By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

About a decade ago there was a popular TV show called Everybody Loves Raymond. It was a comedic sitcom that kind of betrayed the title because every episode, the lead character Raymond seemed to be in some conflict with somebody who wasn’t really loving him at the time.  Similarly,  every high school football player loves Division I football but is Division I football in conflict with you?  In this article we’ll determine if that is the case.

There are a multitude of factors that will determine your success as a Division I football player and for the purposes of this article,  I am calling Division I football the FBS division.  FBS is the highest standard that includes conferences like the SEC, ACC and Big 10. While there are many factors,  I have honed in on three factors that are key to determining if you are that level of player come graduation time from high school.

Many high school football players have this mentality of FBS football or bust and that’s simply not true.  There could be a number of factors that could contribute to you not being ready by the time graduation comes for FBS football and that’s nothing to be ashamed about.  Just because a college does not play on ABC or ESPN every Saturday does not mean that it’s not great football and won’t prepare you for a shot at professional football down the road. Many high school players let pride get in the way of making the best decision for their football and educational future.  With that in mind,  here are three factors to consider when determining if you are a Division I football player.

What’s My Size?

This is likely going to be the factor where I get the most push back.  Some will say why do you want to crush a young kid’s dream just because he’s undersized?  Or hey coach size doesn’t mean $%#&.  Perhaps I will even get some that will comment with some undersized player that made it all the way to the top.  I get it and I’m not here to crush anyone’s spirit but I am here to give you the mindset to best take advantage  of you opportunities.  In my decade of being intimately involved with college football recruiting,  I have determined size to be the #1 factor in determining if you will be recruited.  I have known college coaches to fly 1000’s of miles as signing day approaches simply to eye ball and stand next to a kid they saw on film just to see how tall he is.  Yes,  they want you to be fast, smart, have a good attitude, etc. but if you’re short,  you better be out of this world at EVERYTHING else.

You may have rushed for 2000 yards last season,  had 30 sacks or caught 12 interceptions but if you’re 5’7″ getting into that FBS school you’ve dreamed of will be the steepest of uphill battles.  One of the best ways to see where you stack up is to go to Rivals or 247sports and check out the Top 100 list for your position.  Just go through and scan the heights and weights of those players.  Do you fit the mold because that is what all the FBS schools are searching for.  They have to compete against each other and don’t want to get caught on the wrong end of the size war.

If your size does not measure up then I’m not saying that your football career is over but I am saying that you need to be careful about how you choose your college. The most important thing you need at the next level is an opportunity and those opportunities get very slim when you don’t meet the size quota.  Choosing a FCS, Division II or even Division III school will provide you with the opportunity you need to display the fact that you can overcome the size disadvantage. You need production and forcing your way into a FBS school could result in you constantly facing the frustration of size curtailing your opportunities.

Level of Competition

We all know where the recruiting hotbeds are.  If you are in certain parts of Florida, California, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, etc. then you know that you are banging heads with the best of the best in high school football.  If you are in those areas and are making plays then chances are you are a Division I football player.  Making plays doesn’t mean making routine tackles or catching a football thrown right to you when you’re wide open.  Be honest with yourself.

Are you All County? Are you All State?  Do you routinely win 1-on-1 battles in competition?  If so,  then you might be a Division I,  FBS football player.  If you sometimes make plays and have a hard time getting off vs. the better teams then you might not be ready for FBS football and could benefit from developing into a monster at a lower level school.  You can come back in four years and show everyone what you created.

If you are not in one of the recruiting hotbeds,  things get tougher for you.  You may be the best player in your area and for that reason, you get a lot of attention.  You may even be holding a number of big time scholarship offers simply because colleges want to recruit your area and you’re a top guy.  However,  this may not mean that you are going to have the experience you think you will have if you go D-1.

Many a time I have seen top players from smaller areas come to South Florida for a camp only to melt under the intense heat of the competition.  This is no knock on you.  What it simply means is that you do not have the experience going up against top level competition.  It also means you will need time to adjust to that and when you go D-1,  time is a really scarce resource.  Sadly,  programs are giving up on athletes faster and faster.  Within one summer of practice,  coaches are determining whether or not a player will ever be “a guy” for their team.  Once they determine that you will not be then you will have to be Hercules strong mentally to overcome their initial impression.  This will include dealing with recruits from the next cycles coming in and possibly passing you on the depth chart.  Just let that soak in.

A smaller school will give you time adjust to college level competition without totally crushing your confidence.  With a good mindset,  you will do all the things you need to do to develop.  Those things will include hitting the weight room and conditioning,  studying the game and handling your business academically. I have seen players who’ve had their football dreams crushed by a coaching staff and it has destroyed everything else for them.  Had you chosen a more suitable school,  these things would have likely been the complete opposite.

When you are in high school,  seek out higher competition as much as you can and be very honest about how you perform against it.  That evaluation will be extremely important in determining where you need to go when it’s time to choose a college.

Love for the Game

One of the most popular articles I have ever written on this blog is “You Thought You Loved Football,  Then They Gave You A Scholarship“.  If you have not read it then it is an absolute must that you do.  College football is very competitive but Division I football is a grind.  It will undoubtedly test your love for the game. You ever thought you loved a girl then she started acting up and you were like nah?  Well,  Division I football is going to act up and you better love her like crazy.  Getting into a Division I program and then finding out you don’t love football like that is not going to be a good experience.  It will likely result in you quitting and then having to pay for college.  Hello Uncle Sam!

If you aren’t eating, sleeping and drinking football at the high school level then seriously reconsider going D-1.  If you don’t get extremely excited about going to practice, hitting the weight room, going to 7-on-7 competitions and camps then that could be a bit of a sign.  I have seen young athletes develop a stronger love for football when they got to college but I have rarely ever seen that happen to those who went to a FBS school.

Division I college football coaches make big salaries and thus are under immense pressure.  One of the first things they attempt to do is find out how much you love playing ball.  They will be damned if you cause them to rent a U-haul truck and move out of town over your unwillingness to run through a wall for the program. Every college football coach wants you to love what you are doing but for the guys on TV every week and with the Twitter hogs calling for their job every Monday,  you will love playing ball or else.

Heading out to a lower level school that is not under that super intense scrutiny will give you time to embrace the key aspects of football success and grow.  Just because you don’t love it now doesn’t mean you wont love it later.  However,  D-1 ball is not the place to go and wait for your love to materialize.  It’s not a friendly place for guys that need to figure out if they want to buy football a dozen roses or not.

If you watched the draft last month then you saw that a lot of guys got drafted from schools you’ve never heard of or rarely saw on your TV.  Later on this year you will watch the Hall of Fame induction and you will see a few guys go in from some of those rare places. Some of those guys made outstanding decisions that turned out a whole lot better than guys who said “D-1 or bust!”  You don’t have to go to Alabama to make it to the NFL and Chadron St. has produced a NFL player or two.  Making an honest evaluation of yourself and where you stand when you are 17 years old can determine where you stand in this game and life come age 50.