D1 Head Coach Reveals How To Get Exposure To College Coaches

I sat down with Head College Football Coach Ricky Rahne, head coach at Old Dominion, and he said something that every football parent needs to hear. The thing parents misunderstand most about recruiting in 2026 is where real exposure actually comes from. And it is not the camp they just paid $500 to attend. It is not the recruiting service blasting emails to every coach in the country. It starts with an offer. And what happens after that offer is the part nobody talks about.

The Real Meaning of Exposure in College Football Recruiting

Coach Rahne was direct about this. When Old Dominion offers a kid, Power Four programs notice. Their recruiting staffs pull the tape. They start evaluating players they had never heard of, simply because a Group of Six program put their name on the board. That is how exposure actually works at the highest levels of college football recruiting.

Parents spend thousands chasing camps that promise exposure. But here is the truth Coach Rahne laid out. FBS coaches cannot legally attend camps run off campus by a third party. They are not there. The stars and rankings handed out at those events are generated by people who have nothing to do with the programs your son actually wants to play for.

The camps that matter are run on a college campus by that college. Coach Rahne told me Old Dominion attends several of those at ACC programs every year. He has been to the Penn State camp multiple times since becoming head coach. Those are the rooms where real evaluations happen. Those are the rooms where your son needs to be.

What College Coaches Actually See at Camps

Coach Rahne gave me a number that stopped me. A 10-foot broad jump gets immediate attention. Over nine and a half feet draws eyes. But here is what he said that most families miss. The measurables are only part of it. How your son carries himself on that field tells a coach everything.

Does he listen to the instruction the first time and execute the drill, or does a coach have to explain it four times? Is he at the front of the line or hiding in the back? Does he make a play and act like a professional, or does he make a play and almost start a fight? Coach Rahne said that stuff happens more than parents want to believe. And every bit of it goes into the evaluation.

He offered a kid from one of their own camps who ran a 4.8 in the 40. Not a number that jumps off the page. But the kid could not be covered in one-on-ones. He blocked. He competed against guys who ended up signing with Penn State. He got the offer. That is the standard. Show up ready to compete in every rep, not just the ones where the conditions are perfect.

Highlight Film That Gets Coaches to Watch Past Play One

Coach Rahne told me you have about four plays to grab his attention. After that, it depends on how good the first four were. That is not a lot of margin. Your son's highlight film needs to open with his best work, full stop.

He also said something I have not heard many coaches say out loud. If your son plays both sides of the ball, make three tapes. One combined for the recruiting staff to get the full picture. One offensive tape. One defensive tape. And if he has a dunk, a wrestling takedown, a blazing track time, put it in there. Coach Rahne said he wants one-stop shopping. He has your son's attention for four minutes. Take advantage of it.

He was also clear about what kills a tape before it starts. Spotlighting yourself after the play has already happened means a coach has to rewind. That is not going to happen. Spotlight your son before the snap so the coach can track his movement from the start of the play. Chronological game-by-game film is another fast way to lose a coach. Best plays first. Show every skill the position requires. Do not put forty posts in a row for a quarterback. Do not put forty interceptions in a row for a corner. Coaches are evaluating variety, not volume of one move.

Why Recruiting Emails Are Getting Harder and What Works Instead

Coach Rahne gets a thousand emails a day. Most of them are from recruiting services running blast campaigns. He goes into his junk folder and they are stacked on top of each other. He does not open them. That is not a maybe. That is a flat no.

A direct email from your son, from his personal Gmail, that references something specific about Coach Rahne, his background, his program, his coaching staff, that email has a better chance. It still faces long odds because of the volume. But Coach Rahne said those do stand out from the blast emails. The ones that show a kid actually did his homework are different from the ones that clearly got copied and sent to 400 coaches at the same time.

The channel he said is working right now is Instagram. Coaches are reaching out to kids through DMs. They are finding players that way. Coach Rahne was clear. Have your son's Instagram profile under his real name. Not a nickname. Not a handle. His name. And have his film linked or uploaded directly to the profile so it plays without clicking through to Hudl and sitting through an ad. Make it easy. Coaches who see something they like are going to check that profile. Make sure what they find there tells the right story.

Fake Offers and Offer Culture Are Hurting Your Son's Reputation

Coach Rahne brought this up on his own. He called it more common than parents think. A kid lists an offer on social media that a coach never extended. Sometimes a coach said something vague. Sometimes a kid heard what he wanted to hear. Sometimes it is a straight-up lie.

When Coach Rahne hears from another coach that a kid listed their program as an offer and they never made one, that kid's character is immediately in question. That is not a small thing. Recruiting relationships are built on trust. Fabricating or exaggerating an offer poisons that trust before a real conversation ever happens.

He also put offer culture in perspective. Your son does not need thirty offers. He needs the right four. Chasing offers for the feeling of getting them is not a recruiting strategy. It is a distraction from actually finding the right fit at the right level where he can play and grow.

GPA Is a Tiebreaker That Coaches Use Every Single Day

Coach Rahne was honest about how GPA functions in his process. At the Group of Six level it is not the first thing he looks at. If one player is clearly better and has a 2.8, he is taking that player. But when two kids are close and one has a 3.6 and is a team captain and one has a 3.1 and is not, that decision is easy. He takes the 3.6 team captain every time.

Position matters too. He said quarterbacks and specialists need to be over a 3.5. Kids who are going to be responsible for calling a defense need to demonstrate they can process information. A great long snapper with a 2.4 GPA creates more problems than the position is worth. Coach Rahne put it plainly. A high GPA only opens doors. It has never once closed one. He has never not recruited a kid because he was too smart. He has passed on kids because he was not confident they could handle the academic environment.

Your son's GPA is an immediate signal into how he handles responsibility. Whether or not that is a perfect proxy for intelligence is beside the point. Coaches read it that way. That is the reality of the process.

Join the Free Live Workshop

Everything Coach Rahne covered in this episode, the camps that actually matter, the film that gets coaches to keep watching, the emails that have a real shot at getting read, these are the mechanics of a recruiting process that works. If your son is a high school football player and you want to build this process the right way from the start, I break down the full system in my next live workshop.

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