Trying to Play D1 Football

As some of yall know, I am trying to play football at a D1 school. Over the last couple of months I have really realized exactly how high of a level you must be at in order to play football and I realized that I may need some help getting there.

My question to you is: Does anybody know of a good S/C coach that could push me into the final stages of being football ready? I’ve considered Shelby Starnes, however I am not sure how effective that would be at football preparedness.

Don’t know how old you are, but hoping you haven’t graduated HS yet if this is your goal. Middle of summer before frosh season is a bad time to start getting ready.

Assuming you have time on your side, I would contact one of the S&C gurus on the net, such as DeFranco. They might be able to steer you toward someone in your area, tell you what to look for when selecting a coach, and/or give you some tips of their own. You are also in between two API facilities, one in Pensacola FL, the other on the ASU campus. It is pricey, but a week(or more) at one of their facilities will really open your eyes. They can do a full assessment, and then craft a training regimen for you to follow back home. Went to the one in Pensacola, it was pretty sick. The level of detail they can get down to when it comes to prepping your body is just unbelievable. Look into it, and see what their pricing is. I went for a mentorship, so it was(I think) more expensive than an athlete’s week would be(due to the classes - an athlete would just go for the training sessions).

Why not contact DeFranco or Cressey? Maybe even Kelly Baggett. They all seem to know what’s going on.

U can also post this at Elitefts, the coaches there should be able to point u in the right direction.

I was a starting LB in the Big-Ten, and coached college football before moving into the athletic department so got a bit of insight on this one…
When you say your ‘trying’ I assume your attempting to walk on as apposed to being invited?
-if your already on the team thats a different story that can be addressed

If you are ‘trying’ the most important part is making the team! To be honest, most big time schools tryouts are basically combines. Knowing what the tests are at your school and training for them will help a ton. Its not the best way to train an ‘all around athlete’ but its the best way to make the team (look at all the NFL specialized combine work). For a walk-on position if they don’t know you and haven’t invited you, they will take you based on your test score and movement skills, from there you have to prove you can play football in practice if they invite you back.

Most will test: height, weight, vertical, 40(with 10 taken during), 5-10-5 pro agility. Some may have 225 bench test, standing broad jump and L-Drill.

After testing you will move to some ‘position’ drills, they will mostly be movement stuff, think bags and cones; they want to see how each guy moves and this is super important, they look for balance, flexibility and change of direction. Specifically, linemen may do some stance and start work, LBs and Dbs maybe some drops so they can see your back peddle, shuffle and hip-flip. Receivers will run some routes. Very few will do ‘football’ you may block a pad if your lucky but not always. Have a conditioning base to do the drills full speed and do them well and present your self as an athlete.

You also need to specify what position you plan on playing at the D1 level. I played center in D1, and you need to consider your position, as it will most certainly have an impact on your training. What I would suggest at this point (when you figure out your position) is get the basics down. Get your nutrition habits in order RIGHT NOW, that means getting your protein, healthy fats, and smart carb choices down. Adding or losing weight will be easier when you get these habits in order. As far as general training, you will need speed, agility, quickness, and the specific skills related to your position. Argh, you need to give more info than just, “hey I wanna play D1, help a brother out.”

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
You also need to specify what position you plan on playing at the D1 level. I played center in D1, and you need to consider your position, as it will most certainly have an impact on your training. What I would suggest at this point (when you figure out your position) is get the basics down. Get your nutrition habits in order RIGHT NOW, that means getting your protein, healthy fats, and smart carb choices down. Adding or losing weight will be easier when you get these habits in order. As far as general training, you will need speed, agility, quickness, and the specific skills related to your position. Argh, you need to give more info than just, “hey I wanna play D1, help a brother out.”[/quote]

Sorry for the late response, just got back from a family vacation.

I am going to be trying to walk on as a deep-snapper. I’ve got my nutrition in order pretty well, I know how my body responds to training and eating pretty well by this point. I’m at my peak in strength and weight (a hair under 260 lbs, trying to drop a little bodyfat though) however I need to work on my straight speed and football specific speed/skills.

I’m not sure what else you would like to know, however I would be more than happy to answer anything you may ask. I appreciate the help big time!

[quote]Rockland wrote:
I was a starting LB in the Big-Ten, and coached college football before moving into the athletic department so got a bit of insight on this one…
When you say your ‘trying’ I assume your attempting to walk on as apposed to being invited?
-if your already on the team thats a different story that can be addressed

If you are ‘trying’ the most important part is making the team! To be honest, most big time schools tryouts are basically combines. Knowing what the tests are at your school and training for them will help a ton. Its not the best way to train an ‘all around athlete’ but its the best way to make the team (look at all the NFL specialized combine work). For a walk-on position if they don’t know you and haven’t invited you, they will take you based on your test score and movement skills, from there you have to prove you can play football in practice if they invite you back.

Most will test: height, weight, vertical, 40(with 10 taken during), 5-10-5 pro agility. Some may have 225 bench test, standing broad jump and L-Drill.

After testing you will move to some ‘position’ drills, they will mostly be movement stuff, think bags and cones; they want to see how each guy moves and this is super important, they look for balance, flexibility and change of direction. Specifically, linemen may do some stance and start work, LBs and Dbs maybe some drops so they can see your back peddle, shuffle and hip-flip. Receivers will run some routes. Very few will do ‘football’ you may block a pad if your lucky but not always. Have a conditioning base to do the drills full speed and do them well and present your self as an athlete.[/quote]

Yes sir I will be walking on as a deep snapper. What do you think would have to go down for that type of tryout?

This is solid information, I appreciate the heck outta all that.

Being a specialist, your tryout may be a bit more skill based then others but some ideas. 1) If your trying to make it as a snapper no one needs to tell you that you have to be on point with that part of the tryout, practice and drill the hell out of your punt and field goal snaps. Make sure your don’t forget about your protection set on punt snaps as well ‘being big’ on FGs, show them the whole package of skill for your position. Special teams is all about effort, especially covering punts! Show them that during any agility/bag drills you do. This is where your conditioning base will come in, if you run first and then have to go snap got to make sure you can run hard but not blow yourself out and still snap accurate and fast.

Also, at 260 even if your a specialist snapper, as a walk-on give them a reason to keep you. If they think they can use you as a body on the ‘scout’/‘look’ team O or D-line while you try to break in on special teams and give them some injury cover as snapper you will have a much better chance to hang on.