By: Chad Wilson – Owner Gridironstuds.com
Follow on Twitter: @Gridironstuds
email: cwilson@gridironstuds.com
In my previous article about highlight videos I discussed the need to eliminate routine plays from your highlight video and opt to make the video shorter. In this edition, I will discuss the order of your clips in your video and how that should not be taken for granted.
Before I launch into the discussion on the order of the clips, I will touch on the need for players to place too much emphasis on the length in terms of minutes of their video. Many athletes feel that if their video is too short or under three minutes then it will be frowned upon by those viewing. This is not true. What is frowned upon is making a scout watch two or three minutes of plays that scream mediocrity. You are better off with 1:30 of the best of you than four minutes of something that no one wants to see once let alone twice. Don’t be nervous about the length of your video. Most recruiters will watch one or two minutes of your film anyway. By then, they know if they think you can play or not. Again, they have 100’s of videos to watch.
This leads me to the topic at hand in this article. Since we now know that scouts and coaches are likely only going to watch two minutes of your video, there’s no Earthly reason for you put your 90 yard kickoff return four minutes into your video. You don’t know how many times I have seen something like this done. I have watched linebacker films where their biggest decleater hit was five minutes into the video. I have watched running back videos where a 60 yard run in which they broke five tackles was found six minutes into the video and a quarterback video in which they threw a laser in the hole vs. cover 2 seven minutes into the video. That is absurd. You run the risk of that scout or coach never seeing that play.
When constructing your highlight video you should have the image of making an ESPN Top 10 plays video. Get your top 10 plays of the season and start with the top play first and go from there to play #10. When a coach is groggy and weary from watching a bunch of highlight videos, make your first play one that will slap him back into consciousness. If that first play makes him and the rest of the staff say wow then you have set the tone for the rest of the video. After the Top 10 plays, try to duplicate that for the next 10 plays. However, nothing is going to be as important as those first 10 plays. You are not creating a feature film that needs to build up to the climax of the plot at the end. Your video is more of a commercial in which you need to sell your product to the consumer in a 30 to 60 second spot. It’s more Super Bowl commercial than it is an informercial designed to cure insomnia at 2 A.M. in the morning.
Need a highlight video? Gridironstuds.com can get it made for you. Contact me Chad Wilson at cwilson@gridironstuds.com
Chad Wilson is a college football recruiting expert and creator of the GridironStudsApp which allows high school football players to gain exposure to college football coaches and fans. Wilson is a former college football player for the University of Miami (92-94) and Long Beach St. (’90-’91) and played briefly for the Seattle Seahawks (’95). He is also a former youth and high school football coach for over 15 years most recently for 5-A State of Florida Champs American Heritage. He runs All Eyes DB Camp a defensive back training company located in South Florida IG: @alleyesdbcamp. Wilson’s oldest son Quincy plays in the NFL for the New York Giants and his younger son plays cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals.
