Trenton Luera (former college quarterback, runs Your First Scholarship) argues that relying on third-party connections in college football recruiting produces short-term gains but creates false relationships, unmet expectations, and poor long-term fits. He recommends relationship-based recruiting—self-promotion, messaging coaches directly, and building trust—so coaches genuinely want and trust the player.
Chapters
Okay, so today I want to talk about something that I'm super passionate about. It's connections and recruiting. Because I think that they're one of the worst things that you could do in your recruiting that may get you short term results, but in the long term gets you stuff that is not what you ultimately want. And it's hard to see this because, you know, you get some things at first and then you think you're on the right track and then you don't realize until it's too late. And so I'm gonna talk about that. Why I just am a big hater, not a big proponent of that, and. And really dive into what you should do instead as well. So if you don't know who I am, I'm Trent Lore. I'm a former college quarterback as well as I run your first scholarship. Oh. We help families get their first scholarship and more. And today I'm not wearing my hat that I usually do instead of wearing the beanie. A little colder over here in the Midwest. But anyway, again, connections. So if you don't know, and I'll kind of start this at a base level, but a lot of people think that the way that you get recruited at a high level or even just any level is through connections is through. You know, people will say that your network is your net worth. And this is definitely not false. But people think that to get recruited you need to be connected to these coaches, that somebody needs to send your film to these coaches, not that you don't need to. And I get the reasoning in that they think that just because someone else is telling them, hey, this kid, you should, you should take a look at him, that's going to get you more likely to get offers. But the truth at the end of the day is college football is heavily merit based. And it's not like I tell this story that, you know, I have and, you know, sometimes do send stuff to people and say like, hey, yeah, you should check this kid out. Just friends that I know in the space, et cetera. And they'll tell me, hey, you know, this is where we see this kid. It doesn't really matter what I say. Like, I could convince them all I want, this is the guy, you should take this and that. But if they don't see that on their end, it doesn't matter. Now, connections can be a good way to basically guarantee that your film will get looked at and get, you know, the maximum amount of chances out there. But at the end of the day, it's not really about the connections. Because the last thing you want is your connections to force you an offer. That's what I see people want all the time, is like they're expecting the connection to whoever that is, whatever third party person, place, whatever, to essentially convince someone else to get an offer for them. Which doesn't make sense in my eyes because first off, if that happens now you have these high expectations, maybe they don't even want you in the first place. And I much rather let that happen organically through, you know, yourself rather than happen through someone else. Because then you get into this weird spot where you don't really have this relationship built in with this coach. It was really a relationship through someone else. And then you get on the campus and, you know, they don't really take you that seriously. You're just a spot that somehow they kind of needed to fill and you happen to be there versus, like, why not put yourself out there, take that spot, and then build that relationship with that coach by yourself? And so I think, like, again, I'm a big proponent of, like, turn every stone you can. The issue with connections is that it's a place where it creates these false relationships, it creates these unrealistic expectations. And so oftentimes people will maybe get an offer through connections or, you know, be told that they could say they have an offer through connections and that's good. All in one. This is what I'm talking about. Short term wins is like, that may seem like a massive win, but then fast forward a couple months later, that offer is no longer there and they don't have anything else. And instead they've been relying on these connections and now they finally figure out that, hey, shoot, we're kind of in a tough situation. What do we do from here? As well as maybe, maybe they get committed and signed because of connection, but then they get the campus and realize that, oh, shoot, they didn't really want me. And again, that is ultimately not really where you want to be at. You want to be at a place that actually wants you. And again, if your goal is just to be on a D1 roster, then, hey, go for it. Do whatever you can to get on that D1 roster. But I imagine you don't want to get a place that they just don't want you to be at the whole time and encourage you to transfer later on. So instead, I'm a big proponent of relationship recruiting. And so relationship recruiting is really doing stuff through yourself. It's building your own brand, it's being active on social media, It's Messaging coaches directly, reaching out to them, taking initiative yourself, and then letting them decide if they want to contact you back. Because at the end of the day, you can't. I wish there was a crazy method that I can say, here's how to. Here's how to guarantee that any coach you want will offer you, but that's just not a realistic nature of it. You have to be the kind of person they're looking for from an athletic standpoint, from a character standpoint, as well as just positional needs that situationally pop up throughout cycles of seasons. And so if you're not that they're going to pass up on you, they're not going to respond to you, and that's okay. And if they do respond to you, then you can build that relationship from there. You can show them the reasons why they should offer you over other guys that they're recruiting at your position, at your grad class. And so that's very much more along the lines of how I got recruited. And I didn't rely on any connections throughout my recruiting, and I just felt like that was massive to me. I was actually talking to a former NFL player this week, and we were talking about just a current recruiting scene, and he was asking me questions. And first off, I was shocked that he was asking questions because he played at a Division 1 level. I did not. He played in the NFL. I did not. So it was funny to me that he was asking me that. But we had a great conversation and I think I gained some stuff from it, just that, you know, it even confirmed some of my beliefs because he said he was seeing some of the same stuff. And so one of the big things we talked about was like, especially as a quarterback, and this really goes for any position. The connections is a piece of it, and it's cool. And he even brought up, he's like, yeah, I can message so and so who. I have a great relationship with OC at this school, but ultimately it's best if they know about you before, and then I can go in there and verify that or be that extra hand to help to kind of get you across the goal line. And we kind of went on this thing about relationships, and I said, you know this. As a, as a quarterback, relationships are huge. You don't want to go to a place where you. You have a so, so relationship with a head coach, OC quarterbacks coach, because that's never going to turn into anything good, even if you do get on the field, because your chances are already going to be low. Of getting on the field, then there's no trust between you and him. And that's such a massive piece of the process. And I felt like. I feel like that's a big piece that a lot of people are missing is like the trust needs to be there and the relationship needs to be there. Not just. Not just for the offer that's just one piece of it, but for your whole career for the next four to five years, giving yourself the best shot of getting playing time, of having a good experience. All of that stuff is big into that relationship. And it'll just not only improve the quality of how your recruiting goes, but how the quality of your next four to five years of your life go. And so he dressedly agreed with that. And I was really glad to hear that. I'm not the only one that thinks that. So I really think that if anything, focus on the relationships, focusing on organically letting things happen. Not in a luck way, of course, but putting yourself out there and just making sure that you're open and ready to go. And coaches know who you are, so that way when the coach finally sees you, they like you, they're able to contact you. So hopefully this helped. If you got something from this, be sure to like and subscribe. I'll see you next one. Peace.
