Anonymous wrote:OP obviously embellished their story, as I'm sure it's tough to get recruited to Duke and BC for football.

But football is hugely helpful getting into Ivies or top SLACs. These are big teams, particularly when drawing from student bodies of a couple thousand at SLACs or 15,000 or so at Ivies.

And the challenge for these colleges is that most smart parents don't let their smart kids play football anymore (out of fear that a football injury can make a smart kid into a dumb and psychological or). You might need something more than a pulse to get recruited to one of these teams, but not much more.

Again, this “no one plays football argument” isn’t really true in most of the country, it’s mostly an upper middle class DMV thing. There are plenty local Catholic schools in DC and Maryland with very strong football programs.

OP obviously embellished their story, as I'm sure it's tough to get recruited to Duke and BC for football.

But football is hugely helpful getting into Ivies or top SLACs. These are big teams, particularly when drawing from student bodies of a couple thousand at SLACs or 15,000 or so at Ivies.

And the challenge for these colleges is that most smart parents don't let their smart kids play football anymore (out of fear that a football injury can make a smart kid into a dumb and psychological or). You might need something more than a pulse to get recruited to one of these teams, but not much more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay for you skeptics. Here is another one from Jackson-Reed's student newspaper. Player was 6'4" in high school. Notice he got in to an Ivy League on October 10th, and had only been playing football 2 years.

"This month, Jackson-Reed recognizes football star Ian Wall’s recent athletic accomplishments. Although Wall has only been playing football for two years, his skills on the field speak for themselves. Wall tried out for the team during his junior year in hopes of being a kicker, but Minoso Rodgers, coach of the JR Varsity Football team, saw potential for him as a linebacker.
Wall attended Janney Elementary and then Alice Deal Middle. Growing up, he played soccer and lacrosse. When asked how his teammates and coaches would describe him, Wall replied, “hardworking, and a leader.”

Recruitment is a main focus of senior athletes. Wall has been offered spots at multiple different high-merit schools such as Georgetown University, Davidson College, and Lafayette University. However, on October 10th Wall announced his commitment to Cornell University."

I don't think Wall even played sophomore year. My recollection is that the "two years" were junior and senior year so when he was recruited he was in the middle of his second season.

Ooops. Article actually confirms this. Sorry. He was recruited to Cornell after one season of football (junior year).

He was 6'4" and a good student. played 10 football games and was doing the tour of the Ivy football programs the following summer.

What's cornell? It was a mistake that it got into the Ivy league.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want your son to get a TBI, have your kid play football.

True. And then at our HS you are competing with number 1 and 11 NFL draft picks, Heismann trophy winners. Kid wouldn't be good enough to make the HS team. lol

Gonzaga isn’t actually academically elite either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

This. So stupid people are saying I know someone who did this! Of course this happens: on occasion and for amazing athletes.NO ONE is getting in like this without being a stellar athlete AND OP is saying she knows several like this. She does not.

I'm the OP and yes, I do. I never said the kids were not stellar athletes. I thought my point was clear: they are big, tall, athletic kids. What they are not is long-term football players or all-state type players. They're a lot like the Jackson Reed kid. Played a season or two of football (at a middle-of-the-road or even crummy team at a high academic prep school), started going to summer recruitment camps, got a lot of interest from Ivy programs, received an offer from at least one.
These are kids I know very well so I know their full story. And I'm not making this up--I have no reason to.

You also claimed these same kids had offers from BC, UVA and Duke, which are all P5 schools. There is no way prep school kids with one or two years experience from school with “crummy” football program arebeing recruited at P5 schools. Your story is made up, op, just admit it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

This. So stupid people are saying I know someone who did this! Of course this happens: on occasion and for amazing athletes.NO ONE is getting in like this without being a stellar athlete AND OP is saying she knows several like this. She does not.

I'm the OP and yes, I do. I never said the kids were not stellar athletes. I thought my point was clear: they are big, tall, athletic kids. What they are not is long-term football players or all-state type players. They're a lot like the Jackson Reed kid. Played a season or two of football (at a middle-of-the-road or even crummy team at a high academic prep school), started going to summer recruitment camps, got a lot of interest from Ivy programs, received an offer from at least one.
These are kids I know very well so I know their full story. And I'm not making this up--I have no reason to.

Having a kid who is recruited, having heard from numerous ivy league coaches, you are lying or do not know the whole whole story.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

This. So stupid people are saying I know someone who did this! Of course this happens: on occasion and for amazing athletes.NO ONE is getting in like this without being a stellar athlete AND OP is saying she knows several like this. She does not.

