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Apr 11, 2026
001: Everything You Need To Know About Ivy+ Summer Recruiting Camp
001: Everything You Need To Know About Ivy+ Summer Recruiting Camp
00:00
12:57
Transcript
0:00
Welcome to the Ivy Recruit podcast with your host, Brendan Cahill, where we're gonna give you all the advice you need to navigate the recruiting process in the high academic world of college sports.
0:09
Today, what I wanna talked about-- what I wanna talk to you about is how to prepare for summer college recruiting camps.
0:15
I get a lot of questions with the families I work with about college camps, which ones are you supposed to attend, how do you prepare for them, um, how do you make the most of them, and a lot more.
0:25
So in this episode, I wanna outline a few things, and hopefully by the end of it, you will have a better understanding of what to expect this summer. If, if you're coming to this summer
0:35
as a twenty twenty-seven kid, you're gonna be a rising senior, and this really is the summer that matters most for these camps. Coaches really want to set the stage. They really wanna see you in person.
0:48
They've probably been doing their homework, watching your tape, watching the training film you're sending them. They've probably had you on campus at junior days or spring visits.
0:57
And especially in twenty twenty-six, where it's pretty easy to doctor your film up with AI or cool camera angles or editing tools, teams really wanna see you live and in person, increasingly so.
1:10
Even for the high academic camps, even more so because it's a lot harder for them to dip into the transfer portal to replace you, really, if things don't work out or they go sideways.
1:19
So I think going into it, one of the mistakes families make at the start of these-- at the start of summer camps is thinking they're gonna have a perfectly clean and neat schedule.
1:30
Coaches, they just have too much going on to always be on call and getting back to you in a timely manner. There are going to be teams that drop off on you that were really interested in you earlier in the spring.
1:40
There will be teams that come out of left field that are really interested in you, but they just got busy during the spring.
1:46
And so I think the best a family could hope for going into their summer camp season is to have about two-thirds or eighty percent of their summer more or less planned out, knowing that there's gonna-- there might be one or two camps that come out of left field, and there's gonna be a little bit of adjusting on the fly sometimes.
2:07
So how does the summer camp structure work in terms of scheduling?
2:10
All of the big Division One FBS camps are going to happen in June, really heavy at the start of June to, like, to the middle of June, I would say, two-thirds through of the summer for the-- Or sorry, let me back up.
2:24
The FBS camps will start very early in June. I think this year they're starting even May thirtieth, just with how the calendar worked out, and those will be happening the first three weeks of June quite heavily.
2:36
There's going to be dates where there are multiple schools having the same camp on that date, and families are going to have to figure out which ones they wanna go to.
2:43
Then as we get to the middle of June and then into the middle or back end of July, that is when all of the FCS Division One schools are going to start having their camps as well.
2:55
So these are your Ivy League, Patriot League schools, your CAA schools. And, and basically by the end of June, the FBS camps are done.
3:02
Those-- The big FBS schools are done by the end of June, but middle of June to middle of July is when the Ivy and Patriot League are gonna be having the bulk of their camps going on.
3:12
All the while, there are gonna be a couple mega camps where there will be one location, but many programs attending, um, at the end of June for, like, the, I think, uh, the Wesleyan Red and Black Camp.
3:25
It's a good example of this. You'll have every NESCAC, Patriot League, Ivy League school at their camp date. There's another, uh, organization, New England Elite, they're having their camp.
3:35
Um, I think that's up at Tufts in Boston. But there's other mega camp dates that are happening too in June.
3:40
Then you get to the end of July, and these smaller NESCAC schools will start to have their own camps on their campuses.
3:49
Depending on the school, coach, program, position need, they may ask you to come to their camp live to work out for them. And that is more or less the, the schedule of things for the summer.
3:59
Camps are all done by the end of July, and August is pretty much a dead month between vacation for coaches and the start of preseason. So not much is gonna happen in August.
4:08
So some of the mistakes families make when they are starting out their summer recruiting camp scheduling is they're thinking that these camps are a starting line, when in, when in reality, they should be treated as a finishing line.
4:20
You don't wanna show up unknown to these camps if you can help it.
4:24
It's okay if you didn't do a spring visit, but I still think you should at least try to make contact with somebody on staff before you show up to one of these camps.
