The key to making a great highlight tape is remembering that no one actually wants to watch it.
Coaches coach for free, they’re actually paid to recruit. But, in season it’s just ridiculous how much they have to do. They’re often pulling 12+ hour days while also trying to not die of heart attacks, keep their cholesterol down, and have a semblance of a personal life.
Even DIII head coaches get 100s of DMs/emails a week that they just cannot possibly get back to.
Then comes your perfectly worded DM with a Hudl tape you want them to watch.
Recruiting happens on the margins of the day - the coffee break, the bathroom break, the stop light at the intersection (probably shouldn’t be doing that) and, very rarely is the entire thing going to get a full watch the first time you send it.
A few highlight tips from doing this with high academic college coaches for a decade:
Skip the preamble. No intro slides needed. They will get all that info from your X profile. Just get right into the play from the very first second.
The very first play needs to be your very best WOW play - whatever that is. This is a highlight tape, not a Rocky Montage. This is why you, the player, should be making this tape, not your parents (unless they know what they’re doing, but most don’t exactly with this and it’s not their fault).
Keep all clips tight. There should be no dead air when nothing is going on. The clip should start exactly at the snap and end exactly as the play is dead. You can pack 5-6 clips into less than 30 seconds of highlight tape.
Show your tape to your HS coach or someone who know recruiting first before you send it off to make any last second tweaks. Remember you, the player, should be the one clicking the EDIT button, not mom or dad or your consultant. This is YOUR thing. Not theirs. They can advise. But you need to know what you’re sending out to coaches.
Understand WHEN you send your tape is nearly as important as what you see on it.
Friday’s are generally great days to send your tape out. Coaches are just walking through their game plans for Saturday or it is a travel day with plenty of time to catch up on some recruiting.
The next best day/time might be Sunday evening when there is also some general down time.
But, even if you do everything right and even if you are a great fit for a college team it still doesn’t mean they’re going to watch your tape when you send it or when you follow up. Most teams will generally not pivot back to recruitment until October at the earliest. Think of this time right until then as “priming the pump”.
So, as you get into your seasons:
Create a weekly recap tape of the game you just had.
Send it out to coaches Sunday evening. “Quick update coach: Great W this weekend went (insert stat 1 and 2 and 3) would love your take here’s a less than 30 sec recap”
If no reply on Friday send a nudge text “Just bumping this to the top of your inbox, good luck this weekend”
Repeat.
Brendan
PS When you’re ready, feel free to schedule a free discovery call to see if we might be a fit to partner together on you or your kid’s Ivy+ college recruitment.
