If you turned off all the words that coaches say and could only judge by their behaviors whether or not they wanted to offer you, do they?
Sometimes you’re so desperate for a yes that you will find a way to turn any obvious “maybe” into one. It’s kind of like your friend thinking the prom queen likes them when they just said hi to be polite.
It’s really hard to discern real interest from fake interest. Fake interest isn’t “fake” per say, it just means you’re the backup option, not the primary option.
Recruiting incentivizes coaches to have multiple redundancies when, inevitably, their primary choices for recruits don’t pan out (by the way, almost nothing goes according to plan in recruiting)
That means they need to have a few recruits ready to turn the gas up if their first option goes sideways.
How do you develop a strong enough relationship with a player that they would consider playing for you but not so strong that you’re overtly misleading them? I don’t think you can exactly do this perfectly well. But, just know that is sometimes what’s happening.
If a coach really wants you, if they want to absolutely make sure you play for them, they would dedicate one of their admissions slots specifically for you.
Sometimes I hear the term “soft support” for admissions being a thing.
“Soft support” theoretically refers to a football staff exercising some kind of informal influence on the admissions process of a prospective recruit to help get them through admissions. Soft support really is just applying as a regular student.
And, unless you have a 3.9 unweighted GPA, really rigorous courses, a transcript with all A’s (but for 1-2 B’s in harder courses), a 1500+ SAT and a compelling, unique and moving narrative, you probably do not have great odds.
You are better off using your only Early Decision application on a school where football will slot you with one of their admissions spots - this might mean looking at a smaller division level school where your talent better aligns with what they need.
Soft support is not a real thing. The Athletic Liaison - the only go-between admissions and the football program - will only ask one question: are you using a slot on this player or not?
There are so many players with competitive admissions grades on their own aside from football that these prospects are sometimes encouraged to apply on their own.
“If you get it, we’d love to have you on the team” But, that is a lot different than, “Yes, we are supporting your application through football”.
It is difficult to get noticed by coaches, yes, and even get conversations going. But there is a cosmic difference between “talking” with coaches and them giving you an actual committable offer.
Until you have an offer, you don’t yet.
Coach Cahill
P.S. Are you absolutely daunted by the college football recruiting process and are looking for expert advice from start to finish? Book a free 1 : 1 Discovery Call now.
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