Does size matter in recruiting?

So today I'm here to answer the age old question, does size matter in recruiting? And now this is a big. You get real controversial with this topic when you start talking on social media because people get super offended when, you know, they work super hard but they're not getting the offers and they just blame it on stuff outside of their control. Which is understandable. It is. And so I just want to put some light on this because it's just a part of the recruiting game. And so if you don't know who I am, I'm Trent Laura. I'm a former college quarterback. I run your first scholarship where we help families get their first scholarship and more to play college football. And so size does matter in recruiting because the thing is, and I'll first start at the D1 level because it's different at each level. But at the Division 1 level, especially the Power 4 level, you have to understand that every piece that a coach can do matters not only because, like, you might obviously think of the wins and losses, but this is their literal job. If they do not do a good job at one piece, that can get them fired, that brings up grounds for firing. And so a piece of that is recruiting. And so if they recruit someone who's undersized and they do not work out, that is something they could get fired for. They bring in a 511 offensive lineman and he never touches the field, he's an absolute waste of a scholarship spot, then that coach most likely is going to be on the cusp of getting fired. And so that is a big reason why these coaches do not offer undersized kids. Because yes, you may say, like the 6, 7 kid, he's stiff, he's not even going to play, whatever. And yes, that, that's probably gonna be the case, but if they can develop him, he has the raw tools, right? And so at least there's something there that they can work with. And then on top of that, nobody's gonna blame them for offering the 6, 7 kid. They're like, that kid's a beast. Hey, he's a little stiff, but we'll see if we can fix him up. And so that's something you have to understand at that Division 1 level, it's high, high, high stuff. As far as the money involved, the business aspect of it, it's no longer about, hey, this kid works hard, but he's kind of undersized. Like, you have to be so, so good to be an undersized recruit playing in power four, playing in group of five, even FCS I've known one of my JUCO teammates. His name is Marcus Bellon. You can look him up. He actually played against. He was. He's on Nevada now. He went to UTEP for, I think, two years. And so he's at Nevada now. He's a punt returner. And he actually, actually made a nice play. I. I retweeted on my Twitter, I don't know if it's there anymore, but he's like 5, 8, 5, 9, maybe 5, 10. Super small slot receiver guy. Just super shifty, though. And that, to me, was an example of, like, how good do you need to be to be undersized? Like, he's. He's probably like, at that bottom range of a slot receiver. And so, like, you have to understand that you have to be so extremely good to be undersized and get recruited to play at a high level. And so that's why, like, the quarterback dynamic is kind of shifting. You're starting to see smaller quarterbacks get recruited. But from a offensive lineman, defensive lineman perspective, and a linebacker's perspective and even a corner's perspective, like, undersized guys rarely get recruited. Not because, like, there's bad under. Like, everybody who's undersized is bad. Everybody knows that there's good undersized players. But to be an undersized guy that gets recruited at a high level, you have to be so good. You have to have so much video, such good highlights, such good game film. Like, you have to check every other box. That's kind of the way I see it, is you're checking boxes throughout the recruiting process, and if you're undersized, you immediately have to check every other box. It's just how it goes. Because it's the first box that a coach is going to check. Is. Is this guy the height and weight that we're looking for? And so that's a big reason why, like, I always stress, like, hey, you got to put on weight because it's the easiest thing you can do. That's the thing that is in your control. The height. I get it. It's not in control. It's genetics. And you win that lottery, and sometimes you lose that lottery, and that's okay. But you can't control the weight stuff. And so to have that excuse of the weight not being taken care of is just entirely on you. And that's no one to blame but yourself. And so that is the whole side of the D1 level. Now, as you get down the size requirements, lower D1 FCS is looking for is okay accepting smaller guys, D2 is okay accepting smaller guys, D3, so on, NA so on, juco so on. And so ultimately, regardless of your size, you can find somewhere to play. I mean, one of the kids we worked with, five' eight running back. I mean, five' eight for a running back isn't really that undersized. And so you end up getting an NA scholarship. And you can think of plenty of other examples of undersized getting scholarships. But the thing that you have to realize is that nothing. It's not that it's personal. It's not that nobody's saying, like, you are 5, 10, thus you can't get recruited. It's just the realistic nature of that. Why would someone want to bet on you if you have not shown them a reason why they should take a bet on you? And you may be thinking, I put on this all this effort off the field. Or you may be thinking, your son puts in all this effort on the field, and that's not fair. That's true. They're not saying that, and it's not fair. But what are you going to do about it? Either you can complain or you can put in the time to make sure that you get amazing film in the season and making sure that you get as many coaches to know about it. Because ultimately, like, even if you put up great film, like, sometimes coaches just aren't looking for undersized guys. And so you have to find the right program that is looking for you as a kind of player that they want to bring in their program. And that takes a lot of effort, not just on the field, but also off the field. And you have to put that in both. Both ways. And so hopefully this kind of shined a light on it. Again, this isn't to be discouraging saying if you're undersized, you can't go D1, you can absolutely go D1. It just takes an enormous amount of effort. And so you have to realize that if you're expecting things to be handed to you just because you put in a little bit of work, that is just not the way the world works. And so hopefully you are not discouraged, but motivated, because I think the right person would be motivated by something like this, realizing that it is possible that they do have to put in a lot of effort and that probably the effort that most people aren't going to put in, that's going to set you ahead of everyone else and ultimately get you to where you want to be. So hopefully this helps you out. If you got something from this. Be sure to like and subscribe. I'll see you in the next one. Peace.