Less than 1% of high school senior kickers, punters & snappers around the nation are fortunate enough to earn a college football scholarship. Over the years, it’s become common place for college football programs to only offer ‘preferred walk on’ spots to high school specialists. A preferred walk on spot will not give you much of an edge going into camp. The team typically still brings in multiple kickers to compete with you, so there is never a guarantee or sure thing. You might end up spending $40,000+ dollars a year for college and may never even get a chance of playing in one single college football game! This is the harsh reality of going from high school to college football, which is very much a business. You need to do all you can to put yourself into the best position to be one of the top 1% of specialists who do earn a college football scholarship.
Deciding which camps or private coaches to spend your money on is a daunting task. A quick Google search will reveal multiple kicking camp options and tons of college football recruiting outfits offering you iron clad services. You need to sort through the noise and find a trusted kicking coach and camp provider who not only gets your son results in his kicking game, but also one who can help guide him throughout his years of HS into college and beyond.
Planning your son’s recruiting efforts should begin as early as middle school. College coaches around the nation are discovering talent earlier and earlier each year and it would behoove you to start preparing for the journey now. You need to record quality video of your kicks, punts and snaps at every game, as well make a practice kicking, punting or snapping video to showcase your skills up close and allow the coach to get to know you on a personal level.
Get a good HD Camera (not a cell phone) with a tripod and record your in-game field goals, kickoffs and punts from high up in the stadium so you can follow the ball the entire way and not let it get out of view. Special Teams coaches can then properly assess your hang-time and distance on kickoffs & punts, as well, check your trajectory and timing on field goals. Relying on videos from your high school football team or outside service is not a good idea as most of those videos are shot with the line of scrimmage in mind, meaning, the cameraman does not pan out enough to follow the flight of the ball, and it makes it very mysterious for a coach or recruiting personnel to watch.
The illustrations many companies add in (such as pausing the kick to show a circle around the kicker or punter) are not needed and most of the time it inhibits a Special Teams coach from determining the consistency (or lack of consistency) in your form & approach. So, nix the fancy music and on screen overlays and just keep your video simple. Note the distance of each kick or punt and track the entire kick or punt’s ball flight from start to finish, and keep the field in view at the bottom 3rd of the screen at all times. Be sure to include your contact info at the beginning of the video and at the end of the video as well as your Parents, Head Coach, and Kicking Coach’s contact information as a reference.
Helpful Kicking World Recruiting Articles:
101s of College Recruiting for Specialists
How to Make a Football Kicking Highlight Video
How Kicking World Camps Accurately Assess Talent