Getting a college football scholarship as a high schooler has become increasingly difficult.\u00a0 With the changes in transfer rules and the advent of the transfer portal,\u00a0 the scholarship p00l for prep players has shrunk significantly.\u00a0 Combine that with the fact that running back has become a less important position in today’s game than ever before and we have a need to get it right as a ball carrier more than ever before if you want to play at the next level.<\/p>\n
You may be a very talented running back at the high school level but if you don’t effectively showcase your skills or at least package them right,\u00a0 there’s a chance that you may be talented and unsigned when signing day comes your senior year.\u00a0 \u00a0We can do a lot to avoid such an occurrence if we pay attention to the tips I give you in this article.\u00a0 Here are five important things you need to show on your highlight video as a high school running back if you want a college football scholarship.<\/p>\n
(1) Vision<\/strong><\/p>\n The essence of being a running back is vision.\u00a0 You have to be able to see the holes and seams in the defense as you are carrying the football.\u00a0 There is nothing worse that a running back that runs into the back of his blockers or misses wide open opportunities in the defense on a routine basis (Trent Richardson comes to mind).\u00a0 If you had runs where you spotted the hole,\u00a0 hit the gas and got the yards then show it.\u00a0 Coaches will tell you that this is one of the hardest skills to teach a back.\u00a0 You are either born with that or not.\u00a0 Showing that ability on film will excite a coach because he knows he won’t have to rack his brain trying to get you to see the holes in the defense.<\/p>\n (2) Cutting Ability<\/strong><\/p>\n Seeing the holes are great but if you can’t get there then it’s just the same as you being blind.\u00a0 All the best backs that have played the game have showed an ability to cut on a dime,\u00a0 find the hole from anywhere on the field and devastate multiple defenders in the process.\u00a0 A back with vision is exciting.\u00a0 A back with vision and cutting ability is legendary.\u00a0 Show the runs where you had to go lateral or cut back against the grain.\u00a0 While not as hard as vision to teach,\u00a0 it is a difficult skill to acquire.<\/p>\n (3) Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n We all know that speed kills.\u00a0 Running backs that can go 0 to 100 real quick tend to keep defensive coaches up late at night.\u00a0 A running back that can take a ball and go 60, 70 or 80 yards for a touchdown is a Godsend and they are also very likely to be courted by many schools in the recruiting process.\u00a0 In the offseason,\u00a0 it is not a bad idea if you find yourself on the track team.\u00a0 Having 40 yard dash speed is good but having track speed over distances like 100 and 200 meters can set you apart from all of the others.\u00a0 [Tweet “Every year college coaches set out on the trail beating the bushes looking for the sub 11 second 100 meter ball carriers that can change the course of a program’s history”].\u00a0 If you have that ability you should lead your highlight video off with that.\u00a0 If you don’t have that ability,\u00a0 find some track spikes and the track coach in the offseason.<\/p>\n (4) Break Tackles<\/strong><\/p>\n Vision, cutting and speed is good but you can’t always avoid the defenders.\u00a0 Even the best runners get greeted by the guys on the other side of the ball.\u00a0 One thing that makes defenses feel helpless and hopeless is when they can’t tackle the running back.\u00a0 If you are the type of guy that can shake off defenders then definitely showcase that on film.\u00a0 Being hard to bring down is exciting to coaches that are looking to recruit running backs.\u00a0 They know that tough yards are the type of yards that wear down defenses and secure victory.\u00a0 Being hard to bring down starts with determination but is honed in the weight room.\u00a0 Being consistent with the weights,\u00a0 adding size and strength is your way to being the back that is a headache.\u00a0 Show this skill or acquire it ASAP.<\/p>\n (5) Hands<\/strong><\/p>\n The game of football is changing.\u00a0 Where it once used to be smashmouth in between the tackles,\u00a0 things have gotten much more spread out.\u00a0 As such,\u00a0 running backs have become more active in the passing game.\u00a0 No longer are you just there for the play fakes and blocking.\u00a0 Now running backs are that fifth receiver that can be an X factor.\u00a0 It’s hard enough covering all the receivers in today’s game.\u00a0 If you can come out of the backfield to wreak havoc on a linebacker that can’t cover then you are valuable.\u00a0 If you have receiving skills out of the backfield then put it on display.\u00a0 Whether you have that skill or not,\u00a0 continue to work on it.\u00a0 Being versatile as a runner and receiver makes you unique.\u00a0 Being unique is a great way to win in the game of recruiting.<\/p>\n Being elite in one or more of these areas will land you on a college’s radar.\u00a0 Being good in three or more of these categories will put some offers on the table.\u00a0 Having all five of these skills at an above average level will not only land you scholarship offers but will likely get you ranked by the recruiting services.\u00a0 So,\u00a0 when you are making your highlight video,\u00a0 keep these things in mind and while you are training this offseason,\u00a0 you should be working towards building up these skills amongst other things.\u00a0 Blocking is still important so don’t turn a blind eye to that either.\u00a0 Follow these guidelines and you may just be a college football running back one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Getting a college football scholarship as a high schooler has become increasingly difficult.\u00a0 With the changes in transfer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":4406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[181,1180,822,689,938],"class_list":["post-4405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-highlight-video","tag-how-to","tag-offers","tag-recruiting","tag-running-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405","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=4405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}