In this live YouTube Q&A, host Zev Taublieb fields a rapid‑fire stream of viewer questions about every facet of the U.S. college soccer recruiting landscape. He repeatedly stresses that players must film their matches (even with a phone) and produce concise highlight reels, then attend multiple Division‑I ID camps and proactively email coaches. He compares NCAA divisions, noting that top private D‑III schools often excel academically and athletically, while Division‑II programs are undervalued but strong. He advises against using junior college (JUCO) as a first‑choice route, describing it as a high‑risk backup that offers limited improvement for goalkeepers and can jeopardize eligibility if not managed correctly. The host outlines the importance of club exposure (MLS Next, NPL, ECNL) versus league games, explains that scouts rarely attend regular league matches, and clarifies that showcase events and ID camps are the primary recruiting venues. Detailed eligibility rules are covered, including the five‑year clock, redshirting, and how paying or breaking NCAA rules can void eligibility. Transfer advice emphasizes securing offers from other schools before leaving a program. He provides position‑specific tips (goalkeepers need ID camps, strikers should “aim small, miss small”), discusses the slim odds of reaching professional soccer (often <1% after D‑II), and sets realistic expectations about scholarship funding, noting that full rides are rare and half‑tuition support is normal. Throughout, his tone is direct, instructional, and occasionally humorous, delivering concise, actionable recommendations while discouraging reliance on excuses or unrealistic expectations.
Chapters
Okay, um, see here. Hi, hi, hi. What should I do if my team doesn't film games? Get someone to film. That is not— that is not an excuse. I have to buy a camera? You have to buy an iPhone. You always have to film. No excuses. Are the best private D3 programs better than best public D3s? Yes, academically and soccer-wise, typically. Best advice for a 2013 women's goalkeeper training video? 1-minute highlight video. Start going to Division 1 ID camps. Hello, Demon from YouTube. Yes, same advice, Mrs. Taublieb, same advice. If you want help, send me, uh, book a call. And we could talk about it. I don't have my thing here. Okay. What's the best advice for someone that feels stuck? Um, do the simple things good first. Don't do anything else complicated. Yo, easy now, almost next. MLS next. How much does Juco improve a men's goalkeeper? Very little. Getting out of junior college is very difficult. It doesn't mean it cannot help at all, but you still should go to ID camps. You still need to email schools. You still need to send video. It's very difficult. I do not recommend going to Juco. Unless you have to. Any tips for a striker? Um, score goals. No, I'm just kidding. Um, aim small, miss small. Hey Zev, I'm playing NPL and want to go D1, uh, mid-low tier school. I'm a rising junior, would like to know what advice. First of all, you need to leave teams. You're not going to play Division 1 from NPL almost ever. If you really still want to play Division 1, you're going to have to go to 5 ID camps of the 1 D1 school. Otherwise you— they will not be seen enough by them. And you also need offers from lower schools, so get some interest from D3s and D2s. Midfielders, lots of pings. Also, what's the best advice for freshmen and full— for freshmen, you need to make a highlight video and go to ID camps. Why would you not go to a quality juco if it doesn't make— doesn't take away from your NCAA anymore? So So it only doesn't take away from your eligibility if you make a Division I school. So you could go to JUCO, transfer to a Division II, and it will take away your eligibility if it's only if you make a D1. And it's a big risk. If, however, you don't make any Division I teams, then go to JUCO. I just don't think it should be your first option. You should try and play Division I. If it doesn't work out, JUCO should be Plan B. I don't think JUCO should ever be Plan A. What platform should I use to post highlight clips? It doesn't matter, but YouTube, make sure they're like— it looks really good. And then send that whole link to coaches. I got someone sent me a heart. Oh, thank you, Kevin. Is it good if a college coach wants you to play a sophomore? Hell yeah, that's fantastic. How do I get an offer from school that is interested in me? Um, oh, so you want to push it. You need to get offers from other schools typically, and you need to ask them where you stand in the recruiting process. Played USL my junior year. That's a big deal. Going into senior, not thinking about playing club, still have a chance. No, unless you already have significant interest from colleges, you're going to need to play club even though USL is such a big deal. Why are D2s so lowly talked about? They're not lowly. I, I speak about them differently because in my model I work with top academic students, and my families that I work with typically don't want to go Division 2. But Division 2 is really good. It's really, really good. How do I get off from school? Okay, Lucas, um, you need to get offers from other schools, and you need to ask the current school that's interested in you where you stand in the recruiting process. Then you can figure out how far away you are from an actual offer. They will make you an offer when they want to make you an offer. You can't make them make you, make you an offer. Um, like club, I mean, like club, I mean Eastern MLS. Yes, I understand you got to pick MLS next if you had to pick between the two. Now there are exceptions, playoffs, etc. What are the odds I play college soccer without going to ID camps or playing club soccer? 2%? No, 1%. Very little. 