Zev Taublieb answers questions from high school soccer players about college recruiting, youth leagues, and professional opportunities abroad. He stresses the importance of highlight videos, coach outreach, and ID camps, warns against expensive European camps that lack college exposure, and promotes his consulting service and AI email system that automates outreach to coaches.
Chapters
a lot. If you want to work with us, you have to be part of our program because you've asked us a lot of questions and it's the only way we can really help you at this point. Should I be emailing MLS Next Academy coach as a freshman student playing ECNL or should I stick to playing ECNL? Um, if you're open to both, I would do both. How tall are you? Okay, no, hold on. All right, is this going— is going to Man— is going to the Manchester City summer camp good? No, very bad for college soccer. Okay. Uh, is having 12 goals, 10 good? That's fantastic, but depends what club level you're playing. Is Skidmore good? Yes, Skidmore is really good. Is it good? I've only been playing for 1 year, but I'm playing 6'2" in 7th grade. That's fantastic. Yes. Could I go to D2 if I play NPL, NEL? Yes, you totally could. And school, which is 2-state? Yes, that's possible. How do I start getting notice of college? Because I need to see a video and see what you're doing wrong, P11, in order to help you. Um, perfect, thanks. You're welcome, Evan. Okay. I have received multiple emails to go to D1 college freshman through my NCAA profile. Those are all fake. They're all fake. 100% fake. Also fake. And they have the follow— if they follow you on NCAA, that's also fake. NCSA is only fake. I can show you a video. Go look up Called Soccer Guy versus NCSA. You'll see that everything on NCSA is fake. Um, it's very sad, but it's the truth. How likely are you to get drafted? You can literally go ask college coaches and email them and say, would you like to hear from NCSA? And they will tell you no. So someone else manages those accounts, and it's all unfortunate, kind of scammy. How likely are you to get drafted or get pro trials playing D2 or D3? Uh, very unlikely. Very, very unlikely, but it's unlikely no matter what. Can you help if you want to go to university in Australia? No, I can help you go from Australia to America, but I cannot help you go to Australia. Is it good if I play MLS 2 from NECSL? Yeah, that's very good. Is going to Real Madrid camp in Spain good? No, that's not good. Do not go. Um, I play MLS next and I have a 3.1 GPA. I'm in the class of '27. Can I play Division 1? Um, no, you cannot play Division 1 with a 3.1. You're going to need to get a 3.5. Can I play D1 soccer with 3.25 GPA going to 8th grade? No, you're going to need a 3.5. It's not that— it's— there are rules. You can technically, according to the rules, you can have lower than that, but coaches don't pick players who have lower than that. Hello, would you say NPL is a good league to get Division II level? Um, the short answer is it's a realistic league. I wouldn't call it a good league. I'm a rising junior playing NPL. Can I play D2? Yes, you could play D2 probably, but you're going to need to go to ID camps. How do I play from— apply from South Africa? Book a call, click the link in the bio. It is not free for you to book a call with us because you're an international, so you will have to pay us for our advice. Why is going to Real Madrid Camp Spain bad? Because that there are no college coaches there, so they're not going to notice you. And unless you have a Spanish passport, you're not going to get picked by Real Madrid. It's— those things are just money grabs. You're not going to get played for Real Madrid. If you had a— if you're from Spain, that's different. If you have a European passport, there's some small argument. But if you're an American, they're not going to sign you. If you want to go pro in Spain, you must get an MLS contract first. That's why you've seen the kid Calvin Sullivan, he can't even— he's signed for Manchester City and he still isn't at Manchester City because he's an American. It is hard to get a work visa. I play for Legends ECNL and I'm going to be a freshman. Should I start worrying about college? Yes. Is it going— is going into the Barça FC soccer experience good? You train at La Misa, play soccer? No, it's all— you don't really train La Misa, it's a camp you pay for it. It's not the same experience. You want to play D1 or college, you should stay in America. If you want to go to Barcelona, it sounds good, but honestly, I think it's a waste of time. What's your advice on being offered spot on UC Irvine, Skidmore? I mean, UC Irvine's Division I, so I would say that's pretty good. Skidmore is really good, Division III though. They're very good. Uh, opinion on Seattle Celtic MLS? Good team. So NCAA essentially money grab? Yes, Sophia, that is correct. How to get an MLS contract? Um, good question. You need to send a highlight video and go to trials. I play for MLS Next club. How can I get trial for the MLS Next Academy. Um, you need to message them and send them your video. If I live in Florida and there's only D2 and D1 schools, I can't afford to travel out of state, what should I do? Go to those ID camps in your state. Is Liverpool International Academy a good chance to play for Liverpool? No, those are all fake connections. Is it possible to play college— unless you have a European passport, that's not happening. Is it possible to play college soccer still as a junior who plays for MLSX2 