How to Get an Athletic Scholarship in 12 Months

I sat down with Coach James Miller, Head College Football Coach at Reinhardt University, and he said something that stopped me cold. He signed 16 players from a single summer camp last year. Not from a recruiting service. Not from a showcase. From his own camp.

Coach Miller has been at Reinhardt for 13 years. He played offensive line at Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer. His record is 71-19. He took his team to the NAIA national championship game. This is not a guy who is guessing about what works.

And what he told me about recruiting at the NAIA level is something every parent needs to hear.

NAIA Football Is Real Football

Most families have no idea what NAIA football actually is. They think it is a step below everything else. That is wrong.

Coach Miller put it bluntly. NAIA is as close to Division II as you can get. The scholarship structure is similar. The competition is real. Reinhardt played Kennesaw State, a program with 65 full scholarships, and lost by nine. They played in the NAIA semifinals against Ferris State, which is basically the factory of D2 football.

The difference is that NAIA schools break up scholarships differently. They look at your academics, your financial aid, and they build packages. If your son has a 4.0, his scholarship counts on top of his academic money. If he has a 3.3 or better, his scholarship counts as a partial. That means the school can stretch its money further and offer more players.

For parents who think their son has to go D1 or it does not count, this is a wake-up call. NAIA programs like Reinhardt are producing real football players, real college experiences, and real degrees. And the scholarships are real.

Why Camps Matter More Than Your Highlight Tape

Here is the part that should change how you approach recruiting.

Coach Miller will not sign a player he has not seen live. Period. He does not care how good the highlight reel looks. He said it himself. A kid can look fast on film. That is different from looking fast in person. A kid can look physical in a highlight reel. That is a curated 3-minute video. When he watches a kid play every snap for two hours at camp, he sees the truth.

Sixteen of his signees last year came from camp. That is more than half his class. And he makes his camps hard on purpose. Grueling. Because if your son makes it through, Coach Miller feels good about him surviving the program.

He also said something that should scare lazy players. If he has to ask your son to get in on a one-on-one drill, he does not want him. He wants the kid who is scratching and crawling for every rep. The kid who pushes the guy next to him. The kid who does not bend over and put his hands on his head.

That is the difference between getting signed and getting passed over.

Film Has to Match What Coaches See in Person

This was one of the biggest takeaways. Coach Miller said the players he signed from camp had one thing in common. Their film matched their practice habits.

If a skill player looks fast on video, Coach Miller wants to see that speed in person. If a lineman looks physical on film, he better be physical at camp. Highlight tapes are curated. Coaches know that. What they cannot fake is two hours of live evaluation where every snap counts.

So before your son signs up for a camp, make sure his conditioning is there. Make sure his technique matches what his film shows. Because if a coach watches that film, brings your son to camp, and the two do not line up, it is over.

Your Son Needs to Be on Every Social Media Platform

I asked Coach Miller straight up. Should players be on every platform? X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook?

His answer was yes. All of them.

His reasoning is simple. The more touchpoints, the more chances a coach has to see your son. At the NAIA, D2, and FCS levels, there are no massive scouting departments. Coaches are finding players themselves. If your son is only posting on Instagram and a coach lives on X, that is a missed connection.

And it is not just about posting highlights. Coach Miller wants to see who the kid is. What is he eating. What are his grades. Does he post about his faith, his family, his work ethic. I always tell families to create a content calendar. Mondays, post a workout clip. Tuesdays, a game highlight. Wednesdays, something about character. Thursdays, nutrition. Fridays, take a screenshot of a test or quiz score. Saturdays, something about diet. Sundays, family or faith.

If a coach follows your son and sees that every single day, he sees a kid who loves football enough to market it even when he hates marketing. That is the kid who gets recruited.

Self-Discipline Separates the Recruited from the Rest

Coach Miller does something I have never heard from another coach. He makes his players film their last set in the weight room and post it to an accountability group chat. Every week. Even in the summer when nobody is watching.

He told the story of his starting left tackle, a two-time All-American, who laid concrete slabs all day in one of the hottest parts of South Georgia and still went to the gym at 10 PM to get his lifts and his videos in. When other players made excuses, Coach Miller pointed to that guy. If he can do it, you can do it.

That is the standard. Not talent. Not size. Discipline.

His starting left guard is 5 foot 9, 250 pounds. His starting right tackle is 6 foot 3, 320. His left tackle is 360. He does not care about measurables. He cares about whether your son will outwork everyone in the building.

Know Your Level Before You Start Reaching Out

One of the biggest mistakes I see families make is reaching out to the wrong coaches. A kid with D2 film is emailing nothing but Power Four programs. He thinks he has interest because he got a generic email blast. He does not.

Coach Miller confirmed what I tell families all the time. If your son is not offered by a D1 FBS or FCS school by his junior year, it is probably not going to happen at that level. Those programs have scouting departments. They know every player. Nobody is getting discovered as a senior at the Power Four level.

But at the D2, NAIA, and FCS levels, it is the wild west. Coaches are actively searching for players. That is where marketing yourself matters. That is where camps matter. That is where your son can control his own future.

Get evaluated first. Know if your son is a D1, G5, FCS, D2, NAIA, or D3 player. Then start reaching out to the right schools. Having an offer from an NAIA school is infinitely better than having zero offers from D1 programs you were never going to play for.

Join the Free Live Workshop

If your son is a high school football player and you want to help him earn a scholarship, I am hosting a Free Live Workshop where I walk you through the exact system we use to help families navigate recruiting. 94% of the athletes who follow this system earn scholarship offers.

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