How Jonathan Got 26 Division 1 Offers

All right, so I'm here with Jonathan and his dad Tim. So why don't you guys tell us tell a little bit more about your guys self and where you guys are from.

Yes, sir. So I'm Jonathan Harding, class of 2025 tight end. I'm committed to Memphis right now and I'm from the Villages, Florida, those Villages High School. So yes, sir.

Yep. And I'm Tim Harding, John, John's dad. So yeah, I appreciate all the help that you've given us Trenton along the way.

Awesome. Well, yeah, I appreciate you guys hopping on this call and just talking more about your story. So I guess just starting things off like you mind telling everybody where you guys were before we even like first talked? I think we first met back in, I mean it's probably been about a year. I think it was what, probably August of last year. Right. So I guess tell us a little bit more about what was going on before then.

Yeah, I was thinking about that actually earlier today knowing that we were going to catch up. It was about a year ago. I remember sitting in a coffee shop with Jonathan and my son Patrick and just I had recently come across your podcast late at night, driving home, trying to stay awake, trying to find something interesting to listen to. Jonathan's going into his junior year he had played quarterback. He had just switched positions to playing tight end and had a really good seven on seven season. And I knew that he needed a really big junior year to help him with his recruiting and I had no doubt he would do that. He really had worked hard. But I was feeling kind of lost on how to help him with his goal of playing college football at the Division 1 level. So stumbled across your podcast. Reached out to you, I think it was on X, formerly Twitter. And I said hey, would you have time to talk to us? And you graciously agreed. And just after that call felt like we had found someone that would really make a difference for us in recruiting. There wasn't a lot of empty promises, but more just strategy on this is how we can attack it. And it was something that we definitely felt like we're going to do together, which we didn't mind putting the work in. We just needed some guidance on what we should be doing and, and that's really where you've made a huge difference for us and anything you want to add there, buddy?

Yeah, I mean I would just say like I've always worked really hard like on the field, but I think it kind of comes to with recruiting is like you can only do so much on the field, you really have to have people see you and whatnot and be able to build those relationship with coaches. And really, before I started with you, I didn't. I don't think I had anybody even message me at all or anything with recruiting at all. And I knew I put in the work on the field, so I was confident that I did everything on my part, so I kind of wanted to find that guidance. So I felt a lot more confident after we had that call, and I felt like we were definitely gonna, you know, make improvements on my recruitment and kind of get it going from there.

Absolutely. That's awesome. Well, yeah, that's definitely brings back some. Some flashbacks. Just kind of remembering back to that first call and everything. So I remember just being you guys being outside and kind of getting to talk to both you and Patrick and everything, and good times. So. So I guess from there, what were your thoughts going through the. The process with me as well as the. The recruiting process in general?

Yeah, I think for me, like, I. It felt a little more. A lot more comfortable being able to ask you any questions I had or anything like that, because I definitely didn't never been to the process before. That was my first time ever being through it, obviously. And I felt a lot more confident, comfortable on what to do when this reaches out. What's the. Really the significance of that? Does it really even mean something if somebody maybe sends me an email or something, invite me to a game day visit or something like that? So any questions I had, I would always ask you. Felt a lot more comfortable with that and kind of really saw where I was at. And I think you always kept it real with me on what you think it was. So I think that helped me be a lot more confident. Like, maybe I do need a. Do a little bit more on the field or something to show more film. Maybe I don't have enough film of this or not or that. So I felt a lot more confident going through it and comfortable, I would say.

Well said. I felt like you. You gave us a game plan on, you know, what we needed to focus on and helped us understand that. Yeah, it's. Coaches may or may not love your film, may or may not love you as a fit for their program, but they first have to know about you. They have to know who you are. They have to see your film. So that helps give us the comfort of reaching out multiple times to the same coaches and some schools that ended up offering him down the road. I think it was the sixth or seventh message before they Ever responded. And you helped us with that game plan. That. That's okay. Continue to mix it up, but continue. You got to stay in front. You got to stay at the top of their messages, if you will. Yeah. So that. That helped us a lot. Yeah.

And I always kind of felt uncomfortable. I was like, should I really be doing this? I was like. Because the. The kind of the guy in me, I was like, bro, I don't really think they like me at all. Like, they're not responding whatsoever, and you kind of help me out. Like, you know, they're busy. They're coaches. They get tons of messages, hundreds of thousands of messages every day from recruits. So it's kind of like you gotta. If you want it, you gotta go out there and kind of be resilient with it. So I think that kind of helped me.

