D1 Head Coach Reveals How To Get An Offer Using Your Highlight Video

I sat down with a D1 FCS head coach who has 24 years of college football experience, stops at three FBS programs, and a role as an offensive recruiting coordinator. He has seen thousands of highlight videos, taken thousands of parent phone calls, and watched families make the same mistakes over and over. If your son is waiting on offers and wondering why coaches aren't calling back, this conversation is the one to hear.

What a D1 Coach Is Actually Looking For on Film

Most families think the highlight tape is about plays. It's not. Coach Rahl told me the first thing he looks for is stance. Before he evaluates a single rep, he wants to see hip flexibility, ankle bend, and knee bend. If your son is a waist bender getting into his stance, that's a red flag in the first 30 seconds of film review.

He also told me coaches are not looking to recruit kids already running their exact system. Every high school runs a different offense. What coaches are evaluating is athletic traits. Can those traits carry over to what they need at the college level? That's the real question every coach is asking when your son's film is on the screen.

One thing he said that stuck with me: they actively oversign quarterbacks and tight ends on purpose. High school option quarterbacks often become college defensive backs. Tight ends become offensive tackles once they hit a college weight room and nutrition program. If your son is playing one position in high school, that doesn't lock him in. The right athletic traits matter more than the position on the roster.

The 13th Question Every Coaching Staff Asks About Your Son

Coach Rahl described a process he brought from his time at Wyoming and Missouri. Every serious recruiting target gets a list of tough questions asked of the high school coach. But they added a 13th question they ask internally as a staff: what is this kid's deficiency, and can we live with it?

This is the most honest thing a college coach has said to me on this podcast. Every player has a deficiency. The question is not whether your son is perfect. The question is whether his deficiency is one a program can work around. A quarterback who is 5'10" can still be a great college football player. An offensive lineman who is 240 pounds coming out of high school with the frame to get to 290 in two years is a deficiency a coaching staff can work with. A lineman who simply cannot move or bend, regardless of size, is a different conversation.

If your son has been told he's too small, too slow, or not a perfect fit, that doesn't mean the door is closed. It means the right program is asking the right questions about whether they can develop him. Your job is to get his film in front of as many programs as possible so those conversations can happen.

The GPA Standard That Ends the Recruiting Conversation Before It Starts

Here's something most families get wrong. They think the highlight tape is the first filter. At a program like Presbyterian College, grades are the first filter. Coach Rahl was direct about it. Their cutline is a 2.8 cumulative GPA. Below that, watching film is irrelevant. He told me his staff gets heartbroken regularly finding a kid on tape they love, pulling the transcripts, and realizing there's nothing they can do.

He also brought up something I had never heard before. South Carolina operates on a weighted GPA scale that runs up to 5.0. Georgia uses a different scale. Kids routinely tell coaches they have a 3.6 when their actual 4.0-scale GPA is a 2.8. This is why Coach Rahl requires an unofficial transcript before they will extend any offer or roster opportunity. Not a self-reported number. An actual transcript.

If your son is reaching out to coaches, attach the unofficial transcript to the email. Do not make a coach guess. Do not let them find out later that the number was off. Coaches remember that, and it damages your son's credibility before he ever sets foot on campus.

How the Pioneer League Stacks Financial Aid When There Are No Scholarships

Presbyterian College costs $61,000 a year. Not one player on the roster pays $61,000 a year. That's the part most families don't understand about non-scholarship Division 1 programs.

Coach Rahl walked me through how it works. You file the FAFSA, and your financial aid need-based package kicks in first. If your family qualifies for a Pell Grant, that comes off the top. State grants come next. Then academic and merit scholarships based on GPA and test scores. Then institutional grants specific to the school. Stack all of those together and some kids end up with zero out-of-pocket cost. Others get it down to a $5,500 standard loan. A small number pay a modest amount out of pocket depending on their financial situation and academic profile.

He also made clear that his staff has no ability to influence the financial aid package. That goes through compliance and comes back from the financial aid office. What he can do is make sure your son fills out the FAFSA early and gets the process moving. Families who file early move to the front of the line. Families who wait are still guessing in May when other kids have already committed.

How to Actually Get Your Film in Front of a D1 Coaching Staff

Coach Rahl's program has an online questionnaire that immediately notifies the coach assigned to your son's school when a player fills it out. Every high school in the country has a coach assigned to it on their staff. Filling out that questionnaire is step one.

Step two is not waiting to hear back. DM the coach responsible for your son's recruiting area. Let them know you filled out the questionnaire. Then email the coach directly and reference the questionnaire in that email. Attach the unofficial transcript. Include high school, town, state, position, GPA, height, and weight. Every one of those pieces of information needs to be in the body of that email or a coach cannot picture your son geographically or physically and has no reason to open the film.

He also said something that every parent needs to hear about phone calls. Before any player gets scheduled for an official visit, his coaches are required to speak with at least one parent. Not because he wants parents running the recruiting process. Because families who are not aligned and informed create chaos at the worst possible moment. He gave me a real example: a mom calling him the night before an official visit asking what time to show up because she had no idea any of it was happening. That kind of situation is avoidable, and it reflects poorly on the family during the most critical part of the process.

What to Say and What to Never Say on a Coach Phone Call

Coach Rahl was blunt about this. When he calls a parent, he already believes in the son. He already thinks the kid can play. That phone call is not the moment for a parent to spend 20 minutes telling him how great their son is. He knows. That's why he called.

Two things he told me he never wants to hear. First, a parent badmouthing the high school coach. If the son was used well enough to get a D1 coach on the phone, the high school coach did something right. Criticizing him tells the college coach more about the parent than it tells him about the player. Second, dishonesty about injuries. Every player who arrives on campus takes a physical. If your son had his knee scoped three years ago and no one disclosed it, that comes out on day one. Being upfront about injuries does not automatically disqualify a kid. Hiding them and getting caught does real damage.

His closing words on this podcast were the most important. Everyone's recruiting timeline is different. Some kids get offered early. Some get offered the night before signing day. Do not let your son compare his process to anyone else's. If he wants to play college football, there is a school for him. The work is making sure the right programs know who he is before that window closes.

Join the Free Live Workshop

If your son is a junior or senior and you want a clear picture of where he stands and what to do next, I cover the entire recruiting process step by step in my free live workshop. This is not a generic overview. It's the exact system I used to earn a D1 scholarship in the SEC at 5'7" and 150 pounds, and that 83% of the athletes I've mentored have used to earn scholarship offers.

Register for the free live workshop at gonextplay.com/free-training.