“I’m going to play college football!” you shout.

“Where at?” “Ohio State? Oklahoma? Alabama?”

“No. Ashland University!”  

Ashland University?? Huh?!

Ashland University is a Division II school and like a lot of Division II schools can offer up to 36 scholarships to play football. A coach might give an athlete a full scholarship. Or a coach might give a partial scholarship and if that athlete has good grades get him an academic scholarship which combined might be the equivalent to a full ride at a Division I school.

More and more athletes are looking at options such as those when pursuing their collegiate athletic career. Ultimately, fewer than 1% of seniors will move on to play college football. Out of that one percent, only the best of the best are being coveted by the big universities.

So the rest of the football players have to figure out what is ultimately in the best interest for them. Meaning, the end game is truly about getting that college degree because your chances of moving on to play professional football are real slight.

You might get the opportunity to be a preferred walk-on, get little playing time, and not get any of your education played for. OR, be able to play the game you love on a smaller scale and get almost a free ride to get that degree.

As a parent, I would support my kid either way, but I would have a serious conversation with him if he chose to be a walk-on at a big time program. “So, I’m going to pay for you to play football so you can be a tackling dummy in practice and not see the field your whole college career (possibly)?”  

That might be tough to swallow with the tuition as high as it is anymore. Especially, if your athlete had some good offers from some Division II schools. Those schools might even have been a better fit for your athlete’s educational goals.

Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but NAIA schools are starting to get in the mix for football. They can offer up to 24 full scholarships for football.

If your athlete is a good player, but doesn’t have the attractiveness of these 5 star recruits, then start looking at the other options. Use your football coach and his connections to get you noticed by these schools.

Or do it yourself. Send some game tape and reach out to these coaches. They don’t have the budgets for scouts the way the big schools do. And if you make the initiative to express an interest in their school first, that might make a big impression on them.

I always encourage athletes who have the desire to play in college do it, at least for a year. You only have this chance once in your lifetime when your athletic skills we be at their highest. And if you can do it all the while getting a FREE education, BONUS!!

Photo courtesy of Parker Knight on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketboom/