can't handle me then he can't handle playing I front of big crowds and big situations. Would he break down or would he respond to a demanding coach?
Then I had a list of qualities physical attributes that I wanted at each position. If he was short in one area of his game did he do something else in another area to makeup for it. How much does he project to improve in his area of weakness, I also wanted what they could be projected to be as a player in 2 years as opposed to what they are right now.
I also wanted to combine two classes together, evaluate the team needs and how successful. If I felt we may have had shortcomings in one class the next one needed to make up for that. Vary rarely can one class make or break you but most always 2 classes back to back can!
Remember a coaches job is on the line and you can't miss too many times (now football having more players) you can miss on a kid or two more than you can in other sports.
No matter what the skill level was we wouldn't jeopardize our programs principles for any kid. Coaches have their jobs at risk in front of rabid fan bases and alumni, scouting services don't! Not saying the services aren't right, and most services have great talent evaluators but the attention to every detail isn't always done the same by them as it is coaches.
Again these are just some of my thoughts about the recruiting process. I am not right about this all the time because it is an inexact science.
I hope that rambling made sense, and Go Big Orange!
I would show up watching the player I was recruiting seeing if he passes the things a I have listed below. It's like dating when you see a hot girl but then when you are around her, you find out her qualities and if you can trust her. Some just see how hot she is but the real job is too look further into it. Some 5 stars maybe sexy but when it gets down to it are they going to be the player you put your job on the line for. The sexy ones sometimes are just good enough to get you beat! They don't have the intangibles when things get tough, they may do things exceptionally well but you can't trust them with the game on the line.
Things that turned me off instantly
Laziness, selfishness, what does he do and how does he act when no one is watching.
Then I would get to the following
Does he have passion for playing and a desire to get better? How important is this too him?
Does he act entitled ?
If the kid felt entitlement I can't do anything with him and won't trust when things don't go well in a game.
I wanted to see a player fail to see how he responded when he did, how his teammates responded too him when something didn't go well during a game (throwing int, turning basketball over, bad shooting night, giving up home run, making an error) those types of things.
Did he get mad vs sad? Mad competitors get determined and win where Sad doesn't.
Mental toughness was probably the most important to me.
I wanted to see the player when he wasn't in the game, how locked in was he.
How were the parents, sometimes the parents actions could push me away.
How did he interact with his parents or family members, does he show respect to them?
If he doesn't respect his parents and family members he isn't going to respect his teammates.
How he plays in the biggest moments of games and against best competition, again I want to be able to trust him when the game is on the line. This meant more to me than stats.
I also wanted to hear that life hasn't always been easy for the kid, I liked when kids have had adversity in their lives, this can vary from A kid coming from everything from broken home, single parent, poverty, to guys like a Peyton Manning his adversity would have been growing up being a SEC legends son. That wouldnt be easy so how in each case did they overcome?
Could the kid handle a demanding coach on a day to day basis, if he can't handle me then he can't handle playing I front of big crowds and big situations. Would he break down or would he respond to a demanding coach?
Then I had a list of qualities physical attributes that I wanted at each position. If he was short in one area of his game did he do something else in another area to makeup for it. How much does he project to improve in his area of weakness, I also wanted what they could be projected to be as a player in 2 years as opposed to what they are right now.
I also wanted to combine two classes together, evaluate the team needs and how successful. If I felt we may have had shortcomings in one class the next one needed to make up for that. Vary rarely can one class make or break you but most always 2 classes back to back can!
Remember a coaches job is on the line and you can't miss too many times (now football having more players) you can miss on a kid or two more than you can in other sports.
No matter what the skill level was we wouldn't jeopardize our programs principles for any kid. Coaches have their jobs at risk in front of rabid fan bases and alumni, scouting services don't! Not saying the services aren't right, and most services have great talent evaluators but the attention to every detail isn't always done the same by them as it is coaches.
Again these are just some of my thoughts about the recruiting process. I am not right about this all the time because it is an inexact science.
I hope that rambling made sense, and Go Big Orange!
