What Does it Take to Be a College Football Star?

With the college football preview coming up, many fans and athletes alike are tuning back in to the game. Interest is rising, and a lot of high school students are wondering exactly what it would take for them to get into college ball. While it certainly takes a good amount of innate talent and athleticism, there are some things that any high school student can do to increase the chances that they play in college.

Be Realistic

The very first thing that any prospective football player should do is to be realistic about their own skill level. Sometimes there will be a kid who thinks that he has what it takes to go to the NFL, but he is simply not built for it. However, this kid could definitely thrive in a college environment, provided he does not set his sights too high and expect to go to the NFL. He'll find himself extremely dejected if he isn't realistic about his goals.

Film Yourself

We’re sure you’ve seen this in almost every single football movie that is ever been made. A kid goes out and films his highlight reel, which is a short film of a lot of different clips featuring all of his skills and talents. He sends this off to a college or two, and is immediately contacted by the head coach asking him to come out for practice. While highlight reels are very effective, don't expect this to happen to you. You have to use some other tips as well if you want to get the response that you see in these movies.

Make a List

Let’s face it: life is not like the movies. You have to do some extra work if you want to play college football and you're not an extremely talented individual. By making a list of all the colleges that you're interested in, and even including some that you are NOT interested in, you're going to increase your chances of getting response from at least some of these colleges. Make sure to send the highlight reel that you films in a physical format, as well as an online version. Get all of the names of the head coaches and recruiters for every single school, and make sure that you address everything properly and professionally.

Reach Out to Connections

It’s often said that it's not what you know, it's who you know. This is especially true in college football, where simply knowing a head coach or having a personal connection to someone on the recruiting team is enough to at least get you a tryout spot. You can take advantage of this even if you don't know too many people in the industry. The head coach your high school is someone who has a lot of connections to the college football industry, so you can leverage your relationship with him and get him to make some calls and send some letters on your behalf. Who knows, it just might be what you need to make the cut.

Get on the Road

You have to put in the work both mentally and physically if you want to be a success in college football. This means that you need to get out there and actually go to different showcases and combines if you want to get seen and build some notoriety behind your name. Some of the bigger combines out there are the Under Armour, 7 on 7, and National Underclassmen Combine.  It’s absolutely essential that you go to these if you consider yourself serious about college football.

Stay the Course

Getting into college on a football scholarship, or just on a college team, is a tough job. You're not going to find immediate success, unless you're the next Tom Brady. Stay patient and understand this and you will go far. You have to stay dedicated and make sure that you keep putting in effort day after day, because you never know when it's going to pay off and you'll secure your spot on a college football team. Good luck and get out there and make it happen excavation Mark

What Does it Take to Be a College Football Star? - Guest post by contributing writer David Veibl. David is a guest blogger for AthlonSports college football column, the coolest place to get college football predictions and info on the upcoming stars in college football.