You cannot build a November highlight from games nobody recorded in September.
Film every game. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.
A full season is also the only way to show development, and development is most of what a coach is projecting when he decides on you.
If your school does not film it, film it yourself. A phone in the stands beats nothing by an enormous margin.
Check out Royalte Galdden's recruiting profile at One11 Recruiting! @RoyalteGaldden
Class of 2027 | RB | 5'8"/185lb | Endicott, NY
Explosive 2027 RB with sub-4.5 speed, 480 lb squat, and 19 TDs on the ground
Ask your coach to make 3 calls. Not 30.
Three, to programs where the level actually fits or where he knows somebody.
A warm call moves you from an unread email to a name with a voice attached, which is a completely different category of prospect.
Most kids never ask him at all. Ask in the spring, not in January when it is a favor.
Your high school coach is the most credible reference you have.
College staffs trust a coach who tells them the truth about kids more than any film, profile, or number.
Which means the relationship is part of your recruiting. Be early. Be coachable. Be the kid he can vouch for without pausing first.
One phone call from him outperforms 50 emails from you.
Build a list of 15. Three reaches, nine realistic, three safeties.
Then email all 15 every month with something new.
Most kids aim 3 levels above where they actually are, send everything to programs that were never taking them, and run out of calendar in January.
A list of 15 produces offers. A list of 6 FBS schools produces a very quiet February.
How many schools are on your list right now, honestly?
Check out Jared Tuller's recruiting profile at One11 Recruiting! @LJ_Tuller
Class of 2028 | OT | 6'5"/325lb | Doylestown, PA
2028 Pennsylvania tackle at 6'5 325 with a 555 squat and a 4.04 GPA
Recruit the schools that are recruiting you.
If a staff answers your email, watches your film, and invites you to camp, that is a real school. Go recruit them back, hard.
If a program has ignored 6 emails over 8 months, that is information. Not a challenge.
Kids spend 2 years chasing one logo and miss 10 schools that were already interested.
One clip with 200,000 views does not put you on a board.
Coaches saw it, thought it was nice, and never learned your position or your class year. Virality is not evaluation.
20 clips that prove you can play a spot in college does put you on a board.
Build the case, not the moment.
Check out Cam Casendino's recruiting profile at One11 Recruiting! @camjamx2
Class of 2031 | ATH | 5'9"/165lb | Roxbury, NJ
Versatile 2031 ATH/LB prospect with a strong strength base and quick, agile feet
Talent gets you into the pool. Logistics get you out of it.
Labeling clips with down and distance. Pulling the core course audit. Sending the 14th email. Getting the 40 verified by somebody with a name on it.
None of that is fun and all of it is what separates kids who get recruited from kids who were just as good.
The unglamorous half is the half almost nobody does.
A verbal offer is not a scholarship.
They get pulled. Staffs leave. A board changes in a week when somebody better commits.
Keep the other 5 schools warm after the first offer. Keep sending film. Keep taking visits.
Nothing is real until it is in writing with a number on it, and families relearn that the hard way every February.