So I always tell that story because I remember you messaging me, Tim emailing me, and we're like, hey, like, this happened. We got this on the fifth message. We got this on the seventh message. And I always bring that up to people whenever they're like, does this even work? I'm like, look, this is. This is. Jonathan went through. This is what happened. I. I always use that as a reference point. So that's big credit to you guys for sticking out with that. So with that, like, what were some of your. Your guys's doubts and fears going into this? And. And I guess working with me as well. It's through the process as well. Yeah.

I would say just a lot of people out there kind of like the. I think kind of sell you some lies on different things, like, kind of over promise on things and like, promise they're going to get you recruited and act like they have all these connections and whatnot. I. I see that all the time. Time. Again, there's so many coaches that will be like, man, I got this buddy at this university or whatnot. I'm gonna reach out and send them your film right now. And kind of you kind of sticking to the real proven results strategy, like, kind of go there and get it. Like, you're not promising anything, but you're doing stuff that actually works by actually sending coaches Twitter messages and being consistent with it. That's how I got all my connections. Like, I never got a connection from a coach, from a guy who had a lot of connections and he knew people and I got him from there. I never. I never got a coach's contact information from that and obviously never resulted in offers from that, but it was really all from Twitter. Me Messaging people and kind of sticking to the game plan you had. So I would think that would be that for that.

Yeah. And something I see you talking about often, which I love, is, you know, it's about building relationships. And it. You build relationships and you start a conversation. And, you know, that's definitely happened. I mean, Jonathan's fortunate to have relationships with coaches all over the country now that we wouldn't have had had we not had a game plan like you gave us of just consistently reaching out, letting them know what's happening, sending them your film and keeping updated.

Yeah, definitely. And I know Jonathan, you brought up, like, yeah, some other people, they say, hey, you know, we're gonna get you X or Y or whatever it is and use connections. I'm curious, like, that's definitely a constant fear. And probably most parents that. That are going to watch this or, or listen to this or see my content, I hop on calls with parents all the time and they say that. I'm curious, like, what made you guys say yes of working with me anyway? Like, besides, like, I'm sure there was a thought of a little bit of, like, I mean, is he. Is he telling the truth? Like, all this stuff? So, I mean, what made you guys say yes? Anyway.

I can speak to that a little bit if you want to add something. And I apologize, I never spoke to the fear part of it when you asked that question. But I think for me, the biggest fear was, man, I know he's going to put in the work and he's probably going to have a great junior year. And I felt like the talent was there, but my biggest fear is that people wouldn't know. They just. Our school didn't necessarily have the reputation for producing Division 1 talent. Those schools were not showing up, and they weren't just going to happen to see him at practice and say, who's this kid? They probably weren't going to be there if they weren't coming there to see him. So my biggest fear was he wouldn't get noticed. He wouldn't get that opportunity. And then what helped me have the confidence to move forward with you is I kind of saw you as a grinder, that your journey wasn't easy yourself. You weren't a four or five star. You were a grinder. I can relate with that. You. You had to learn this stuff the hard way. And I think of a lot of the great coaches in football, they're not necessarily. They weren't the most talented players necessarily, but they were grinders and they developed a work ethic. And that's helped them have success as coaches. So I felt like that background you had of grinding to get your opportunities, you had developed this system that would work and we could just simply step into it, put in the grind and he would get that opportunity.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Cool. And then I guess going to current day, like you mentioned, Jonathan, you're committed to Memphis now, which congratulations, that's awesome. And I'm stoked to just be a part of that journey. I guess tell a little bit more about like where you're at right now. What. I mean, what. What kind of happened as far as start to finish? Like what. What kind of results did you end up getting?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I appreciate all your help along the way too. You're definitely a big part of it. Say, just, you know, it kind of started with nothing, obviously, like everyone does got with you before my junior year. Had a pretty good junior year. Towards the end of my junior year, like my whole junior year, we were just standing out film, doing everything that you had us on, the game plan you had us on. We were following it to really anything you say. We were falling, really. So we did that the whole season. Sent out my film all the way to the end of the season. And then towards the end of the season, we started getting replies and then it really started picking up, Picking up. And I want to say my first off for was after the season, correct?

It was. Yeah, yeah, it was, I think in December. After the. December after your junior season.

