The climate of college football recruiting has become increasingly confusing and daunting for many high school football players but also for their parents as well.

Considering the overlay of social media platforms, NCAA by-laws and figuring out which exposure or satellite camps to attend, the daily workload has become a full time job. And the key is where do we find the time to handle these responsibilities?

It resides in providing focus to the recruiting strategy with the goal of being mindful of our time and other valuable resources.

There are some solutions that we can derive from our past education as it relates to how important it is to evaluate relationships and the critical aspect of building trust.

The concept of trust is truly a two way street between coaches and student-athletes. First and foremost is communication; consistent communication is the basis of any productive relationship.

Every coach in the United States of America all have one thing in common; First is that they are all extremely busy people and second they do not like to waste time!

When coaches maintain a steady stream of contact that stays within NCAA rules, that is a very good step in knowing how sincere they are in you. For example, coaches are allowed to make one phone call per week during any prospects’ senior season.

When they call every week consistently through an entire season, that is a good sign that they are serious. Take a look at the following pdf to give you a pretty good idea of what happens when. http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/June2016_DIFootballGuide_20160613.pdf

I’ve had the great fortune of learning from some of the great communicators of a lifetime in my Father, Coach Bo Schembechler and his mentor Coach Woody Hayes.

What was it that made them great Coaches?

It was because they were honest to a fault, and you always knew where they stood and they were always consistent. Because of these particular qualities, their reputations spread quickly and players wanted to play for them.

If you can find coaches that have these traits and they convince you  by their consistent and honest communications, these are the type of coaches and programs that you want to play for!

This is one of the key aspects to what our Team at GES Advisory Company educates our student-athletes and their parents on.  We are here to help!

 

One of the most overlooked traits when evaluating QB’s is mental and physical toughness because it relates directly to the will to Win. When I met Will Phillis and his father Bill it was easy to determine that he had the requisite physical qualities to warrant Division 1 consideration, especially after breaking down the majority of his game film from the 2016 campaign. But if there is one thing that I am certain of is that there are always multiple layers that can be researched as to assist in the prediction of future success.  Will is a perfect example as to why further analysis is absolutely necessary and deals directly with the ability to handle adversity.

Will and I have kindred spirits in a way in that we both lost our mothers to cancer at a very young age, Will even before me when he was barely a teenager just trying get life figured out.  I remember the struggles I had all too well losing Millie Schembechler in 1992. But I can tell you how those struggles in many ways made me the man I am today, most importantly to make the most of every day and be fearless in the pursuit of success.  Will is no different and probably is further ahead than I was back then;  all you have to do is talk to him and watch how he deals with others with innate leadership qualities.  He leads and others follow, it’s as simple as that.

Let’s go back to 2015 when he sustained a foot fracture in the middle of the season which would have shelved most QB’s.  Will missed one week and played essentially at a fraction of his true ability to lead his team into the playoffs.  This is how toughness in the truest form is revealed and is what leadership is all about. When leaders are faced with adversity, they find ways to overcome it and it literally raises their teammates, their program and their school to a level that they did not know existed.  And yet Will deflects that credit to the benefit of his Team.

I think that the coaches at Kent State know and understand this rare phenomena that is about to step foot on campus in a few short months, but they really won’t know until they see it in action every day. Let this be a forecast of what is to come and enjoy how this story unfolds.  Good luck Will, show them what you got!

Cree Morris deserves a lot of credit for the amount of improvement that Mark Salazar made from his Junior to Senior seasons.  In 2015, I saw a QB that certainly had athletic talent that showed flashes of accuracy coupled with pretty good decision making but still a bit left to be desired.  This is when I had just come on board and was getting to know Mark as a good kid but I wanted to see more out of him in terms of confidence to really read the field and understand where the ball needed to go.  Come 2016, Mark alleviated all those issues and even more where game after game he showed more confidence with his ability to make all the throws he needed to with superior decision making. To say that he is truly on the come as he makes the move to San Diego State is quite the understatement. The Aztecs have a really good one here and GES is excited to track his progress thanks to the legendary Coach Morris! Go Aztecs!

I founded GES Advisory Company for the sole purpose of helping high school and junior college football players who have aspirations of playing at the collegiate level. With a lifetime of experience working in the football industry, ranging from high school to college and the professional ranks, GES has a team of partners that represents the very best of the coaching and teaching profession, and we want to leverage that experience for the benefit of every high school football player across the United States. In our first year, we began in Michigan and Ohio and expanded to Florida, Texas and California, and then to Colorado and Tennessee by the end of 2016. Our goal is to continue what we have started to serve every state in the union. We are excited and motivated in going forward with a program that will revolutionize the football recruiting industry by answering real problems with real solutions, both from an athletic and academic perspective!