What Characteristics Football Coaches Look For In The Player

Most parents think college coaches only care about size, stars and stats, but that's not true. When it comes to a coach like Kirby Smart, national championship coach over at the University of Georgia, there are specific things he looks for that most families never hear about. In today's video, I'm breaking down exactly what Kirby Smart pays attention to when he's choosing recruits. Things that can help your son stand out, even if he's not the biggest name in his class. Now, I've studied some of his best interviews, recruiting habits, and real stories from players who landed offers from these top programs. And these points show up again and again. So if you're a parent trying to help your son get noticed, this is something you need to hear. I've also helped families earn over $20 million in scholarship money. So this is stuff that we apply to those families. Processes as well. Now, let's first talk about the mindset that Kirby Smart wants in his recruits. Now, a lot of people think that it's all about physical factors. What are you doing on the field? And of course that's very important. But when you're talking about high level football, everybody's good. And so the mindset that a player has and a player shows to a coach is going to impact who recruits him and who doesn't. For Kirby Smart, it's all about a mindset of toughness, competitiveness and a willingness to work. Somebody who's mentally and emotionally resilient. Not someone who's seeking recognition, but someone who's focused on the process and improving every day. But Kirby Smart said in his own words is I certainly want that recognition for our players. But. But I don't want our players to seek that recognition. I want them to seek contact. I want them to seek toughness. I want them to seek other things like being really present and being good in the. Now, all that stuff takes care of itself. And our kind of guys believe if we take care of what we're supposed to take care of, that we're going to get a chance. Another big thing that most families don't think about is the effort that is shown in the film. They just think about the plays themselves. But you also have to remember that coaches like Kirby Smart are also trying to see what is the effort that you're showing on the plays that you don't make or the plays that you do make. Do you just make a really good catch and then just celebrate or do you try to make that good catch and then also try to gain an extra yard or two? That stuff matters. Especially when we're talking about big time college football play players and big time college football games. Leadership is another thing that Coach Smart really looks for. Not only leadership, but unselfishness. He talked about a story with Nick Chubb. He said that Nick came up to him on the sideline, got in his ear and told him, coach, put Sony in. I want him to touch it first. We're talking about Sony, Michelle and another running back on the Georgia team. And Coach Smart talked about how rare that is to see in players that they have the unselfishness to be aware of what's going to best help the team and to actually go and do it. And that that's the kind of thing that he wants to see more players do. On top of that, just character overall is big for Kirby Smart. He talked about in multiple of his interviews that the most important thing he looks for in a recruit is the character that he has. He believes that chasing talent without character is, is not worth the time and effort. He wants players who align with the values of the program, the culture of their program that's allowed them to get the national championships that they have. From Coach Smart's own words, the older I get, the more wiser I get, the more you realize that chasing guys who don't believe in the same principles and values of your university and of your program, they're just not worth it. There's too much time spent on guys and you're having to chase them around. It's just not worth it. Take the guys that want to be there. Play with the guys that want to be there. Especially in today's transfer portal era, it's all about having guys that actually want to be at your program. And Coach Smart knows that, and that's what allowed him to build the program that he's built at this point. If you don't think that coaches are not looking at character again, especially in this modern transportal era, then you are flat out wrong. Now, another thing that always comes up is about playing multiple sports. Is it worth it to play multiple sports? Does it hurt or help your recruiting? Well, for Coach Smart, it helps. He talks about his 2024 recruiting class and he says that out of 24 of 28 guys worked out on our campus with coaches, 25 of 28 guys were multiple sport athletes. So that's close to 100% of the guys that they worked out were multiple sport athletes. So if you're not a multiple sport athlete, you actually have less of a chance of actually getting recruited. Now, this multiple Sport can be anything could be tracked. Lacrosse, basketball, baseball. But playing another sport shows you're an athlete, shows you're able to be in different positions. You're not just a football player, you're an athlete. You're able to move around, you're able to play, you just enjoy to be competitive. It green lights a lot of things that coaches are looking for. Now, obviously it's not a direct correlation. Just because you're a multiple sport athlete does not mean you will get recruited, but it does mean that you have traits that are are more likely to help you get recruited. The last thing we'll talk about is what Coach Smart said about standing out in a crowded class. Because at the end of the day, there are 250,000 plus high school football seniors every single class. And that number is going to only continue to grow. And so you have to stand out to be one of the select few that get recruited, the 2.7% that get a college football scholarship. Coach Smart said that demonstrating character, toughness, a strong work ethic, a team first mentality is what gets you recruited, not just the talent. Again, obviously that's a big part of it, but it's not just about the talent. For Coach Smart, it's about finding the right person who fits that culture of the program. That's what makes you stand out. That's what gets you the offer, that's what gets you the ability to play at the highest level possible. From Coach Marty himself, he said that we build our core culture from being a physical team and you have to recruit physical players and they have to buy into that process. A lot of these kids want to check, they don't want physicality. If you have a check and no physicality, you end with nothing. You're not just getting checks. At our place, we're hitting people. Really what he's saying there is that they have a set culture, they want to be physical, they want to be the teams knocking people in the mouth, setting the tone. And again, in this modern nil transfer portal process, there's a lot of flash, there's a lot about money. And he doesn't want people that focus on that. Sure. Is it a part of it? Yes. But like I talked about earlier, it's about people that enjoy the process and that know that if they just focus on the process, the rest of the good stuff will come. And part of that is being physical is about fitting in their culture. And so for different programs, it's all different. For other programs, it's not about being physical, but about being smart or for example, for Indiana, it was all about brotherhood and how they formed. I'm sure that's a big thing that Signetti looks and his recruits. And so being aware of that, you have to show that you have those aspects to these coaches. Otherwise you're going to get passed up because talent alone isn't enough. Now, everything we talked about today gives you a clear idea of what top coaches want, of what coaches want in general. But knowing these things is only the first step because you need to show this in a way that's actually showing coaches these things. And so every athlete needs the right plan, the right film and the right approach when reaching out to these coaches and showing these coaches the that you are the recruit that fits their culture, that fits their program. Especially if you want to get the attention from high level programs like University of Georgia. So if you want help building your son's recruiting plan, improving his highlight tape, or just getting him in front of the right coaches, check out the link below and book a free call with my recruiting team today. What we'll do on that call is we'll look at your son's current recruiting situation, the goals that you guys want to achieve, and then really just show you how you could get there. And then if it makes sense to work together, we'll talk about that too. There's no pressure on that call. We just want to make sure that we can help you as much as possible and if it happens to work out, cool with us. Once you book a call, you can check out this video as well where you'll check if it's too late for your son to be recruited. Because timing is extremely important in this process. Here's the link to it.