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Most high school players dream of receiving a scholarship to play college football. Unfortunately, most won’t.

But there are some things that you can do to improve your chances of getting one, and today I’ll be sharing some tips with you that can do just that.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Attend Football Camps. There’s no better way to show college coaches and scouts what you can do than in-person.

There are national and regional camps out there that can give you some great exposure. Some of the top notch camps have tons of coaches from big time programs watching (and sometimes coaching) the drills that high school players are put through.

These camps also give you a chance to speak to coaches, allowing them to get a feel for who you are and your personality.

The camps also give you, and maybe even your parents, a chance to establish and build relationships with the coaches from the college programs.

If you have a good idea of where you’d like to play, go to the camps held by those schools as well. You can meet even «more» of the coaches at your «dream school» by attending their school’s camp.

Relationships are important in all walks of life, and college football is no different.

Also try to get to camps that are supported by recruiting services like Scout.com and Rivals100.com. These camps put up rankings that college coaches pay close attention to.

Underarmour hosts combines that are highly respected by collegiate coaches as well.

Your chances of landing a scholarship go up tremendously if you can get a decent ranking on one of these recruiting services’ player rankings.

2. Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. – Registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center will help you identify schools that you academically qualify to be a part of.

If you can, do this before the start of your Junior year in high school. This will help keep you from trying to go to schools that you might not even qualify for, which will help you spend your time more wisely throughout this process.

Once you’ve registered, update your information with them regularly. This will make sure the guidance you’re getting from them is stays accurate, otherwise you’re wasting your time.

3. Figure out your passion early, if you can. This may not help you land a scholarship, but it can help you make sure that the school you choose will set you up for a successful post-football transition.

I urge you to put in the effort to figure out your passion while you’re in high school. This will help you narrow down the schools you want to try to get in, because you can focus on the schools that have good programs related to your passion.

I understand that your love and focus is football, but even if you make it pro, you’re going to be done playing by your early 30’s, if you’re lucky enough to have a pro career that lasts that long.

There’s a lot of life left to live at that age. Think long term and make a smart move by focusing on schools that will help you with your post-football life.

If you’re not sure how to go about this, Googling «how to find your passion» is a good place to start. Go through the different exercises you’ll find online. Don’t expect the answer to come to you immediately. It may take weeks, months, or even years, so start on this as early as your freshman or sophomore year in high school (or even earlier), if you can.

4. Figure out the level of football you can play realistically. Unfortunately, everybody doesn’t have the talent to play Division 1A football.

If you have Division II talent and speed, and you’re going to USC and Notre Dame camps, you could be wasting your time; especially if you’re heading into your senior year in high school.

To get a better idea of where you are talent-wise, try to attend some FBS (D1A), FCS (D1-AA), DII, and DIII games at schools in your area. This will let you observe, firsthand, the level of competition at each level so you can make a more realistic assessment.

Then, make a list of the schools you’re interested in looking further-into.

5. Research the programs/schools you’re interested in. Try to start step before your junior year in high school, if you can. That way, you’ll be able to go through this process without feeling rushed.

On top of that, coaches love to see that you’re progressing, so if you can expose yourself to them early, you might be able to impress them when they see the progress you (hopefully) made in your senior year.

Improvements show hard work, dedication, and a bunch of other positive attributes coaches love to see in prospect.

But back on-topic. Which schools offer a program that you want to study? Which schools will have players graduating the soonest at your position? How far away from home do you want to go?

These are examples of things you want to know to increase the chances that you’ll earn a degree in a field you like, and that you’ll have a good shot at getting some playing time when you get there.

6. Narrow-down your list. Once you’ve figured out your passion, identified the level of college football you can realistically play at, and taken care of the rest of the steps listed above, narrow-down your list of schools you’re interested in.

Again, this will help ensure that the time you put into this process is focused and efficient. If you’re trying to promote yourself to 30 schools, you might miss out on the 5 schools that you had a realistic chance at getting a scholarship at, if you don’t narrow-down your list.

7. Research to find colleges that will need a player at the position you play. I’m personally not as sold on this one, but there are many that swear by it, so I thought I’d include it.

This step requires that you look into the colleges on your list and find out which ones will have a void in the position that you play.

The purpose of this is to find school’s where you’ll have a good shot at getting playing time, and also so that you can aim at teams that will have more of a need at your position.

I’m not a big fan of this step, because there’s always unexpected variables involved. For example, players get moved to new positions all the time, so without knowledge of where a team would want to have you play, you could rule out a school when they might’ve been interested in you.

