Recruiting Law: Develop Your Athleticism

Chad Wilson

If you’ve been in recruiting for any amount of time,  you have learned that it is not an exact science.  What works for one recruit,  may not work for another.  What one college likes,  another college may not.  However,  there are somethings in college football recruiting that hold true no matter who you are or where you want to go.  Today,   we will discuss one of those things.

Football is a rough game played by mostly big people.  So,  it stands to reason that college football recruiters every year head out on the trail looking for big and tall prospects.  You can not fault colleges for pursuing these prospects as you can never have too many large people in a big man’s game.  Let’s face it,  this is not horse racing and they aren’t searching for jockeys.

As I have discussed many times,  you certainly have little control over your height outside of trying to get enough rest and eating good meals. Even with doing that,  you are still a product of your genetics when it comes to how far off the ground you get when puberty is over for you.  However,  you do have some control over your size and you definitely have control over reaching your athletic maximum.

In this article we will focus on this recruiting law:  Develop Your Athleticism.  Outside of looking for big prospects,  college football coaches are looking for athletes.  They are looking for prospects with a wide array of skills that can be put to use on a football field.  Some prospects get so bogged down in just doing football that they forget to become athletes.  College football coaches are looking at the potential in prospects.  While recruiting you,  they have to project what level of success you may be able obtain playing at the next level against their opponents.  So,  the fact that you rushed for 195 yards against East Side high school may not matter.  That college is not playing against East Side and East Side may not have any prospects going to the colleges in that recruiter’s conference.

You may have done absolutely nothing vs. East Side high school but on several plays you were firing off the football at defensive end,  leaping over potential blockers and changed direction quickly to run a speedy WR out of bounds on a reverse.  That alone could put you on the radar of college football teams over the running back on your team that plowed ahead into the soft middle of East Side’s defense to gut out almost 200 yards.  If that running back has a limited amount of speed and athleticism,  he’s no closer to that scholarship offer than he was while he was warming up during pre-game.

With this in mind,  prospects need to understand what colleges are looking for and go about trying to obtain it.  Perhaps the best way to develop your athleticism is to play multiple sports.  We’ve heard it time and again from some of the top college coaches in the country and most recently from national champion LSU coach Ed Orgeron.  Coaches like players who play other sports.  Baseball develops your patience and hand eye coordination.  Basketball improves your agility and consistency.  Track develops your speed and endurance.  Wrestling creates toughness and mental stamina.  Soccer gives you elite level footwork. These skills are developed through competition which allows you to maximize their development.  Many athletes now think that they can go see a trainer to develop all of these areas.  You can do that but they won’t develop to the level they would if you competed in other sports.

Even if you are not good enough to start and get major playing time playing another sport,  the skills of that sport are developed in practice. Going through the reps and training to try and become a starter will enhance your skill development.  So while you may feel like you are wasting time,  the truth is you are developing skills that you can bring back to the gridiron to help you win your battles.  Catching a punt becomes easier once you’ve played the outfield in baseball and you’ll become more successful tussling with an offensive lineman after you’ve spent the offseason trying to pin an opponent to a wrestling mat.

Much of the focus of the football team in the offseason is on running and lifting.  Certainly,  those things need to be done but don’t forget to work on your overall athleticism.  If you can’t quite do the organized version of other sports then take to the gym to play some pick up games of basketball.  Go to the court and play some tennis if that is your thing or swim in a pool,  preferably racing against someone.

A big and strong left tackle is good.  A big and strong left tackle with quick athletic feet is better.  A strong and fast running back is good but a strong and fast running back with the endurance play fast all game because he ran the 400 meters in track is better.

If you are the parent of a young athlete (pre middle school),  I can not stress this enough.  Don’t pigeon hole your kid into just football.  Don’t have him play a football season and then turn around and train the rest of the year for the next football season.  He’s not a pro (at least not yet).  Go ahead and grab that flyer for baseball or basketball tryouts.  Don’t you worry about the other tailback on his 8U team that runs around cones and pulls sleds all offseason.  Let him score the majority of the touchdowns now if that’s what’s happening.  Your plan is for the long term.  That youngster trained all those years to be a running back.  What happens when puberty hits,  he’s not built for running back and he can’t do anything else?  Your son would’ve trained to be an athlete and it won’t matter what puberty does,  he’s ready for it.

How to calculate EER for a football player?