but hasn't started emailing college coaches yet? Um, it is still possible, but you need to hurry up. Good question. Okay, how can I make JV? Practice on your own technical drills and then you'll do better tryouts. Is D2 and D1 out of the question if you're an ADP? Yes. Is FIU a good D1 school? Yes. With a 4.1 GPA playing my first year of USL, going into my senior year, what levels can I go to? Division 1 is definitely possible for sure. Hey, I saw you the other day at a sale. Oh, that's awesome. Hey, next time say hello. Uh, Johnson, is NECSL a good league? Aim for D3 or D2? I play Eastern House and get invited to several MLS Academy trials but don't get callbacks or evaluations to see what to improve on. Don't worry about getting improved upon, that does not matter. You want to see if you can make the team. Not true, it does not have to do with the college. If you're on good and choose to help a pro career, they only choose like 100 kids to go. If you don't have a European passport, Robert, it's going to be very difficult to go to those organizations. Um, I'm not saying that you could be the exception, and I hope you are, but if you only go to those, you will miss the boat to play college soccer. So my suggestion is get a college offer first then spend your time trying to go abroad because you have all your life to go abroad. You only have high school to go to college. If I play for Barca Academy, is college soccer a chance? Yes, of course. Um, is D1 out of the question from an NPL player? Short answer is yes, but it's not quite that simple. Um, aim for smaller schools first, then you can aim for higher levels if you want. I was cut from Manchester United Academy U16. Do you think D1 is still possible? Probably, Josh, actually. If you really did play for the real Manchester United U16 team, you should definitely email some D1 schools and let them know. Um, you probably know Jack Harrison. He was at Manchester United and went to Wake Forest. Hey, if I don't play East Normal 6 but I make a really good high school, is it possible to go D3 with the good grades? Yes, William, that is definitely possible. I have a passport from the Netherlands and I'm a freshman at the ECNL. Should I aim for D1, trying to go to play in Europe? You should do both at the same time. You don't have to pick one or the other. Go to Division I ID camps today, and in the summer spend 2 weeks going abroad. And if you make it pro, good for you. If you don't, come back to America. But you need to do both at the same time. Owen Klein, what's up? Are you like a scout at a CEO? No. I'm not a scout. Um, I already got accepted to play abroad though. Um, then have a great trip, Robert. All I can tell you is if the moment you go abroad, you will lose the opportunities to play college soccer here in the United States. Where can international students find college offers? Book a call, Box2Box. It's complicated, you have to book a call with us. If I'm an Easton L player with good grades, should I aim for D1? You should aim for D2 first. Actually, you should aim for D3 first, then D2, then aim for Division 1. Depends what level you are. If you're a junior, you gotta hurry up, but don't always just only aim for Division 1. That's a recipe for disaster. If I graduated class '24 but I couldn't play college because I was too busy with my national team, that's pretty cool. Depends what national team you are, but you could still definitely play college soccer. You will have lost a year of eligibility, but it's still possible. You can book a call with us. Yin Yak is playing high school as a freshman. Good to become better? Yes, it's good to become better. It will not get you recruited, but good to get better. Who are the best soccer players ever who went to college? Uh, probably Jack Harrison. He played for Manchester City and now plays for Everton. Um, The goalkeeper that was at Arsenal played in college. Clint Dempsey played in college. Um, Landon Donovan played in— oh no, he didn't play in college actually, but probably Clint Dempsey, probably one of the better ones. Do you have information about what Young Kids Fit could— yes, absolutely, Samuel Daniel. We customize for every student, so if you book a call, you'll see the opportunity to book a call. Just click the button that says 2nd through 7th grade, 2nd grade to 7th grade. It's not a free call, it's not too much though, it's— I think it's $47, and we will tell you what you need to do. Is FIU a good D1? Is FIU a good D1? Yes, very good. Is going to Europe better than playing college soccer? If you can play— it depends what your goals are. If you want to get an education, no. You want to go pro, I would argue that you can do both at the same time in your pursuit. Then later in life, if you want to choose to go to Europe, do that. I played in Europe for a long time. What recruiting websites are best, like NCSA Sports Scoops? I hate all of them. I'm biased, of course, because I run my own business that competes with them to some degree, so you probably shouldn't listen to my advice, but you can just go look up NCSA for college soccer, or literally I can show you guys a video right now. Literally, people— the coach is saying I can show it to you if you want. The call— the college coaches do not like hearing from any of those accounts. You must email them yourself. Okay, I'm a junior in high school and I play for MLS2. What can I start doing now to have a scholarship to play D1 or D2? Good question. You're a little bit late if you want a