On top of that, players quit and transfer all the time, so just because there appears to be a need right now, that need could be filled next season, or vice-versa.

So you’ll just have to do your best on this step; or «x» it out altogether, if you want.

8. Start promoting yourself. Once you’ve figured out the issues mentioned above, you want to start promoting yourself.

Most colleges have low recruiting budgets, so if you’re initializing the contact with the football programs yourself, you’re making it easy (and cost effective) for them to learn about you.

If you don’t take the initiative to contact «them», you’re taking a chance that they may not learn about you at all.

Here are some ideas on how you can do it:

Make a YouTube highlight video of your performance on the field. Just 3-5 minutes long, tops. This film’s purpose is to generate interest, so you only want your top plays.

Keep in mind that coaches don’t have a bunch of time to watch your video, so make sure it’s short, and shows only your best plays.

You can do this easily with Windows Media Player and Windows Live Movie Maker that come with Windows, so you may not need to buy software.

The quality of game film can be real bad at some high schools, so make sure you do what you need to do to get an understanding of the quality of the video your high school provides.

If it’s bad, you may want to invest a couple hundred dollars into buying your own camera, and have your parents film your games from the stands.

Before each snap, make sure you’re highlighted so they can easily recognize who you are.

College coaches have to first be able to see you, before they can like what they see, so this is critical.

Make an academic and athletic resume that highlights your performance both in the classroom and on the field. These will give the coaching staff an idea of whether or not you qualify athletically and academically for their schools.

Make sure the athletic resume contains a link to your YouTube highlight video.

Fill-out a questionnaire with each school. These questionnaires are often available at the school’s football website. If you don’t see it there, call the football department and inquire about how you can go about filling one out.

These questionnaires give coaches the information they need, and are a great way of introducing them to you, if they haven’t already heard of you.

Email (preferred), or mail your athletic and academic resume to college coaches at the schools you’re interested in. You can find the names of the coaches and staff on the team’s website.

You can search for their email address and/or phone number on the school’s directory on the school’s website.

If you don’t hear back from anyone within a couple weeks, follow up with the coaches that you sent your information to. Usually, if they’re interested, they’ll get back with you, you won’t have to hound them.

If you get signs that they’re not interested, move on to another school, or reach out to them again in the future.

Use some of the online resources available. There’s a ton of websites and services out there that are designed to help increase exposure of high school athletes.

Many of them claim to help you gain more exposure to college coaches, but I’d be wary of services that charge huge fees. I’m just not personally sold on them to the point of where I’d spend a lot of money on paying for a service like that, but that’s just my opinion.

NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network is one of the more reputable ones however, and they have a free and a paid option.

My recommendation is that you research all of the available services and go with your gut on which ones you want to participate in.

9. Work on your academics. Do you want to increase the number of schools you can go to? Do you want to avoid having to accept scholarships from schools you don’t like, just because you couldn’t academically qualify for your top choice schools?

If so, you need to get serious about your grades as early on in high school as you can.

To put yourself in the best position possible, I’d try to maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher. Otherwise, you’re putting yourself at-risk of being eliminated from consideration from some schools due to academic qualifications.

Same rule applies with your SAT and ACT. Your grades along with your test results in the SAT and/or ACT will determine what schools you can be considered a candidate for, and which you can’t.

Even if you don’t end up with a football scholarship, the better your grades and test scores, the better your chances are of landing some type of academic-based scholarship to help you get through college.

10. Use your grades to sweeten the deal for the prospective school. I recently read about a high school coach who’s been able to get as many as 19 players from just one of his senior classes, college scholarships.

He says that for some of the marginal players that aren’t top-notch recruits, he gets them other methods of financial aid, and uses that as part of the pitch to sell the players to collegiate programs.

This can be attractive to schools, as they may be more apt to take a marginal player, if they don’t have to pay for a full scholarship.

I don’t know details as to how he’s doing this, but I’d imagine that academic qualifications come into play for some of these «other» methods of financial aid that he leverages to help his kids land scholarships this way.

11. Play Other Sports. This may not play as big of a role as some of the other items in this article, but every little bit counts.

Playing other sports in high school shows your athleticism, and every coach in America wants players that are athletic, every position. Not only that, but even if football is the sport you like the most, you can use the other sports to help you become a better football player.

For example, recruiters love offensive linemen that used to play basketball in high school, because it shows that they’re at least fairly athletic, and can move their feet.

The footwork you develop from guarding players in basketball alone (even if you don’t have a good offensive game) can help you tremendously as a football player.

12. Show Leadership Abilities. I doubt if a team will offer you a scholarship based off of your leadership abilities alone, but it will definitely improve your overall profile if you can show that you’re a leader.