Chad Wilson

It is a fact that football players have the biggest global fan following. This is not only because of the performance they display in the field. The physique they have also makes a lot of difference. Keeping an eye on EER (Estimated Energy Requirement) is very important for professional athletes. What is EER? How can you calculate it correctly and without going through unnecessary trouble?

Standard EER definition

Irrespective of the profession we are related to, a certain set of tasks has to be performed on day to day basis. When you talk about footballers, they have an exhaustive workout schedule for every morning. This helps them in staying fit and delivering at the maximum level. EER is nothing but the minimum energy that an individual requires to perform basic day to day tasks. If he does not have the required energy, it would be hard for him to get up and complete the physical tasks.

Basic formula

The standard formula for calculating EER is given below

  • EER = Total Energy Expenditure + Energy Deposition

This formula differs on the basis of age, gender and other factors so calculating the EER value is not that simple. Secondly, if you are not an expert at using formulae, entering values and then deducing results, this option would not work either wise for you. Even if you know about inserting the correct numerical figures, mistakes can be made if you do not concentrate fully. If you are a professional footballer or an athlete competing in another sport, use an EER calculator. It is less cumbersome and you end up with the correct values as well. Not using an online calculator does carry the risk of making errors.

The EER calculator – process, steps and outputs

It is a fact that this is one of the easiest applications you can get your hands on. Even if you don’t have any mathematics knowledge, it would be peanuts for you. Let us gather more information by viewing the steps you have to complete.

1.    Provide details of gender and age

 

These are the first two inputs that you have to be entered. EER values do not remain flat for everyone and depend on certain parameters. Hence, double check these values before you proceed. For instance, a man of 40 years will not have the same EER as a woman who is 32 years old. Let us consider that in this case, the gender is male and age is 38. We can take these values to perform an example.

 

2.    Enter the weight and height

 

To determine the EER, the other two inputs are the weight and height. In this case, let us suppose that weight is 140 lbs and height is 6 ft.

 

 

 

3.    What is the physical activity level?

 

Every human being has a different level for physical activity and it depends on the routine he has. For instance, when you talk about a footballer, he may have a “Very Active” level.

 

  • When you have entered all the inputs that have been mentioned above, the following EER value will be shown to you.

 

EER = 3256 calories per day

 

Based on the inputs of weight, age, gender and height entered, the EER value above is the minimum energy that the individual would require to run through the day.

 

Three reasons why you should use an EER calculator

 

Professional footballers have to pay attention to a lot of things including their diet, daily routine and workout options. After all, playing at the professional level is not that easy. Hence, these athletes need a quality calculator so that the correct results can be attained without much of a hassle. Here are three reasons why an online calculator should be used instead of depending on manual formulae.

 

1.    The need of understanding formula

 

You cannot expect athletes to be in love with mathematical formula. To check thee EER, this is the only alternative if a calculator is not being used. Selecting this option means that hours would be spent each day to determine EER. A good calculator on the other hand will do that in less than a minute. In addition to that, users do not have to learn a single formula.

 

2.    No question mark over correctness

 

Humans make mistakes due to the use of an incorrect formula or slip of concentration. However, calculators do not have this limitation. Unlike humans, they do not make any errors until there is a technical fault with the tool.

 

  • The EER value decides a lot in case of footballers. They change their diet, workout routines and other aspects after viewing this result. Hence, if it is incorrect, everything would go wrong. In case of manual calculations, you have to verify the answers by rechecking them. This step can be exempted if you are using an EER calculator.

 

3.    Perform as many EER calculations as needed in short spans

 

The calculation of EER is not a onetime process for footballers. They have to keep a check on the results at all times so that the performance levels do not get affected. In order to meet this requirement, a good online calculator is very much mandatory.

 

Conclusion

 

If you talk about the meaning of EER, it is the minimum energy count that an individual requires to perform his daily activities. There are certain calculation techniques that can be used to calculate it. Memorizing formulae is not the best way out because a lot of complexity is involved. Using an online calculator is a lot easier because no mathematical knowledge is needed. Even if you don’t have an in-depth knowledge about the formula components, the tool can still be used.

 

There are some parameters which have an impact on the EER value. These include age, gender and physical activity as well. Using a good online tool to perform this calculation helps a lot. You can calculate EER innumerable times without thinking about the cost factor as these applications are free.

5 Things We Learned from Rivals Final Class of 2020 Rankings

Chad Wilson

Rivals released their final 2020 rankings recently and outside of discovering that this event will really make the tears flow on Twitter,  there are some other more important things that we can learn here.

