{"id":3767,"date":"2019-07-29T16:29:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T21:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=3767"},"modified":"2019-07-29T16:29:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T21:29:52","slug":"hey-recruit-youre-too-short-now-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/hey-recruit-youre-too-short-now-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey Recruit, You’re Too Short. Now What Are You Going to Do About it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
(pictured: 5’9″ Andy Isabella who was the state 100m champ in high school and attended U.Mass. He was the 2nd round pick of the Arizona Cardinals)<\/em><\/h6>\n

By: Chad Wilson – Owner – GridironStuds.com<\/strong>
\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all have our deficiencies in life.\u00a0 Pick someone and you can find one.\u00a0 What separates the haves from the have nots or the successful from the not so successful is how they handle the setbacks that come from lacking that required ingredient.<\/p>\n

Every recruiting cycle some recruits are left to deal with the fact that they did not receive offers or sign a scholarship.\u00a0 Assuming that they were indeed talented enough,\u00a0 the biggest reason for this happening is related to size and in particular,\u00a0 lack of height.\u00a0 Often times these recruits take to Twitter to express their disappointment, anger and displeasure with their situation.\u00a0 What I have found during my time involved in the world of recruiting is that lack of height is a problem that for many,\u00a0 has a solution if they are willing to tackle it.<\/p>\n

When you’re lacking an important element while pursuing something important,\u00a0 it is essential that you either seek to acquire that element or be very diligent in having an abundance of the other elements that are required.\u00a0 Also key in pursuing a goal when the necessary tools aren’t readily available is being willing to take an alternate path to success.\u00a0 Let’s take a look at four solid ways to overcome a lack of height in the recruiting process.<\/p>\n

1 – Stop Complaining<\/h3>\n

There are some areas in life where complaining may yield the desired results.\u00a0 I’m here to tell you that recruiting is not one of them.\u00a0 Running around on social media complaining about your lack of offers because you don’t meet the height requirements of the schools you would like to be recruited by is a mere distraction from what you should be doing.\u00a0 A coach that has been sent out to find 6’4″ defensive ends is not going to suddenly change his mind about you being 6’1″ because he read your 147 tweets proclaiming you to be “slept on” because you are undersized.\u00a0 The constant cycle of running around crying about your lack of recruitment because of lack of height is toxic.\u00a0 It only serves to cook up your negative mindset.\u00a0 Eventually,\u00a0 it takes over and you start to fall off in all areas.\u00a0 Time spent complaining is better spent trying to find a way to get an edge on your opponent and measure up to the competition in other ways.\u00a0 Try walking up to a wall that’s very high and start complaining about it.\u00a0 Let me know if you ever reach the top.<\/p>\n

2 – Stop Listening to Outsiders<\/h3>\n

I bet you think this relates to the people who say “you won’t make it”.\u00a0 No,\u00a0 I am not talking about them.\u00a0 I am talking about people far more dangerous than them.\u00a0 I am talking about the people that want to go cry on your behalf about the lack of attention you are getting.\u00a0 Yes,\u00a0 those people are some of the worst of all.\u00a0 They might be your little league coach,\u00a0 it might be your high school coach,\u00a0 it might be your “mentor” or it might be some crackpot recruiting guy.\u00a0 If any of the crying they are doing on your behalf is not combined with encouraging or demanding that you put in extra work then they are one of your biggest enemies.\u00a0 Frequently,\u00a0 those deputy complainers will ignore the fact that along with your lack of height you are deficient in other areas too.<\/p>\n

High School football IS NOT college football.\u00a0 I watched a 6′ 180 lb. defensive end get 32 sacks one year in high school football.\u00a0 Guess how many he would get in college?\u00a0 College scouts must make projections on your future because they know it gets a whole lot harder at the next level.\u00a0 They are more experienced in knowing what your struggles will be playing college football at your height than your mom, pop, little league coach, mentor or Mr. Twitter Recruiting guy.\u00a0 While they are doing all this complaining for you,\u00a0 they are draining your positive energy and contributing to your demise.\u00a0 Do yourself a favor and mute them. Take ownership of your situation.<\/p>\n

3 – Be Exceptional at One or More Other Things<\/h3>\n

There is nothing you can do about your height.\u00a0 It is what it is as they say.\u00a0 What really boils my blood is when I watch a height challenged prospect refuse to be in the weight room or won’t run track or have a hard time watching hours of film.\u00a0 These are the things you need to do to make up for your shortcoming (pun intended).\u00a0 I have known plenty of undersized recruits who have felt that despite their size,\u00a0 they should be getting scholarship offers because “I’m making plays” or “I’m ballin”.\u00a0 Again,\u00a0 high school football is not college football.\u00a0 We all know guys who balled in little league and disappeared when it came time for high school.<\/p>\n

If you aren’t willing to put in the overtime at being exceptional in the other areas then when I hear you crying about offers,\u00a0 my thought process is “please shut up”.\u00a0 If you play a skilled position and lack height,\u00a0 go run track and work hard at it.\u00a0 There’s nothing like a 10.6 100 meters to make a recruiter look beyond the fact that you are 5’8″.\u00a0 If you lack height in the trenches then there’s nothing like a 350 lb. bench press and 450 lb. squat to overlook the fact that you aren’t 6’3″.\u00a0 \u00a0If you are a linebacker that’s 5’11”,\u00a0 there’s nothing like a 350 lb. bench press and knowledge of the playbook on the level of your coaches.\u00a0 When you lack a required element, seek abundance in the others.\u00a0 Complaining about what you lack won’t get it done for you.\u00a0 It makes you undesirable.<\/p>\n

4 – Be Prepared to Take A Different Route<\/h3>\n

If you’ve busted your tail to be the best player you can be and still,\u00a0 the big boys aren’t throwing the scholarship offers your way then you have to go a different route.\u00a0 Basically,\u00a0 you may feel like you have proved yourself but you’re just going to have to prove yourself some more. If I brought you a rusted 1989 Chevy and told you it has a great engine,\u00a0 you are going to want to see the CarFax right?\u00a0 Well,\u00a0 sometimes you will just have to show your CarFax.\u00a0 Perhaps Clemson or Alabama is not your route.\u00a0 You will have to remain motivated and go to a smaller school.\u00a0 You will have to continue to develop yourself in those other areas that are required and that you control (strength, speed, intelligence and character).\u00a0 Many a NFL player have come from the ranks of sub Division I-A football.\u00a0 Some have even become Hall of Famers,\u00a0 many more have had wonderful college football experiences and graduated with a degree.\u00a0 Have Plan B ready and be ready to execute it.<\/p>\n

Following these four steps will have some added benefits too.\u00a0 Should you fall short of your D1 college or NFL dreams,\u00a0 you would have learned something about hard work,\u00a0 perseverance and determination.\u00a0 Those skills will undoubtedly yield you success in your next chosen pursuit.\u00a0 You know what won’t get you up that ladder of success?\u00a0 Complaining.\u00a0 Save your tears and your slept on tweets.\u00a0 \u00a0The time to get to work is now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(pictured: 5’9″ Andy Isabella who was the state 100m champ in high school and attended U.Mass. He was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":3769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[767],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recruiting-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}