If you’re in any clubs at your high school, consider running for leadership positions.

Among many, one of the reasons colleges are so attracted to leaders, is because when you play sports for a university, you’re «representing» the university.

As a collegiate athlete, you’re going to be faced with a lot of temptations, and usually leaders have the abiltiy to go against the grain to do what they feel is morally right.

Most teams and schools put forth a lot of effort to avoid bringing in players that could cause trouble or damage the image of the school or program in the public eye.

13. Train Properly. Sometimes, players put too much focus on getting exposure, and not enough on training properly.

Don’t forget that your athletic ability and performance is what gets the collegiate coaches interested in the first place! Training is outside of the scope of this article, but make sure your offseason workout is helping develop the size, speed, agility, strength, power, and quickness necessary to be an attractive collegiate football candidate.

You also want to make sure you’re doing position-specific drills to make sure you’re getting better at your technique. Your technique could be the one thing that gives you the nod over another candidate, you just never know.

It sounds like cliche’, but the little things like eating right, getting enough rest at night, and working on your flexibility and core strength can make a big difference in your performance on the field.

Best of luck!

Who will ever forget Sandra Bullock’s constant grumbling to coach Burt Cotton in the Academy Award winning film The Blind Side? The story of Michael Oher and his journey to the NFL is heartwarming and, now, it might be time to start on a sequel. Coach Cotton in the movie is really coach Hugh Freeze, a native Mississipian who today landed his dream job as he was named the new head football coach at the University of Mississippi.

Freeze, a graduate of Southern Mississippi in 1992, got his first coaching job at Briarcrest Christian School (the real name of the movie’s Wingate Christian School) that very same year. He was the team’s offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach before being named the head coach in 1995. Freeze won two state titles (2002 and 2004) at Briarcrest and was named the Region 8-AA Coach of the Year five times and the Associated Press Coach of the Year six times.

Freeze then followed his standout offensive lineman, Oher, the Mississippi where, in 2005, he became an assistant athletic director for football external affairs. The next season he would become the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, positions he held until 2007 when then head coach Ed Orgeron was let go. In 2008 Freeze found himself coaching at NAIA Lambuth University (TN) where he went 20-5 in two seasons including an 11-0 perfect regular season in 2009. The school went to its first playoff game in 11 years and finished the year at 12-1 and the sixth-ranked team in all of NAIA.

In 2010 Freeze joined the coaching staff at Arkansas State as offensive coordinator and after Steve Roberts resigned at the end of the season, Freeze was named the new head coach. The Red Wolves have thrived under Freeze’s potent spread offense, but, surprisingly, have been very good on defense as well, ranking 15th in the country in scoring defense yielding 19.3 points per game.

Freeze inherits a team that did not win an SEC game this year, going 0-8 in the conference and 2-10 overall, one of the wins versus FCS (formerly Div. I-AA) Southern Illinois. With a defense ranked near the bottom of FBS in several categories and an offense that is not much better, the task ahead will be mighty, but Freeze has won everywhere he has been. He is busy putting together his staff and reportedly his receivers coach Grant Heard and his defensive line coach Chris Kiffin will follow him from Arkansas State to their new home at Ole Miss.

Back when I was 11, I used to think that, thanks to J.J.B. Sports, the only sports brands that existed were Adidas, Nike and Reebok. Not true. Andy Murray sports Fred Perry, the Welsh rugby team play in Under Armor and Portsmouth F.C. wear Canterbury kits. The truth is that this completely fictional, holy trinity of brands has now been superseded by a new generation of sports clothing.

For me this became apparent in 2005. I was on my way to a tennis match when on Radio 2 came a program about the rise of the word «chav». Described by Urban Dictionary as «fag in one hand, jewellery in the other», they wonder around housing estates in «imitation Adidas tracksuits». This is further complemented on television shows like Channel 4’s Shameless, and thanks to characters like Mickey Maguire the identity of the tracksuit being an an innocent staple of 1980’s football, the tracksuit has become, with the right person, responsible for crimes against others as well as fashion.

Today the blandest one-piece on the market, that was the Adidas trademark, has been replaced by apparel from brands like Canterbury, Under Armour and Kukri. Homoerotic super skin-tight base layers are the main culprit. Seemingly a size too small, many sportsman wear them to keep warm and in contact sports for «bosh-protection’. Stemmed from rugby league where it was used so opponents couldn’t grab on to shirts when making a tackle, base layers are becoming a «necessity» in all sports. No longer does your typical Premier League footballer embrace northern away trips to Newcastle on a winter night in just an away jersey.