Many will say that rankings don’t matter.  I am not one of them.  The recruiting media will protect,  defend and applaud their ranked players and the schools that land them like a mother hen.  Before you criticize that,  you should realize that anyone of you would do the same in their shoes.  In this age of social media,  we are in a constant daily battle to not only be right but proclaim it loudly.  This practice will catapult one college football player over another,  at times without merit,  simply because the wave has moved in that direction.

With that said,  as I combed through the most recent rankings from Rivals.com,  I picked up on a few noteworthy things.  Here are the 5 most noteworthy of the noteworthy.

1 – Defensive Line Still Dominant

Of late,  in any given recruiting year,  the rankings will either spit out a defensive lineman at the top spot or defensive linemen being the dominant position group in the Top 10.  This year,  Maryland’s Demascus high school defensive lineman Brian Bresee was the nation’s top recruit.  Bresee signed with Clemson in the early signing period in December.  He edged out a pair of California quarterbacks (Bryce Young and D.J. Uiagalele) for the top spot.  Only two defensive lineman were in the Top 10 this year but Bresee was king of the hill.  Over the last five cycles,  defensive linemen have either been the most or tied for the most in the Top 10.  Twice over that period has a defensive lineman been the top recruit (Rashaan Gary 2016).   My theory on this remains that offensive lineman are the most athletically disadvantaged position group on the football field and that gap is wide at the high school level.  This allows defensive lineman to make more plays and dominate at the prep level.  That and they are rather close to the football.

2 – State of California is Getting Robbed

Remember when USC used to keep the top talent in the state?  Good for you,  I hope you have pictures of it because that is no longer the case.  No hotbed for talent got more pillaged this cycle than did California.  Back in time,  people rushed out West for gold.  Now California recruits are rushing back East for titles.  Only one of California’s top 10 recruits remained in state to play college football and that was Corona Centennial WR Gary Bryant who inked with USC this month.  Contrast that with the state of Florida which has been known to get raided by out of state schools.  Florida kept three of their top 10 prospects in state thanks to the Gators signing 5 stars Gervon Dexter and Derek Wingo.  Florida State picked up 7th ranked cornerback Demorie Tate.  Further exasperating the situation for schools like USC, UCLA and California is the fact that Oregon and Utah each came in and each grabbed a top 10 prospect out of the state.

3 – State of Georgia on the Rise

Folks in some other states got upset with me about my post Ranking the Top 5 States for Elite Football Talent where I named Georgia number one.  Hey,  I just pay attention to trends and the state of high school football in Georgia is trending up.  Last cycle saw only three 5 stars in the state of Georgia.  This year produced a whopping seven which is more than any other state in the union.  I tried to tell folks what I was seeing but some people’s shades are a little too dark.  Now pay attention when I tell you to keep an eye on on the D.C. / Maryland area in the coming cycles. That area produced four 5 stars and a quick scan of the youth talent in the area promises more action to come from that region. Unless of course they bolt to Florida to attend classes at IMG.

4 – Five Teams Own the Top 10

Remember when the NFL instituted a salary cap to make their game more competitive and allow for more teams to have a chance at winning the Super Bowl.  Then they were forced to look on at the Patriots dynasty like a kid who got his Leggo masterpiece destroyed by an angry mother.  The more things change,  the more they stay the same.  There are more recruiting rules now than ever before.  These rules are designed to bring parity to the recruiting process and thus college football.  Holy Alabama and Clemson!  Well this 2020 cycle is more centralized than ever before.  Five teams own the Top 10 of the 2020 rankings.  Clemson,  Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Oregon.   That’s all folks.  In 2016,  the Rivals top 10 was represented by eight schools.  In 2011,  nine schools were a part of the Top 10 signings.  Hey NCAA are those rules working out for ya?

5 – Clemson is in Town,  Hide the Recruits

If you see a suspicious man walking around your town with an orange tiger paw on his polo,  get your recruits to a safe place and lock the doors.  How dominant has this 2020 haul been for the Tigers?  Three of the top four prospects in the country pledged to Clemson.  This has never happened before.  Clemson took the top recruit from Maryland,  Georgia,  North Carolina and the 2nd ranked one from California. As far as recruiting plans go,  this one was executed with heart surgeon like precision.  Obviously success on the field brings results but I think there is more to be said for what Dabo Swinney and crew are doing in tiny little Clemson,  South Carolina.