4:33
If you show up cold, you are gonna be at a bit of a disadvantage to the kid who's been emailing, visiting, and building a relationship with coaches for six months. That kid's gonna have an edge.
4:43
But it's not a perfect edge.
4:44
You still have to show out and do really well at these camps, physically speaking, but that's a little bit easier to do when you've already put the work in to make inroads with these programs.
4:54
I think the kids that walk away from the summertime with offers and all that stuff, those are usually the kids who've been networking and emailing for months prior to showing up to the summer camps.
5:04
If you're showing up cold and it is your starting line, it's okay. It doesn't mean it's the end of the world. It just might mean that coaches are going to wait until they see your fall tape to make a decision on you.
5:15
Ideally, you would've been doing junior days, you would've been having a weekly or biweekly touch point with these coaches, sending them film updates, check-ins, um, and all that fun stuff.
5:24
So if you're a twenty twenty-eight kid or younger, really make sure you, you block off next winter and spring as your major relationship building time blocks prior to summer camp. Okay?
5:36
So I would target camps where you have a genuine interest and a realistic fit. I really think you're doing a disservice to yourself when you're saying, "I, I'll go to any NESCAC school that wants me.
5:45
I'll go to any D1 school that wants me." Well, going to college in rural Maine is very different from going to college in New York City. It's very different from going to a suburban college in Ohio.
5:54
Thinking about the weather, think about how far away you are from home. If you're a STEM kid, maybe you wanna focus on engineering school or vice versa.
6:02
So at this point, we, we gotta get away from the spray and pray method, and you really wanna t-- be targeted on the schools you're actually interested in.Um,
6:11
and so, [sighs] um, so ideally you've got, you've got schools where the, the terminology kind of changes. I have called them, you know, reach schools, dream schools, kind of on the higher end.
6:20
You have-- then you have your target schools or your probable schools in the middle. These are schools that, you know, you just kinda rely on hard work to get you there.
6:27
You don't need a big talent boost to get you into these schools. Um, and then you've got your likely or your safety schools, where you could probably compete at those schools right now.
6:35
I think any family should, unless they're getting inclination-- strong inklings from one level or another, you might wanna do one kinda dream camp, two or, you know, and then two or three, uh, target camps, and then maybe two or three safety camps.
6:51
Um, I, I mean, at this point, if you're a twenty twenty-seven, not that the runway is running out, but there's no point in going to Ohio State's football camp if you are a five eight, uh, kicker, it [laughs]...
7:03
who weighs a hundred and thirty pounds. It's, it's not very likely. So I think part of it is kids need to be really honest with themselves.
7:09
Parents need to be really honest with themselves about the re- the level that's realistic for your child to play at.
7:16
You can actually go to the Huddle accounts of the kids who are starting at the schools you wanna play for and compare them to yourself. Do I actually look like those guys on that tape, or am I just being delusional?
7:27
So if you do, you know, if you reach out and do a discovery call or work with me, I can [laughs] take you through the, the planning process a bit more on the summer camp side of things.
7:37
Also, I might start doing some open Q and A's as well. Anybody can drop in. Uh, you know, those are free.
7:42
It's just good for me to have some kinda open weekly outlet where people can drop in, learn what people are-- wanna ask questions on. So once you get to the camps themselves, you really want it to be your kid's show.
7:55
Nothing wrong with mom and dad going to camp, but you really gotta let Johnny do his thing. You should be-- You can be in the stands, that's fine.
8:01
You can take video, but please, for the love of God, do not be overbearing. Do not be the parent that is hard-selling the coach on your kid. At this point, you-- it's not high school football. It's not daddy ball.
8:12
It's let Johnny do his thing. Let his play speak for himself.
8:16
At this point, he's gotta know to make eye contact, have good posture, have a good firm handshake, and definitely do not be fighting with your kid in front of a coach. That's a big red flag.
8:26
Almost no kid is going to have talent greater than the potential problems a, a problem parent is going to present for them. Uh, bury the hatchet if there's [laughs] stuff going on. Present a unified front.
8:40
You can be the guides on the side, but, um, really ninety percent of the day should be your kid running their own thing.