European imports from Spain, Portugal, France, now must play in long sleeves, polar necks and base layers to keep warm. However some players just take it too far. In 2005 Ryan Giggs played in black tights to «protect his hamstrings» against Manchester City. This doesn’t help re-enforce that football is a man’s game but more of a «dress-up» by major brands on their own Barbie dolls, sorry, football players. However with this new generation of brands like Canterbury not having the arsenal, ahem, of clothing available to them some order has been restored.

Instead of the cliched university stereotype that if you have a Jack Will’s top, you have Canterbury tracky b’s, went to public school etc many others like footballers and hockey players alike are buying these clothes too. Whether rugby players like it or not.

By Joel Girling

Major League Soccer (MLS) is on its winter-break, having just concluded a successful season that saw the introduction of the Seattle Sounders and the cup won by Real Salt Lake. With the MLS season over, American soccer fans turn their full attention to Europe. With less than two weeks until the European January transfer window, the rumor mill is strangely quiet – at least as it concerns Americans.

Landon Donovan signed a four-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Galaxy and promptly agreed to a short-term loan to Everton of the Barclay’s Premier League. The reigning MLS Most Valuable Player and U.S. Men’s National Team captain will join Tim Howard and the Toffees for a brief spell before returning for the start of the 2010 MLS season.

The Evening Times of Scotland reported this week that MLS Commissioner Don Garber held talks with Stuart Holden to convince the Houston Dynamo midfielder to stay in exchange for a major salary bump – ten times more than his 2009 paycheck. Holden is rumored to be a target of Rangers, a squad that includes Americans Maurice Edu and DaMarcus Beasley. New reports have linked Holden with Blackburn Rovers, though neither side has confirmed this speculation.

Real Salt Lake is arguably the most vulnerable MLS team in the January window, with Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman at the center of transfer speculation. In a recent interview with RSL General Manager Garth Lagerway, SoccerHype reported that retaining the services of Findley and Beckerman was a top priority in the off-season. Few suitors, if any, have been named, but it is no secret that both attracted interest from abroad with their playoff form. It is known that RSL will lose Yura Movsisyan, who will join Randers FC of the Danish first division. Randers has struggled this season and currently sits 14 points below the relegation line.

As some players move abroad, a few might return as well. Danny Califf has left Danish club FC Midtjylland to join the Philadelphia Union in its inaugural season in MLS. The twenty-nine year-old spent more than three years in the Danish first division. Califf, currently undergoing a buyout of his contract with Danish club FC Midtjylland, would become eligible during the next transfer window in January.

Finally, Eddie Johnson, the once promising striker who has failed to make an impression at Fulham and on loan to Cardiff City, might be coming home. Johnson’s limited play has been lackluster and sources indicate the twenty-five year-old is keen on returning to MLS where he might revive his career.

Find out more about U.S. soccer.

There have been a number of famous and accomplished people who were either born in Southampton or who have lived there at some point in their lives.

Many of Southampton’s illustrious sons hail from the world of music. There’s Will Champion, the drummer of Coldplay, who was born in Southampton in 1978. Champion’s father, Timothy, is currently an archaeology professor at the University of Southampton, where his mother was also a professor. Champion went to the Cantell secondary school in Basset Southampton, before moving to the University College London to study anthropology. That’s where he would get together with his future band mates in Coldplay. Champion played the guitar growing up and names Tom Waits and traditional Irish folk music as among his early influences in music.

R&B singing sensation and songwriter Craig David is another Southampton product. He was born as Craig Ashley David in 1981 in the Holy Rood estate at the city centre. His father is Grenadian while his mother is Jewish-English. David, who has sold over 13million albums worldwide (2007), attended Bellemoor School. David is proud to be a Southampton FC fan and is happy to correct those who thinks he roots for Leeds United (as portrayed by Leigh Francis in the popular comedy T.V. show «Bo’ Selecta.» And how big has Craig David become. Singer Songwriter Elton John was quoted as saying, «If there is a better singer in England than Craig David, then I am Margaret Thatcher.»

