Joined by my good friend and former colleague, Vincent Marshall, this episode is as good as it gets in terms of recruiting knowledge!
A big takeaway from the show is Vincent's genuine approach to life and football.
Starting off the day with a positive tweet, getting into the office at 4:30am and being authentic in building relationships with players and coaches, his approach is one we all can learn from.
To kick the show off, he discussed what lessons in recruiting he's taken from his own personal journey as a dual sport athlete.
For the potential walk-on recruit:
Focus on working hard regardless of the outcome
Be prepared to not play a down and, if you give it your all and leave with a degree, you'll have no regrets.
When it comes to the recruiting process, Vincent's step-by-step advice will be applicable to recruit and recruiter alike.
After building his list through highlight tapes, it's important to determine how a player is built mentally. Here are the questions that Vincent is asking high school coaches?
Will he block? Is that something he tries to be good at? (Evaluate film of this as well)
How are his grades? Does he perform in the classroom?
When coached hard, how does he respond? Ask scenario based questions to encourage the coach to paint a picture.
Next, we talked through "Profile Tapes" and what those are in recruiting departments. Highlights are supposed to look good, just like filters on social media.
Here are some quick tips on creating these hit tapes:
Find the stats if available
Pick out the player's best and worst three games of the season
Select 30 clips from each of those games, breaking down why it was one of his best or worst games
Be sure to evaluate effort away from the ball, interactions pre/post-snap, blocking, special teams and if he's playing on both sides of the ball
Lastly, Vincent went through how he evaluates a prospect's social media:
Look at the "Likes" section; what's important to them?
What do they tweet about and does it align with how he speaks to you as the recruiter in your relationship?
All in all, this was a great episode to learn about a person I look up to, respect and appreciate for how much he has helped me in my own journey as a college recruiter.
You can follow Vincent on Twitter at @CoachMarshall!
Click the links below to tune in on your favorite platform, and be sure to subscribe, rate and share the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-close-in-personnel-with-alex-brown/id1504584632
Stitcher: https://stitcher.com/s?fid=516832