Taking a run through the rankings each year is one of my favorite things to do.  It provides us with a good amount of information with respect to happenings and trends.  These trends usually proceed the results that will take place on our televisions in the Fall.  I am anxious to see how this plays out in the years to come.

 

 

College Football RECRUITING Law : Discipline is A Must

Chad Wilson

If you have ever heard me talk about recruiting or read an article by me about college football recruiting then you’ve likely heard me talk about how competitive it is.  When something is competitive the basic understanding is that only the strong will succeed and survive.

One of the hardest things for young college football prospects to understand is just how competitive the game of recruiting is is.  Many feel that since they are the best at their school or in their district or their city they are automatically a prime prospect.  Depending on where you are,  this is not necessarily the case.  College football recruiting, since the advent of the Internet and with the acceleration of social media,  has become a nationwide operation for every college football team.

Once upon a time,  only the big schools had the budgets to fly into all of the areas and scour around for the prospects.  Now,  scouring around for prospects begins at the finger tips on a keyboard.  Schools can look up information on 1,000’s of prospects on websites and apps like GridironStuds and locate players in every corner of the country.  That means that when it comes to getting a scholarship,  it is you vs. everyone else playing ball in all 50 states and then some.

So what does all of this competition mean?  It means that for you to get your hands on the limited number of scholarships,  you have to be willing to do things that many others are not willing to do.  This is at the heart of what the word discipline truly means.  Not everyone wants to do all the running it takes to be in the proper shape and have the amount of speed that’s required to become a legitimate college football prospect.  Not everyone wants to do all the weightlifting that it takes to become a guy that college coaches will think can help their program win games. Not everyone wants to give up a night of Fortnite to study for entrance exams like the SAT and ACT.  Few guys think it wise to get off of social media and study more film so they can make more plays on game day.

To do all these things that are required to become a legitimate college football prospect you are required to have discipline.  When it comes to discipline there are three groups:  Those who have it, congratulations!  There are those who think they have it but really don’t and there are those who flat out just don’t have it.

Here’s what I have keenly observed over the years about disciplined people.  Very simply,  disciplined people in sports or in business or in anything else that is foremost in their lives are also well disciplined in almost everything else in their lives.  So disciplined business men are typical very disciplined in how they conduct their personal lives and approach their health as well many other things they engage in.  Disciplined athletes on game day are usually very disciplined at practice and in the weight room and how they eat.

So how do you become more disciplined in these key areas of recruiting?  You start by being disciplined with all the little things.  Practice being disciplined in all of the things you do.  The best place to start is with your education.  You may not be the smartest guy in the school or in your class but you can achieve some of the same grades as the others by being disciplined.  That means do your homework,  turn in assignments and study for tests.  Make it a habit and turn it into a lifestyle.  We know all the excuses like the work is too boring,  I don’t have the time or it’s too hard.  You know what else is hard?  Gassers but somehow you do them.

Try being disciplined on cleaning up your room, when and how you eat and how much time you spend on the social media.  Once you have conquered those things,  being disciplined will easily bleed over into your athletic life.  Soon you will find it easier to do the running and weightlifting.  You will find easy to skip a party when you know you have to get up early for a track meet or a camp the next day.  You will find it much easier to watch extra film of an opponent so that you can make those one or two extra plays in the game that the other guy your favorite school is recruiting won’t make.

Make discipline a lifestyle.  It will all add up and soon it will result in you tallying up offers from colleges looking for an athlete that can get the job done.  Success avoids the undisciplined athlete like a shifty punt returner.  If you want to have a smile on your face come February of your senior year,  start wearing discipline like a tattoo on your chest.

Recruiting 101: Develop A Competitive Spirit

Chad Wilson

We often hear the word compete in the world of sports.  We can make the argument that it’s overused but the truth of the matter is that once the game starts,  all that is going on on the field,  court or diamond is competition.  Where we don’t hear the word compete enough is in the world of recruiting.

On the high school gridiron you are competing against one team comprised of 11 people.  In the world of recruiting you are competing against 1,00’s upon 1,000’s of other prospects.  Sometimes,  that is very hard for a college football prospect to understand.  Most prospects can only think about what’s around them locally.  Many don’t consider that their competition for the scholarship from the schools that they want extends beyond their region and onto a national scale.  What also happens,  especially to kids in what are considered “hot beds” for talent,  is that those prospects in those areas become delusional about their level of worthiness.  It’s easy for kids from Florida, Texas, Georgia or California to think that if I am good locally,  then I am the better than mostly everyone else in the country.  That’s faulty thinking.

