Year after year recruiting in college football has evolved and changed. Especially as of late with the rise of the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness adding new layers to a part of the game that was much simpler once upon a time.
Blue-chip high school prospects are now being rewarded with funds before playing a single down of collegiate football. While college players are re-opening up their recruitment in the transfer portal and crowding up the recruiting marketplace.
Getting recruited out of high school seems more difficult than ever, and with that in mind, Wisconsin head football coach Luke Fickell gave his advice to prospects who are looking to get recruited and take their game to the college level with Justin Basch.
“Be passionate about it, and there’s not something you need to do to be recruited other than do things well, right? I mean obviously you got to take care of your stuff, but it’s about your play,” Fickell said.
“I mean some people think that well if I hire this guy I got a better chance to get recruited, if I go to this camp. Yes, sometimes the camps, but it’s about your play. It’s about your ability to work. It’s about your ability to grow and a lot of that in our profession is you’ve got to be able to see from within. Where somebody is now and where they’re going to be.”
Some areas of the country are more popular than others in terms of regularly producing football prospects and players getting recruited. Which is where attendance and performance at camps can be beneficial. But Fickell believes that the right mindset on recruiting paired with getting things done on the field will get players where they want to be one way or another.
“But there’s not some magic behind it. It’s not like, well if I hire this service, or if I go with this trainer. No, man. There’s a place out there for everybody, and if you’re passionate about what you want to do, there’s an opportunity,” Fickell explained. “But you got to put it on tape. You got to be able to be able to go out there and compete and not have that fear of losing. You’ve got to be a competitor and you’ve got to be able to do it at the highest level.”
Fickell enters his second season at the helm for the Badgers, taking steps in the right direction with recruiting with his most recent class ranked No. 22 in the nation and No. 6 in the Big Ten according to On3’s Industry Comparison. As he looks to continue building up the Wisconsin program and returning them to their days of winning conference titles.
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