How to make a quality recruiting video

You never have a second chance to make a good first impression.

For a student athlete fighting for the limited scholarship dollars across the college football landscape, that impression is often made with a highlight reel.

Here are a few tips that should be followed when making your package:

Put your best plays first.

This should go without saying, but the first clips should be your best plays – and have the biggest ‘wow’ factor.  When going from player to player, college coaches will only be watching the initial plays to determine if they need to watch further. If those plays do not grab their attention, it doesn’t matter what follows. Also if you are overshadowed by another player in a clip, leave that out.

Identify yourself in each play.

Unless you are a quarterback, there is a need to let the coach know where you are lined up before the play. Take the time to include an identifier – whether it is an arrow or a shadow, do it.

Allow the coach some time to recognize the formation.

This is as important as identifying yourself and can be done in the same way. Give the clip a few seconds of padding before the snap so that the coach can find where you are as well as look and see what the opposition is doing. It is a part of your highlight package and so the expectation is that you will do something well, but making sure you are doing it correctly and not just having a breakdown in the defense is important.

Include a full game with your highlights.

Highlights are exactly what the name implies and, while a coach wants to see you at your best, there are parts of games that will be a glimpse at some of your low-lights. Showing how you play in every situation is an important evaluation tool and coaches want to see the full tape. Be sure to include information like the date and the opponent you are playing as well.

DO NOT make the introduction too long.

Generally speaking, a coach knows what player he is about to watch, either from the letter included with your DVD or from the email and link you have sent to the coach. Do not spend too much time with an introduction screen. Be complete but brief in giving your vital stats and information but move quickly to the action.

DO NOT change the game speed.

Coaches watch film in real time and know the speed of the game. Do not use slow- or fast-motion on a play. The ability for a coach to go back and watch your play is good enough and changing their perception of the play is not needed.

DO NOT cut the play off early.

This is simply removing any doubt and is not to be undervalued. Showing the result of the play is just – if not more – important as showing the alignment of the play. It will be important to see you finish your run and not leave the worry that you were tackled from behind or fumbled as a result of a hit. Let the coach see the end of each play and then move to the next one.

DO NOT embellish what is happening.

Less is more on highlight reels and so sticking to the essentials is key. Do not add music. Do not use transitional effects between highlights. Do not have an extended introduction screen listing stats and all-district selections. Do not add graphical commentary on the screen.

Once you have a quality product, the next step is to make sure that your video is readily available.

The best place to upload and manage your recruiting process is on Hudl. It is a free service that allows you to create and manage your own page. It has evolved into the industry standard and is a very easy software package to learn.

From there, being proactive in getting your name to recruiters at your target colleges as well as the sites that specialize in covering recruiting is certainly in your best interest.