scholarship. Scholarship typically go earlier. You're not too late, but the best thing you do is have good grades, have above a 3.5, and you'll— 3.7, you'll get a lot of money. If on the other hand Yeah, to get a scholarship for Division 1 and Division 2, you need to go to their ID camps and you need to make a video and you need to email them multiple times. If you play MLS 2, can you play D1? Short answer is we don't know technically because it's never happened before because it's so new. I think the answer is yes, but it's kind of the equivalent of playing NAL, so it's going to be difficult. I play East RON, I have 3.0, can I play D2? You need to get a higher grade. Aim for 3.3, that would change your life. Uh, okay. Tottnam bottled it. This is very true. Are you an agent? I am not an agent, no. I'm an education service. Hello, Spalding! This is one of my students, guys. If you have questions for him about what it's like to work with us, click— you can tag him. If a sophomore in high school play— in high school and play for Girls Academy, have a pretty solid GPA at a rigor school, maybe 3.0, could I go D1? The short answer is maybe. I would need to see your video, but on paper you do have statistics that would help you play D1. Thank you for that info on NCSA. My parents could have dropped about $2K for such a money grab. I'm sorry. Yes, Sophia, I do not trust NCSA. Um, but if you don't, you know, if you, you know, you can tell your parents maybe they don't trust me either. So they're happy. I'm happy to do a free call with them and explain why I don't love them. How many videos should you have on hand and how often should you send updated ones? About once a month typically, but it can depend. Sometimes you can wait 2 to 3 months, but typically in the course of your life you'll need 4 to 6 videos, not more than that. Do you know if MLS 2s will start in the fall or spring for older ages? It is unknown as of right now. What do goals look for in a goalie? What do goalkeeper scouts— they really look at your feet, to be honest, and also your shot stopping. Have you played professional? Yes, I played pro for about 10 years. Um, you can look me up, look up Zev Taublieb. I'm the captain of ESL team that advanced to national, have a 4.0. Can I play GPA? Can I play D1? Nuna, I would want to tell you yes, but I need to see your video. Send it to my link in bio. Uh, what age should I start emailing colleges? 7th, 8th grade is typically when we recommend people to begin. Have you played professionally? Yes. ETRL or MLS2? MLS2 is what I would pick. Do you know if MLS2 will start? Okay, I didn't know that one. What's the most important thing to do to play in college? A highlight video. I play academy in the Middle East and he went to— and have went to a couple camps last summer as a junior. What else can I do to play college? You need to send a lot of video. Aim for NAIA schools. Uh, should I send emails now as a rising sophomore before the season starts? If so, type of email? Ainsleys, this is a very good question. Please book a call with me and your parents because we customize every one of those for every person. I'm going to— so just click the link in the bio and you can tell your parents that you booked a call. They have to be on the call. I'm going to be in 9th grade and I play for Easton RL, but that's the highest team where I live. I live in a small town, but I still get people looking at me. I also run track and basketball. Huddin, that's huddin.Emma. That's a very good sign. Make sure you make lots of video. How can I show you my video? I'm a 3— book a call and you'll be able to do that. Um, okay. If I'm just starting conversation with a coach by sending him consistent highlights after games, but it'd be too early to ask where I stand, can I say in the email to encourage them respond? Don't ask for a response now. That's not what you should do then. It's too early to ask for a response. So just keep updating them and then get offers from other schools. Then when you have an offer from another school, you can let them know. But don't try and get a response, just keep updating them. I play NAL 13, what can I do for D2 or D3? I play NAL 30. Oh, good question. You need to make a video and you need to start going to camps. Do you have connections on the US national team? No. How much are calls with you? I'm not sure how much we can spend. Uh, I'm free. It's free to book a call with us, but I do cost money if you decide to work with us. So Ainsleys, when you book a call, you'll be sent a video about the different prices we have. Show that to your parents, and then if, if you book the call, you'll get the video. And then if you see the video and you decide you don't want to do it, you can just cancel the call. Okay. Um, is going pro in America or overseas easier? Both are very difficult. I'm playing NPL right now and I'm going into my junior year. Would you say that aiming for D2 school is realistic? Yes, but Demon, I would need to see your highlight video. What national team do you have connection to? Zero. I have zero connections to any national team. The only way I can help is advise you on how to communicate with them. You can send them an email, you can send your video, but I cannot connect you to any national team. Is it true that they are— true they are switching to grade, not birth year? The answer is, uh, no, it depends. It's going to be different for every club, and that— and it doesn't matter if they switch. They switch, it's out of your control. What you need to focus on is how to play college. Do you think Juco D1 is a good path? Only if it's your backup plan. Never have that be plan A. What's your center back look for in a center back? Playing out of the back is the biggest one. EDP U16 bad? No, it's not bad. Aim for D3, but it's still possible to play college. I played DC National team and varsity as a junior. Do I have a chance to play at least D2? Maybe. You still need to make a video, go to camps, but the answer is on paper yes. If I play on the second tier 2 U13 of Vallejo FC in Boston and coming off season with 22 goals and 10 competition games, that's very promising, Mr. Nico. Make a video, send it to me so I can look at it. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Two Turnt, that's funny. TwoTurnt. Um, you guys have funny nicknames. Okay, somebody asked me a question. Let's see. Uh, what college is the best for college soccer if you want to go pro? Um, all the Big Ten schools, all the Big West schools, the ACC schools, they have the most people who get drafted. What do you mean by playing in the back? Playing in the back, meaning playing out of the back, like never give the ball away when you build out from the back. Is it possible to play D1 if I move on to ECNL? Maybe, um, it would help you a lot, David. That's true. Okay everyone, excellent questions. I appreciate your time. Uh, I was living overseas, the Middle East. So Demin, if you're living overseas, book a call, click on international. It's a little bit harder for your situation. Vallejo is not a top-level club, but they're still a good club, and your age group has done really well. Alia Haider is First Point worth it? I do not trust First Point. That's my opinion. You want to try yourself, go for it, but I'm different. All those companies claim to do things for you. We don't do that. We teach you how to get recruited. Is going straight to D1 4-year isn't an option financially, then Juco? Yes, then that would be a very good plan B. Yes. Will private school make it hard to go to professional? No. Is NYC FC good? Yes. I was accepted through a trial. Yeah, I still don't trust that. That's— I still don't trust them, but if they like you, go for it if you want. They're still gonna— they're still gonna charge you money. Anybody, anybody that offers you a trial and charges you money is not real. I charge you money, but I'm not charging you through a trial. I'm an education service. You're paying to learn. So I don't trust anybody that says, we— you made our team, now pay for us. That doesn't make sense. Is NCSA a ripoff? That's my opinion. Some people find success with NCSA. I did not, and many people did not, so I don't trust it. I play the first division Croatia U19s. A good look for D1 college? Only if you come to America on trial, or you can't even come on trial. Only if you come to America to the ID camps. But the short answer is probably that's— you're probably the level, but they don't know who you are. And that's what it's about. I'm very late to D1 recruiting for '26. It's too late for D2, D3? No, you can still make D2 or D3 for sure. You have about 6 months. At what age should you know what position you should play for? By 14, you should know. 14, 15. I got a genuine response from NYU but couldn't attend the camp. Are my chances with them over? No, send them more video. And you need to go to their next camp. Hitting the gym, Zev and this and his team are the best. Book a call. Haha, Kason Spaulding, what a guy, what a legend. What a legend you are. Thank you very much for that, Mr. Kason. At what age should you know what position you played— you should play? Okay, I did that one. Okay, so somebody— I have some of my students who are on the live and they're talking good things. That's very nice. How much for a call, Damon? If you're an international, it's $147. If you're not an international, it is free. What's the chance of making D1 as a transfer? Very difficult. Plausible, but very difficult. You never want to try and do that because it's hard, but technically speaking, it is possible. And if you're willing, then you can— better than— better try than not try. Is it hard to be a pro? I played pro for 10 years. It was very— it was a lot of work. But if you're— that's the wrong question to ask because everything is difficult that's worth doing. What you need to ask is, how do I do it? And then we give you an answer, and then you need to go do it. And if you don't like that process, then you should not do it. But if you love the process, then keep doing it until you don't want to do it anymore. Uh, Okay. Hello, Mr. Kevin Johnson. Hello, Nimbus. What club? I'm sorry, Nico, I'm not sure what I understand. Nico, if you can— you've asked a lot of questions today— book a call, then I can help you. How much eligibility do I have left? I don't remember your situation, Moa D's. I think you said something about 24, so probably 3 years. I gotta text someone. Do you want coach asking if I want to get on call? Should I provide a good time and date for a call? How should I respond? That's very good, Griffin. Yes, provide an exact time and date and say you're willing to change your schedule around him. Good job, congratulations. When should I stop emailing a school who hasn't responded? I'm a sophomore. If it's Division 1, don't stop. If it's lower than Division 1, typically after 4 to 6, if they're not responding, you can spot— you can stop. But you should ask a question, make sure. How do I do it? Good question. You need to