What can guard a recruiting against that faulty thinking is developing a competitive spirit.  Many have a false idea of what competitive spirit is.  Often times,  young prospects think that a competitive spirit means on game day they go hard against their opponent and thus they are “competitive”.  That’s not how that works.  When you have truly developed a competitive spirit,  you are not ok with coming in second at anything you engage in.  That means you don’t like finishing second in the lifts in the weight room,  the sprints on the field,  knowing the playbook, video games and especially in the classroom.  A competitive spirit is a mindset,  it’s an attitude and once you develop it you find yourself working hard to be first at everything.  This means a game of checkers,  a trivia contest or even a friendly holiday game with the family.  When you fail you figure out how the game works,  you go harder on the factors that have proven to work and you get things done.

Having a competitive spirit does not mean that you know how to get mad when you lose.  I’ve seen people describe someone who throws a tantrum when they lose as being “very competitive”.  We’ll see that a lot in the game of baseball when a guy goes nuts in the dugout after he strikes out.  Well going nuts about taking a ‘L’ means nothing if that tantrum is not followed up with solid action to avoid a similar occurrence.

When you are playing sports,  you will lose sometimes.  What’s important is that a lesson is learned with each failure and that it is followed up with action to close the door that allowed the loss to happen.  Simply having a tantrum won’t do it.

So how does this help you when it comes to recruiting?  When your competition comes in the form of 1,000’s.  The elements on which you are judged on become plentiful.  College football coaches must dissect a number of factors to pair down a list of 1,000’s into a handful that they will offer scholarships to and ultimately accept commitments from.  With that in mind,  a competitive spirit will force you to study hard for your ACT and SAT tests.  Remember,  you just hate losing.  You won’t let a standardized test knock you out.  You will go harder in the weight room because you want the biggest bench press,  the highest squat or the heaviest power clean.  You will also get mad about someone considered as having better character than you and you will do something about cleaning up yours.  Overall,  you will see that you are a 4 star and want to be a 5.  You will see that you are ranked 100th and want to be #1.  You will not only want it but you will actually do something about it because it upsets you so much.

There’s the old and very truthful saying that goes ” how you do anything is how you will do everything.”  People with a competitive spirit take pride in everything they do because coming in second is the worst thing in the world.  This mindset will only work wonders for you in life whether it’s on the gridiron or any other place life takes you.

COMMIT QUICK: Florida Gators – Issiah Walker Jr. 2020 OL – Norland HS, FL

Chad Wilson

The Florida Gators most recent commit comes from South Florida in the form of an offensive lineman.  Issiah Walker Jr. hails out of Norland High School in Miami.  He is the 158th ranked prospect in the country,  the 18th ranked lineman and 26th best prospect in the state of Florida.  He currently holds in the neighborhood of 17 offers with five of those teams currently being ranked in the AP Top 25.

The Gators secured Walker’s commitment on October 5th and it’s easy to see why he is highly pursued by college programs.  One of the first things that jump out about Walker on film is his movement.  Walker has feet and many coaches will tell you that for offensive linemen,  especially tackles,  feet are a premium.  Walker shows the athleticism for a big man that you like to see.  He’s quick off the snap to reach his intended target on the line of scrimmage on zone run plays and nimble enough to kick out and mirror a smaller and quicker defensive and trying to get to the quarterback on pass plays.

You will love his technique against the wide rush by defensive ends.  His kick slide is effortless and is done so without the expense of proper upper body positioning.  Walker also does a good job of getting out on the 2nd level when he needs to and get a key block on defenders who have a chance at making a stop on run plays.  This is also the case on plays that require him to cover a lot of ground like screen passes.  Walker shows an ability to be comfortable in space,  get to his man and seal off the defender from the ball carrier.

Though he is listed at 309 lbs.,  Walker looks slimmer than that on film.  His tape also features quite a few blocks on defenders that are smaller than him.  So while it features his athleticism,  it leaves you wondering on his ability to move bigger defenders for an extended period of time during game play.  This is typical of high school linemen in most places as high school defenses don’t always have the ability to line up big defensive lineman that are athletic enough to get the job done.  This is especially the case in an area like South Florida where speed trumps size on defenses.

Developing Walker’s size and power will perhaps be the first order of business when he gets on campus but he does posses that attribute that is extremely difficult to develop in linemen and that is athleticism.  With a careful dedication to the weight room and his craft,  Walker can be a tremendous acquisition for the Florida Gators.