99% are likely you will not play college soccer. Also, what's the advice? Okay, I did that one. Have you ever helped Elite Academy players get recruited? Of course, 30% of our players played Elite Academy. Uh, what's the best public D3 boys program? Public D3 boys program, probably the schools in New York. The SUNY schools are really good. Can I still get D1 if I'm on the bench as a senior? Probably not, but it depends what club level you're playing. So aim for other divisions. The other divisions are still so good. Hello Marcelo, what the— for Russian, can you quickly explain how eligibility works? Um, can you ask me a little bit more about your situation? That, that's a big question. There's a lot of, there's a lot of things that go into eligibility. Is playing college soccer from NPL possible? Yes, aim for Division 3 and Division 2. Do scouts go to Flight 1 games? No, never. Literally, I think 0%, but maybe there's a 1% chance it's a— if they do, it's an accident. Um, could I go D1 if I'm a freshman on varsity? No, that does not mean anything. Freshman on varsity means nothing. High school means nothing. All that means, unless you're Gatorade Player of the Year, it means nothing. Could you go Division 1, period? Maybe. That's possible because I've seen people talk about how losing NCAA eligibility— how does that work? So you can lose NCAA eligibility if you break the rules, like like if you get paid, then you can no longer be eligible. Every year you use one of your years of eligibility. You have 5 years to play 4 years of soccer. So you could redshirt one year, which means you don't lose any eligibility, hence you have 4 more years to play soccer, a total of 5 years. So Zen, Zen Tonin, I don't know what your personal situation is, but you don't have to worry about if you're a high school kid, you're not going to lose any eligibility. If you're a transfer, then ask me your question about transfers and I can try to answer your question. Do coaches go to league games or only showcase? Only showcases. Sometimes MLS teams will go to some league games if there are two MLS teams that are playing locally, or it's really good UPSL against a really good MLS. I've seen college coaches go to MLS Next games. Not very often though do I see them at college games or, um, club league games. Does NPL get T2 exposure? No, it does not, but you can go to ID camps, and if you tell them you're playing NPL, they'll still consider you. It will get some exposure actually at showcases. It'll get some limited, but some. What's the age limit for going pro? Zero. There's no age limit. What should I add? High school clips. If you're not sure if you can make it pro, then you should quit. If you want to keep going for it, then keep going for it. Should I add high school clips in my video or more of my club? You can mix it for your video, that's fine, but don't, uh, wait for your every touch videos, use your club. Is FIU a good one? Yes, they're very good. Very good. How do I try out for a local league? Go to ChatGPT and you can, you can actually use my system, but you have to pay for that. So if you want to use ChatGPT, just say, how do I try out for a local league? And it'll tell you every local league in your area and go try out for them. Um, I have 4 D1 coaches talking to me about playing D1 but saying how I would still have to pay for half tuition. That's so normal. There's no way you're gonna not pay for school. You have to pay for school. That's very normal. Congratulations, that's a really big deal, Joe Mullen. I'm very proud of you. That's freaking awesome. Um, you should expect to pay for half a tuition. That's very normal. If you— that's incredible that they're even willing to pay for half of your money. If you do really good at Flight One, like 40 goals a season, will scouts go to watch you? No, you must go to them. You must change teams and send video. Oh, that was delicious. Can I still go from D1 to D3? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so— oh, can I go D1 from D3? You could. It's very difficult, but you could. What are the chance of going pro after D2 school? Less than 1%, but that's across the board. It's always less no matter what division. Should I go to Exact Sports International trip? No, it's terrible. Do not go. To get released from MLSX, what would you suggest? Are you saying you've been released, now you need to go find a new MLSX team or new ECNL team? It's okay, it's very normal to get released. I was released 1,000 times. What's the percentage of players that get full ride through for high school? Less than 1%. Nobody gets full rides anymore. Um, even I didn't get a full ride. My full ride was half athletic, half academic. Full ride from athletics is unheard of. When should you start going D1 ID camps? It depends how good you are, Quinn. If you're a girl, I usually recommend 7th, 8th grade. Um, but it does depend how good you are. Um, You really cannot— there's never— I've never seen a student— I should make a video on this— I've never seen a student go to an ID camp, play really badly, and the coach say, I will never recruit you, I don't want you, if you're in 7th, 8th, 9th, or 10th grade. If in 11th grade you do really badly, they will probably say we're done. But if you do badly at those ages, they don't care. They're going, okay, you did badly again, let me see you again later, you probably will get better. And then they'll like you. They're not going to write you off. Girls, yeah, you should go to camps, Quinn. Time to go to camps. Um, do you, do you know any D1 colleges that go to EA showcases? Um, all the low-tier, mid-tier ones do, but they're going to be on your list when you sign up. I saw that you should be in Eastside to have a good chance. Do you want— I currently play for EDP team going freshman year. If I can make an Eastside, do I have a chance? If you change teams, you have— do you have a chance? You can still play college soccer at EDP, you just have to go to a lot more camps. Is there a better chance of making it pro outside of the USA? No, not if you— if you don't have a European passport, it's not very unrealistic. It's very difficult to go from D3 to D1. It's possible, but it's difficult. How hard is it to get transferred from D3 to D2, then climb from that? Very unlikely. It's so expensive. You have to retake classes. It would cost you an additional like $20,000 to $40,000 every year. It's very difficult. You don't ever want to go to a school thinking of transferring. You want to go to school thinking that's going to be the school you love and then try and transfer afterwards if you choose to. I have no NPL or ECNL teams around me. Do I need to go as many games as possible then? Yep, exactly. Very good, River Harrow, that is correct. Okay, I have a call right now, so I'm sorry I have to stop answering some of your questions, but you can listen in on this call as to what it looks like to work with us. And, um, if you guys have questions and you want— getting a full scholarship is incredible, Amanda. Did you get a full scholarship? That's insane. Um, if I play ESL, do I have a chance to go to play for a high college level? You have a chance, but does not guarantee anything. Most kids still do not make it to college.