find a college soccer team first if you want to go pro. So book a call. If I want to email colleges, should I email the coach of the school or should I send my videos to— only email the coaches, not the school. Future pro USA is Jose Traore, my local captain. You think— I don't know that one actually, I've never heard of that one. If it's helping you go pro, then it might be good, but I only help with college. I play U15 East NL and can play up U16. Are there more options if I play up? Yes, you should totally play up. You'll get better at soccer and it's good. Um, you started January, you probably still have only 3 years, but I'm not sure. Book a call and we could talk about it. I plan on going to ID camps in a training group. I've been going for years. He has lots of connections with college universities. That's great, Lev, good job. In an email to a college of any kind, What are key components to include? It should always say, dear coach, say something genuine. You should have a question, then have the template about who you are, then attach your video. That's the template we need to use with the Coach Lev. Okay, for fun, let me show you guys this. You might get a kick out of this. So if you decide to work with us one day, which you do not have to, but if you want our help, we provide this cool thing. Let me show you guys. You'll get a kick out of it, I think. I think you'll get a kick out of it. Okay, so here's my computer. I think you guys can see this. Can you guys see my computer? Okay. All right, so what I can do, if you are on— actually, no, I can share my screen. If you're on YouTube, be able to share my screen too. Okay, so we have this really cool system called the College Soccer Guy AI, and we have every single coach's email on here. So you can press Select All, it will select every single college coach in the country. Obviously you want to do it more specific. Then you click Write Email. And you go, dear hashtag coach, hashtag genuine, hashtag school name, and then you can insert a video and then you can insert a template. So these are all the templates that exist. So somebody was asking about which template. So if you're sending your very first email, that's called the mass email. So scroll down to mass email. Here's the genuine, here's the ask, here's the name. You have to obviously insert your own stuff, put in your video, and then Insert video, put in your video, there it is, and then click preview, and then it looks really good, and then you press send, and now voilà, it went to all these coaches. Now you're all done. Look how easy that was. Goddamn, that's incredible. Gosh, it's so amazing. And then guess what? After you send it, the system will automatically keep track of every single email you receive and tell you if it was genuine or generic or anything else. And then you can ask this any of your questions and it really will know the answer because it's trained by me. And then after that, uh, wait for it, pipeline. Oh yeah, and then if you want to get any of your videos edited, all you have to do is submit it to any of these links and we will automatically edit the videos for you. We do leverage AI for this, but we also do it with our— with humans. And then the cool thing is every time you get an email, it will remind you if they don't respond. And on top of that, this inbox is your personal email account and it will do everything. In fact, there's something I want to adjust here real quick. Um, so right, you know I'm gonna ask this guy. I have a guy who helps me code this, and I want to add something. Um, hello, Mr. Jose. Um, I know that when we show this and we actually, uh, send this out, this comes up as an image, but when I do the preview, see how it does this little— this— is it possible it could actually show the actual image? Um, is the reason it's not showing the image because of this part. Is it the thumbnail here? Is that the problem? Because here's the thumbnail. Oh, maybe I try now. Save. Okay, let me see now. Coaches, write emails. Oh, there it goes! That was my fault. Never mind, I knew it worked. Okay, excellent. That looks great. So see, it pops it in as a thumbnail. Then you would say, here we go, mass email. Boom! Then you insert your video. And look how beautiful this email is. I mean, who would— a coach would not respond to this. And then guess what, guys? When they click this, they can watch your video. When they click it, it will literally ask them, um, please send me more video, we liked your video, our staff, da da da. And then the system will keep track of everybody that watches your video. Uh, wait for it. Uh, you go to pipeline, is everyone that watches your video, it will keep track. Open the video but didn't select an option, send a video but they said send more videos. So now the coaches don't even have to hit reply. All they have to do is comment on your video and then voilà, you get even more responses. So if you want this, you can call me. We do sell just that, um, so it's a little bit less financially for certain situations. So I know, isn't that thing so freaking cool? Gosh, I spent my life building that thing, literally my life, and nobody has a better system because NCSA or anyone else, it all comes from an account. For me, it comes directly from your personal email account. That is the real magic. So if you want that, give me a call. Links in the bio. Okay, when can I start the process with you? I'm in 10th grade. I live in Dubai. That's funny, we've had 3 people from Dubai, couple from