Yeah. So I kind of threw X, you know, sending out those Twitter dms consistently over time, started building relationships, started getting coaches phone numbers through that. Then we would text on my phone, they would call me, text me. And then over time started building up a bunch of relationships. And I want to say I had like 8 to 10 coaches contact information. Then kind of around that time I got my first offer. When I started getting more contact information. And then from there it kind of. It kind of continued to more offers. I mean, what kind of was disappointing for me is I thought I was going to get my first offer and then tons of them roll in, but it kind of wasn't like that for me. It kind of waited a little bit more. I had to go back to the process I had before I had my first offer. Like, I had to really be consistent on Twitter, which is now X. I keep always messing me up, but I had to be consistent. Had to keep posting, had to keep talking to coaches and then it kind of. It slowly continued to move in the right direction. Until now, I think I have 26 division one offers, so. Yeah. And then ended up making a decision after all my official visits this last summer to commit to Memphis, so. For sure.

Awesome, man. Awesome. And I guess how does that, like, how does that make you feel to finally be. Be committed and. And on that. On that track right now?

Oh, it feels awesome. I mean, just my senior year, I'm just going out there playing ball. I feel great to have it over with. Definitely a lot of worries, a lot of, like, am I ever going to get recruited? Am I ever going to get seen? A lot of doubts in that area because I knew I put in the work. Like my dad said, my high school is not known for producing really, D1 talent. Not many people there. No coaches were there. All the coaches really started coming to see me because they weren't really originally there much, unfortunately. So it was really hard, I would say, to kind of get those coaches to go there, but it definitely paid off. I'm glad I kind of sticked it out and continued to stick to the process that you had us on.

Awesome.

It's cool, too, because we've now, with that, those coaches coming around, it's created some other opportunities, you know, for other kids that had a. You know, that have the talent to play. And I. For me as a dad, it's pretty cool to see the relationship that he's built with Memphis. I mean, he's talking to them every week. They're. They're watching this film and commenting, you know, and telling them what. Coaching them up, you know, on how he can even get better. And I just. It's pretty cool to see that it definitely is the right fit, the right place for him, and we would have never gotten that opportunity without really embracing this process and putting in the work.

Yeah. Yeah. Kind of to speak on that a little bit more. Like, the guy that I'm really close with, one of the assistants, he saw me through Twitter Enphis, and we text a lot on Twitter and then recently and then got his phone number from there, and, you know, that's my guy. So we have great. I have great relationships with everyone over there. But it really did start from doing the process and getting information from Twitter, and he seen my Duncan video that I posted. He's like, man, that's pretty cool. That's pretty impressive. So it kind of all started through the process that we stick to, so it was pretty cool to see.

Yeah, he was a. An assistant at the time, and I think he's in player personnel now. Yeah, Pretty cool. Even his journey. Yeah.

Sweet. Well, cool, I guess, from here. What. What would you guys tell someone who's watching this right now and is unsure about. About taking the next step?

Yeah, I mean, my advice would be if, if they're doing all the other things on the field, they're. They're obviously getting great grades is a big part of it. You got to be strong academically. And if they're putting in the work on the field and they're producing and they really want to play at the next level, they absolutely should reach out to you and at least talk to you. And you're going to be honest with them. That's the thing that we know from our experience is you're going to be honest with them both about what you see as far as their talent level and then about what you think they should do. And if you really want it, it's not that you're going to go out and do it for anyone, but you're going to tell them how to go out and get it if that's really what they want. And, and we know there's an opportunity for most high school kids, if that's something they really want at a level somewhere, there's a school that they'd be a great fit for. So my advice would be absolutely. Reach out and get the process started.

Yeah, my advice would be take care of your business on the field, in the classroom, kind of like what he said, because obviously you're not a miracle worker. You can't put 4 inches on somebody and put 100 pounds on them. But you can get them seen by following the process. If they follow it, you can tell them real results that are gonna work. You're not gonna really sell anything to them. That's. That's not real. So you're really gonna be honest with them. Like my dad said, as long as they're taking care of their business on the field and put up good film, then they definitely can make it at whatever division you know, really they're capable of. And you're gonna be real and you're gonna get them there if they follow the process. I think so. So, sure.

Well, cool. I appreciate you guys time and appreciate all the effort and hard work that you guys put in. It's. It's definitely paid off. And anybody watching this, if you want to go through the same process that Jonathan and Tim did, then feel free to go to call yourfirstscholarship.com book a call with me and we can talk more about what it would look like in the process from there, so see it.