College Recruiting Course

Our 2024 College Recruiting course begins in April. This course is run once a year. Registration is open!

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Course Overview

Schedule

Instructors

Course Overview

Objective

Building upon our Film Evaluation Course, the College Recruiting Course is an 8-week learning program that provides insight into what it takes to identify, qualify, and recruit High School prospects for Colleges and Universities. The CFB landscape is ever-changing and there are more jobs available in college football than the NFL and CFL put together. Furthermore, the NFL sees college recruiting positions as a developmental space for their future scouts and have been heavily hiring those with that background. As such, we are here to provide insight into what it takes to help a recruiting operations department from identifying prospects, getting them through the NCAA Clearinghouse, how to help a coaching staff, and recruiting players while maintaining compliance with NCAA rules and regulations.

We will teach you how to think about the process and pipeline, not what to think, and will give you the tools necessary to hit the ground running in your career. We will not be teaching individual CFB program recruiting processes as they vary greatly and this would not be a productive use of your time. Instead, we are going to focus on presenting you with the vantage points of those engaged in the process, from coaching to personnel to Athletic Directors to compliance, so you have a well-rounded view of everyone involved.

8-week course

Live weekly webinars

Stay on top of current trends

Hear from guest speakers currently working in the industry

Be prepared for your next opportunity

CFB is its own job market and a focus of NFL hiring

Tuition: $300

Discounts apply for past Scouting Academy students! Learn more.

8-week course

Live weekly webinars

Stay on top of current trends

Hear from guest speakers currently working in the industry

Be prepared for your next opportunity

CFB is its own job market and a focus of NFL hiring

Tuition: $300

Discounts apply for past Scouting Academy students and payment plans available! Learn more.

Course Overview

Objective

Building upon our Film Evaluation Course, the College Recruiting Course is an 8-week learning program that provides insight into what it takes to identify, qualify, and recruit High School prospects for Colleges and Universities. The CFB landscape is ever-changing and there are more jobs available in college football than the NFL and CFL put together. Furthermore, the NFL sees college recruiting positions as a developmental space for their future scouts and have been heavily hiring those with that background. As such, we are here to provide insight into what it takes to help a recruiting operations department from identifying prospects, getting them through the NCAA Clearinghouse, how to help a coaching staff, and recruiting players while maintaining compliance with NCAA rules and regulations.

We will teach you how to think about the process and pipeline, not what to think, and will give you the tools necessary to hit the ground running in your career. We will not be teaching individual CFB program recruiting processes as they vary greatly and this would not be a productive use of your time. Instead, we are going to focus on presenting you with the vantage points of those engaged in the process, from coaching to personnel to Athletic Directors to compliance, so you have a well-rounded view of everyone involved.

Logistics

The College Recruiting course is built off live, online webinars that occur weekly hearing from current and former CFB recruiting leaders and coaches. Each session allows for back and forth between the students and the instructors/guest speakers to maximize the learning experience. 

Each session is taped so students can review them later on or catch up on any classes they need to miss (life happens!)

There are no assignments that students need to submit in the course. We ask that you prepare for each session by researching speakers/their areas of expertise and be prepared with questions to help you better understand the everchanging landscape.

Prerequisites

The College Recruiting course is available to everyone with no prerequisites. Come spend 8 weeks with us to invest in your football future.

Dan_Hatman

Dan Hatman

Lead Instructor | Director of Scouting Development

A former college coach and NFL scout who is now dedicated to the professional development of the evaluation community. Blending best practices from the core of the evaluation process with techniques leveraged by the military, business, data science, exercise physiology, psychology, and other disciplines to reduce opportunities for human error. These processes have trained 34 NFL scouts to date.

Skills in this class:

Player Identification | Player Qualification | Player Evaluation | Player Recruitment | Time Management | Staying in Compliance | Mass Media and Graphic Design | Process Efficiency | Major College Recruiting | Mid-Major College Recruiting | Small College Recruiting

2023 course schedule (2024 speakers TBA)

Topic

Identification, Qualification, and Evaluation

Material Discussed

Player Personnel Philosophy, Duties and Responsibilities, Recruiting Calendars, Qualifying Rules, On and Off Campus Recruiting Rules, Home Visitation, International Recruiting, Walk on Programs

Speakers

John Peterson and Dan Hatman

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Topic

Role of Design/Mass Media in the Recruiting Process & How Recruiting Staffers Can Remain in Compliance

Material Discussed

(Speaker 1) In an ever changing landscape of graphic design, still and video based media, how can a program build a brand while working to stand out to recruits?

