College Recruiting and

Making Your Highlight Tape

by. Coach Dottavio
How do I get recruited for football? It’s daunting.
Have your contact info ready for coaches (address, cell #, email, Twitter)
Your GPA has to be near a 3.0 in core classes (Advanced Lunch ain’t it).
You need to take the SAT and/or ACT multiple times each and study for it.
You need to stay out of the admin office (no attendance, attitude issues).
You need to update your Hudl film every weekend during the season.
Make sure you know how to make a hi-lite tape.
You need a professional Twitter acct (@CoachDottavio not @SexyCoach2).
You need to narrow down what you want to major in (NEXT SLIDE).
You need to attend REAL combines (Nike, 247) and camps (at colleges).
You need to have Relationships, Commitment and Discipline.
Clearinghouse Requirements

Division I eligibility center info.

Division II eligibility center info.

College major quiz

College major quiz

Think about The major

you would want the
most.

And what job/s you can

do with that major (click
the major to see)
 Make sure your
Twitter is up-to-
date and
PROFESSIONAL.

No swearing, bad
song lyrics, etc.
THE WHY of the highlight tape
The highlight tape is like a commercial for your abilities.

Coaches need to know where, when, and how to acquire your services.

As the player, you need to establish goals and a plan to achieve those goals.

*Goal: to play college football and be a student-athlete.

*Plan: Grades, test scores, attitude, attendance, performance.

The highlight tape is a great way to get college coaches to

notice you, and it’s required in order to be recruited.

What do you need?
You need to update your Hudl and Twitter information including things like:

*Name, address, phone number, transcript (PDF format), position, jersey #

You need to know what states you’re willing to attend for school and how much
money your guardians can pitch in for help.

You need to know what type of school you’re willing to attend, examples:

*Private/public, Christian, HBCU, military, rural/city/suburban, etc.

It helps to know what you want to major in, because schools don’t offer every
major.
Your role in making a highlight tape
After every game you need to tag your plays.

After every game you need to update your stats on your contact page.

Your Twitter account needs to have your real name on it.

*Ex. You can be @slappyRB_42 but it then needs to say Justin Dottavio for
the name.

After every game you need to make sure your best play is first, your top 3 plays
are the top 3, and that you cut any filler play that isn’t as good as the top 15 or so.
Star’ing your plays.

The gold arrow points to a play that no one

has “starred” or “tagged” as their highlight.

The purple arrow points to a play that

someone has tagged as a highlight.

CLICK HERE
Selecting your plays

Click here

CLICK THE
PLUS SIGN

Choose the game Select the plays

Order of the tape

Choose the order

Title slide
Tips for the tape itself
1- Put your contact information on the first slide

*College coaches want a one-stop shop for finding out how to offer you
money.

Justin Dottavio RB/FS 2017

@JDottavioRB2017

1,200 rushing yards | 24 Touchdowns

Millbrook HS | #13

3.5 GPA | 22 ACT

Tips for the tape itself
2- Your highlights can be too long, and too short

*Coaches don’t want to sit through a Godfather trilogy, but they also want to
see enough plays to know that you have college football level talent.

*Too short: less than 10 plays

*Too long: More than 10 minutes

3- Remove all sound and music

*You might love the new Lil’ Slappy song but college coaches don’t want to
turn on your tape and hear loud music or sounds.
Tips for the tape itself
4- The order of your plays matters!

*Make sure you have your best three plays up front.

*Your best play has to be the first clip.

*Example: For a WR, make sure you have not only catches but you also
blocking and any time you’re on special teams making things happen.
Tips for the tape itself
5- How to emphasize yourself every play

*Make sure that you put the circle or arrow at the BEGINNING of the play.

*Coaches want to see your game speed, they can’t if the circle or arrow stops
the play midplay.

GOOD Bad
 Tips for the tape itself
6- No “Dude Alerts” or “Freak-o-Meters”

Just use the arrow or circle feature, and BEFORE the play unless you start
the play off screen (ex. KOR or PR).

CLICK THERE FOR AN

EXAMPLE OF AN A+
TAPE (I MADE IT SO OF
COURSE IT’S
AWESOME)
 Form letter to contact colleges

Fill our the RECRUITING

QUESTIONNAIRE for
EACH SCHOOL!

This is a FORM LETTER to

contact college coaches.
EDIT the info to fit YOUR
INFO!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FIL

E!
Contact
If you need any help with college, Hudl or creating a highlight tape, just email me:

Justin.Dottavio@gmail.com

It’s hard work but we can facilitate you being signed to play college football, if you
have the desire to achieve that goal!