If you're a 2028 here is probably what your recruiting might look like for an Ivy+ (Ivy, Patriot, NESCAC or NESCAC-like DIII) by month:
September:
Quiet, but still important to make connections with coaches and follow up.
Get great grades, be a great teammate, be a great football player.
Edit your tape weekly, and send out to coaches.
M/Sun are best days to send initial weekly DMs/messages with Fridays (travel/walk thru) as good "just bumping this to the top of your inbox" follow up days for college coaches.
October:
Staffs reboot their recruiting after they've seen what they are working with with current players.
Staffs are finishing off their '27 last slots for ED's and moving onto '28's.
Continue to...
Get great grades, be a great teammate, be a great football player.
Edit your tape weekly, and send out to coaches.
M/Sun are best days to send initial weekly DMs/messages with Fridays (travel/walk thru) as good "just bumping this to the top of your inbox" follow up days for college coaches.
You should also inquire about attending a game with your family.
Teams set aside 100s of tickets specifically for this purpose. Just ask.
November:
Staffs dually balancing end of season coaching and weekly recruiting check-in's.
Send weekly tape updates, follow up with coaches (Sun/Mon/Fri)
Try to get out to a game or two.
December:
Staffs hit the road after Thanksgiving basically until Christmas break.
Inquire with coaches which ones may be passing through your areas and school.
They'll all talk about Junior Days/Spring FB visits.
January and February:
Really quiet, but still stay in touch with coaches - send them weekly updates on your training, winter sport or workout tape.
Towards February staffs will finalize their spring football and junior day visits schedules.
The calendar can fill up fast.
March and April:
This is recruiting madness. This is when junior days and spring football visits occur. You can't do everything, but attend ones where the coach is directly speaking with you actively.
Some NESCACs will have their own Spring Camps before the Ivy camps happen mid June to mid July.
Definitely attend these.
May:
End of April into Mid May, staffs can go back on the road again AND watch you workout in person at a showcase if your school puts one on.
If you're lucky enough to be around a showcase like this, take advantage of it.
June and July:
FCS will start their camps mid June into mid July like the Ivy/Patriot.
The NESCACs will have the Wesleyan Red and Black Camp and Tufts will have the New England Elite Camp where all the high academics pool resources to eval players in one spot.
The NESCAC cannot offer players until July 1st, but the Ivy can offer guys a little earlier, spring of Junior year even depending on the player.
All Ivy+, however, need to do a pre-read academically at some point to see what your admissions odds are as a recruit. These happen generally in July as well.
Ideally, by the time you do a summer camp as a 2028, it is the 3rd or 4th time you've interacted with that staff.
While some spontaneous day-of-camp offers happen for freakazoid studs, most staffs have a good idea of who they would like to offer already based on all these prior interactions and evaluations.
Hope this helps a bit.
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