BBC Radio One DJ Scott Mills also hails from Southampton, where he was born in 1974. He has made a name for himself in UK culture through his ‘drive time’ show on BBC Radio 1, dubbed as The Scott Mills Show. At the risk of losing his listener base, Mills admitted his homosexuality to the press in 2001. In 2007,the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List named Mills as the 41st most influential gay person in Britain

During the 17th century, Southampton was the birthplace of the «Father of English Hymnody,» Isaac Watts (July 17, 1674 – November 25, 1748). One of his best known works, O God Our Help In Ages Past, is the school hymn of the King Edward VI school in Southampton. It is also the peal of the Civic Centre clock tower. Watts is recognized as the first prolific and popular English hymn writer, with over 750 hymns to his name. Many of them are still being used today and have been translated into many languages. Watts attended the King Edward VI School, where one of the houses is now named in his honour. Moreover, he was also an accomplished theologian and logician, and a writer of many books and essays on these topics. A memorial of Isaac Watts stands at Westminster Abbey, the earliest surviving memorial built in his honour. On November 25, 2006, he was commemorated as a hymn writer in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church.

In the 19th century, Southampton produced another great artist, the British painter and illustrator, Sir John Everett Millais (June 8, 1829 – August 13, 1896), recognized as among the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

The son of a leading Jersey-based family, Millais distinguished himself by winning, at age 11, a spot at the Royal Academy, an unprecedented feat at the time for someone so young. In 1948, together with his academy contemporaries William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Millais put together the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in Millais own home.

The popular international comedian Benny Hill is also a product of Southampton, born as Alfred Hawthorn Hill in 1924. He attended the Tauntons School and, during World War II, was among the scholars who were moved to the Bournemouth School in East Way, Bournemouth. Upon graduation he was back at Southampton, in Eastleigh, where he worked as a milkman, driver, drummer and bridge operator, but could only break into the entertainment by working as an assistant stage manager. He would soon follow the steps of the great British music hall comedians, changing his name to Benny (in honour of his idol, Jack Benny) in the process,. Despite his thriving comedy career, Hill spent a large part of his life living with his mother in Westrow Gardens in Southampton.

Two famous radio and television personalities also trace their roots to Southampton — international radio presenter Andy Collins and naturalist TV presenter Chris Packham.

From the ranks of the armed forces, Southampton boasts of Admiral John Jellicoe (December 5, 1859-November 20, 1935), former commander of the British fleet and British Royal Navy admiral.

The exile, Juan Manuel de Rosas (1793-1877), a former dictator of Argentina, spent his last years in Southampton. Rosas was the head of Argentina from 1829 to 1852. He is remembered as one of Latin America’s first famous caudillos (powerful political-military leader).

In the realm of sports, Southampton counts among its sons the former England and Southampton F.C. football player Matthew Le Tissier, who has lived in the city since the 1980s. Other popular residents are Olympic athlete Iwan Thomas and former tennis player Wally Masur.

Here come the music and film industry, sports and tourism in Lagos which will surely captivate your attention in the best possible way. It has been noticed and observed with great care and attention that the city of Lagos is famous and well known for its music and film industry. This sector is booming up and rolling up with full energy and excitement. Individuals and tourists out there might also have noticed that Lagos has given a new life to this industry. Coming up with new and exciting styles like hip hop, high life, juju, Fuji and afro beat. All of the mentioned Nigerian styles grab the attention the individuals in a second. The entire movies industry has been located and situated in the city of Lagos. We all cal it by the name Nollywood! Read on further and you will be able to get know more about the city of Lagos in a detailed way.

National arts theatre is also another major and significant attraction in terms of this area. Mostly the Yoruba spoken films and movies are being premiered in all these arts theatres followed by the Indian films and then the Hollywood films and movies. This is only a tip of the ice berg. Real pleasure and excitement can only be taken when you yourself are going to make a visit to these places as soon as possible. Nest we have the sports sector! The football game is the most popular game in the city of Lagos. Variety and large number of football clubs will be seen namely Julius Berger FC, first bank and stationery stores. Also the football team is named by the super eagle which is quite and rather appealing and exciting.

The city of Lagos is now becoming a global city. Large numbers of attractions are there for the tourists as well as for the visitors. The historical places, restaurants, pubs and hotels, islands and other recreational sites are ready to make the individual stick to these ravishing places. Get up and go and do not miss this golden chance to have a look on these places. It is kind of business oriented city. The Eyo Carnival is one of the major attractions.

Large and multiple numbers of sandy beaches are there to attract the tourists and visitors. Lekki beach is the most famous above all as it contains a zoo which is a plus point for the kids as well as for the children. In other words, we can say that this zoo provides and offers a kind of shelter and home to the animals which are quite and rather appreciating.

Hence, from the above mentioned discussion it is quite and rather evident the city of Lagos is entirely covered with the music and film industry, sports sector and recreational sites in the best possible way and mode. Hopefully, in the future time period, we will be able to see more advancements and improvements in the city of Lagos. Hopes have been high which have been set on a very higher level.