8:47
Especially for kickers and quarterbacks, there is, um, I think there's a tendency to overthrow, overkick when coaches aren't really watching. So be, be really careful with not overdoing it.
8:56
You know, save your best stuff, save your arm strength, save your leg strength for when coaches are really watching and when it really matters.
9:02
There's probably gonna be players from the current team there helping out at the camp who are going to give coaches or the college coaches feedback on how they interacted with you, how they liked you or not.
9:13
And so make sure you are being respectful, asking questions, and, and treating those current players as well, if not better than, you know, anybody else on the field you're gonna encounter that day.
9:22
So you do your camp, hopefully it went well, and you, you follow up with the coach, you say thank you. Of course, you can post it on social media, that's fine.
9:30
Then after the camp, within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, you wanna make sure you send some kinda thank you note.
9:35
Reference something specific about the camp you really enjoyed, and always kinda leave the door open for the next interaction. So you might say something like, "Coach, had a great time at the camp.
9:44
I really enjoyed meeting your, your starting long snapper, Johnny. He really had some great things to say about the program and working with you. Looking forward to staying in touch.
9:53
I'll keep checking in as the season and preseason happens." The last thing you wanna do is go silent on the coaches or not follow up, even if it's a bad camp.
10:01
You know, if it's a bad camp, something you can do that's kinda cool is just reach out to the coach and say, "Hey, look, I don't feel like I put my best foot forward.
10:07
If possible, I'd love to sign up for your second camp date in a couple weeks to maybe right the ship.
10:13
Um, and if not, you know, I'd love to go over some of my film or, or maybe if there were one or two things you thought I might be able to improve."
10:19
Use it as a chance to show coaches you're eager for their feedback, you're eager for their coaches, their coaching, and you're not going to just kinda let a poor performance fester, so.
10:29
But look, 'cause some, some offers do come at camp, especially for the kids who've been really dialed in, um, and doing the spring visits and doing the winter visits prior, right?
10:38
Um, and, and I would say that's kind of the first wave of recruiting. There is gonna be a second wave of recruiting that happens probably mid-fall at the end of September into the end of the season.
10:49
So if you-- and I would say probably still two-thirds of, of kids, even, even the high academic kids, are still gonna f-find out where they're going in that second mid-fall wave of recruiting.
11:02
So if you, if you don't get an offer at the end of the summer, it's, it's definitely not the end of the world.
11:06
There, there will be a second recruiting wave that happens in the fall that kind of extends into mid-winter even sometimes.
11:12
In general, though, the, the higher academics do want to move faster than other colleges, mostly because they have to.
11:19
I think the NESCAC schools, the D3 high academics, they will want to move faster than anybody else to get ahead of the Ivies and Patriots sometimes.
11:26
Then I would say the Ivies tend to wrap up by the end of fall, and then the Patriots, kinda depending on what's going on, they will go into mid-winter, early winter, sometimes your senior year.
11:37
So I hope this gives families a little bit of guidance on how to prepare for summer recruiting camps, some do's and don'ts for summer recruiting camps.
11:45
And, uh, you know, the, the problem with recruiting is that it's so arbitrary and subjective sometimes that, you know, you might be the best guy at a particular camp and the team just doesn't need your position or there might be another kid that's even better than you that goes to a different camp that you just never cross paths with.
12:01
So keep an open mind. The goalposts are going to move as you get through the summer and you're getting into the thick of recruiting.
12:10
Um, I think you always just gotta come back to the question: What does success ultimately look like for us? And, you know, def-- one word on injuries.
12:17
If there's any equivocation, it is not worth risking an even bigger injury to perform at a camp.
12:24
If, if you, you know, if you pull the quad or you hurt your ankle or something, it's infinitely better to try to do a different camp date or, you know, or just not risk a major injury.
12:34
'Cause the worst thing that could happen is, is you do too many of these summer camps, and then you get a major injury that sidelines you for your senior season.
12:41
Push comes to shove, and you gotta prioritize being healthy for the season, and you can always fall back on that second recruiting wave that'll open up in the fall. So hope this was helpful.
12:51
Please drop me a line, comment, shoot me a DM on social media, or email me back. Always glad to talk. Thanks.
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