I'm the OP and yes, I do. I never said the kids were not stellar athletes. I thought my point was clear: they are big, tall, athletic kids. What they are not is long-term football players or all-state type players. They're a lot like the Jackson Reed kid. Played a season or two of football (at a middle-of-the-road or even crummy team at a high academic prep school), started going to summer recruitment camps, got a lot of interest from Ivy programs, received an offer from at least one.
These are kids I know very well so I know their full story. And I'm not making this up--I have no reason to.

I think what prompted the OP's comment is just in football there are some true anecdotes of kids never having played prior to Junior year of HS...to then getting recruited to an Ivy school to play.

Yes, the kids are good athletes...they have to be. However, can anyone give any other sport where you go from zero to a recruited football player in a year?

The kid referenced from Jackson-Reed is a true story. The only reason the kid was able to even play football is because the JR football team is horrible. The coach walks the halls and approaches any kid that has the size profile for football and begs them to play. The team gets blown out by every DCPS football team...which has one or two decent teams, but even those teams would get destroyed by a WCAC team.

I do agree that Ivy football is really D3 football (even though technically D1). While the Penn baseball team can hang with the UVA baseball team (lost 4-2 in the College World Series Regionals), the UVA football team would beat the Penn football team by at least 50 points. More accurately, the game would never happen because of the fear that multiple Penn players would suffer serious injury because of the size differential.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

This. So stupid people are saying I know someone who did this! Of course this happens: on occasion and for amazing athletes.NO ONE is getting in like this without being a stellar athlete AND OP is saying she knows several like this. She does not.

NP and she might. These kids might be from a huge football school and OP doesn’t even realize it. My kid went to a public powerhouse where kids were recruited. They were huge, athletic and smart. Those are the kids who had their pick of schools. My son didn’t play through senior year because although he was 6 feet tall and big, he wasn’t big enough or athletic enough to get any real play time. It’s your entire life to never see minutes in a game. Anyone can’t just “play football” then have a choice of colleges.

She said these players were not spectacular. This did not happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

This. So stupid people are saying I know someone who did this! Of course this happens: on occasion and for amazing athletes.NO ONE is getting in like this without being a stellar athlete AND OP is saying she knows several like this. She does not.

NP and she might. These kids might be from a huge football school and OP doesn’t even realize it. My kid went to a public powerhouse where kids were recruited. They were huge, athletic and smart. Those are the kids who had their pick of schools. My son didn’t play through senior year because although he was 6 feet tall and big, he wasn’t big enough or athletic enough to get any real play time. It’s your entire life to never see minutes in a game. Anyone can’t just “play football” then have a choice of colleges.

Anonymous wrote:Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

This. So stupid people are saying I know someone who did this! Of course this happens: on occasion and for amazing athletes.NO ONE is getting in like this without being a stellar athlete AND OP is saying she knows several like this. She does not.

My eldest got two non sport related serious concussions. Consequences were devastating

Current studious 8th grader tracking to clock in at 6’5”, fit and strong. I’m not giving him a helmet. I’m giving him an oar. It’s a more competitive path, and he might not get recruited, but his head will be safe.

My two older children never played competitive sports. I didn’t resent the recruits, but can understand why people want athletic recruitment removed from admissions. Until that happens, #3 can row his guts out. He started this year and loves it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Either your kid goes to a football academy or that didn't happen. If your kid does go to a school where the whole team gets recruited, the odds are very good that the high school coach also recruited

OP here. No, he does not. It's a independent prep school.
Not making this up.

In several cases, these kids have not even played a lot of football. One is not even a starter. One is primarily a track and field athlete. What they are is super athletic and tall/big. In one case that I know well, the coach has basically said: "i know you can do the work at this university and pay the bill and we we can teach you the football piece."
It makes you realize how hard it is to fill the football rosters at some schools (Ivy and similar) both with kids who can do the academic work. It's been wild to see. These kids are completely middle-of-the-pack academically at this tough high school.

yeah, that didn't happen. There are football factory schools (including very academically respected independent schools) that send loads of kids to ivies, but those kids are smart and good football players.

Read my post. We're saying the same thing.
A 3.5 is middle-of-the-pack at this tough school. These kid aren't dumb. That's the point of my post. The coaches know they can do the academic work. They're certainly not the top 20% in the class or the ones taking the top rigor classes but they will completely be able to do the Ivy level work well. And they're athletic enough to play the football.

If they're working hard both in the classroom and on the field, at a very rigorous school, then please, tell me, why don't they deserve to go to a good school as much as your one-dimensional kid? The difference between a 3.5 and 4.0 at St. Albans just describes the difference between choices and well-balanced kids vs. narrow strivers. Why would the latter continue more to a community? Let me answer that: they don't.

Op says this like it’s a wide open side door into an elite college. Something like 3% of high school football players make a D1 roster. If that’s your strategy to get in, you’re probably better off just sticking to the classroom stuff to go in the front door.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:End athletic recruitment in US Colleges.

Agree!

Says the short kid in the back.