(Speaker 2) With new rules/regulations entering the space annually, how can staffers remain in compliance while working through the transfer portal, NIL, and traditional recruiting pipelines? Tools/processes used by teams to stay compliant. How to avoid common pitfalls.

Speakers

Robert Judin – Director of Creative & Digital Media (The Draft Network)

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Topic

Relationship Between the Recruiting Staff and the Position Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

Material Discussed

As the depth and scope of recruiting and scouting staffs increase, how do the relationships between those staffs and on field coaches stay in balance and work together towards a common goal? How can evaluators and recruiters work with coaches to establish who they want to target in the recruiting process?

Speakers

Scott Vestal – 20 year veteran Coach/Recruiting Coordinator and Bobby Merritt – Assistant Director Player Personnel, Scouting (Texas)

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Topic

Group of 5 recruiting: Importance of Scouting and How to Overcome Challenges

Material Discussed

While attention is more heavily skewed towards a small number of Power 5 programs, there more programs working with smaller staffs and resources, trying to accomplish the same goal. How do those constraints spark creativity and push the hard and soft skills of recruiting staff?

Speakers

Marco Regalado – Executive Director of Player Personnel & Recruiting Innovation (Rice) and Ricky Ciccone – Director of Player Personnel/Recruiting Coordinator (Toledo)

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Topic

Power 5 recruiting: Development of ‘Pro Style’ structures, Advance Scouting, Impact of Portal on HS/Transfer Ratios in Recruiting Classes

Material Discussed

The team building strategy employed even 2 years ago is probably out of date due to new rules/opportunities. So how do staffs work to identify competitive advantages and work to maintain a cohesive operation while scaling up the scouting operation both on the roster building but also the advance scouting side?

Speakers

Derek Miller – Recruiting General Manager (Duke) and Ethan Young – Director, Player Personnel (UCLA)

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Topic

What is next?: How to ADs see the Recruiting Landscape and How Can Staffs Stay Ahead of the Curve?

Material Discussed

Viewing the recruiting process through the lens of the Coaching staff and even the Personnel staff are more known view points, but how is the recruiting process viewed through the lens of the Athletic Department? How is the landscape viewed and what may be on the horizon?

Speaker

Austin Thomas – Football Chief of Staff (Ole Miss)

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Topic

Managing Up (and Down): What Strategies Can Staffers Employ to Best Serve the Team? How Should They Approach Decision Makers?

Material Discussed

How can evaluators and recruiters work with coaches to establish who they want to target in the recruiting process? How can staffers at lower levels ‘manage up’ as they filter prospects and work to advance those they feel are best equipped to make an impact? What do recruiting staffers need to understand about how decision makers view the process?

Speaker

Van Malone – Assistant Head Coach/Passing Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks (Kansas State)

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Topic

Building a Recruiting Class: How does the Head Coach view the Calendar? What Does He Need During Each Period?

Material Discussed

The recruiting calendar has distinct periods that come with different levels of interaction/work/decision making. How does the Head Coach view the calendar and what do they need during each period of the calendar to be prepared to make decisions? How each aspect of the program interacts, how to delegate/integrate, how staff can best make their lives easier.

Speaker

Mike Riley – Former Head Coach, Nebraska and Oregon State

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Course Instructors

Jerry Angelo    Louis Riddick    Mike Martz    Howard Mudd    Chris Palmer    John Peterson    Mike Sullivan
Steve Fairchild    Ken Flajole    Steve Loney    Bobby April    Earnest Byner    George Catavolos    Jerald Ingram
Charlie Coiner    Matt Sheldon    Dan Hatman    Robert Judin    Wade Phillips    Tom Walsh    Ed Marynowitz
Mike Riley    Drew Hughes    Brent Blaylock    Ricky Ciccone    Scott Vestal    Bobby Merritt    Jeff Behrmann
Alex Brown    Phil Hedrick    Roger Marandino    Maria Peden    Saeed Khalif    Colby Carthal

Ready to signup?

Register for the next semester of our College Recruiting course.

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