When you join www.CollegeProspectNetwork.com, the first thing you should do is post high-quality game film that showcases your talents and displays how you play the game. You really should not start reaching out to college programs, even if you have uploaded your stats and all your other information, until you have a good game tape on your profile. It’s a pretty straightforward, simple process that should only take you a couple of minutes, depending on your internet connection.
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Guidelines for Football Prospects
College coaches and scouts want to see highlight tapes of some of your very best plays. If you don’t have one, you need to get one made as soon as possible. If you’re not on varsity, you can wait because the game tape should only include varsity high school games. It is very important that your tape includes a variety of plays. For example, if you’re a safety coaches want to see you in the box against the run, engaged in one-on-one coverage and making tackles in the open field. You may think that interceptions with long returns are your best highlights but, if you don’t include any other types of plays, college coaches will think you’re one dimensional.
College Prospect Network does not create highlight films for our prospects but we do make it easy to post them to your profile once you have a tape. There are several services available that will help you get a high-quality tape but the best thing to do is ask your coach if he can help you get one together. Anywhere from 3:00 – 5:00 is plenty and our website allows college coaches to easily request to see more tape if they need to see more.
A couple of things to remember:
- Footage from high school games only. – You cannot post any footage from games that were not played for your high school and sanctioned by UIL. Some 7-man and 8-man leagues are sanctioned and you can include plays from these games, just check with your coach first and make sure it is not a violation.
- Take advantage of YouTube. – If you want to include footage from games that were not played for your high school, post them to YouTube.com and then include a link to them in the Bio section on your profile page.
The video uploading process is pretty simple. Just look for the “Manage Game Tape” page when you log-in to the site, browse for the file on your computer and double click on the file. If you have any issues or you get an error message, please contact us immediately using this page and we will make sure we get it resolved as soon as we can.
Once you have a good game tape uploaded to your profile you are ready to complete your profile. You can add your game schedule, input your stats, add a picture and fill out your Bio. After all that is done you are ready to start contacting college coaches and having them contact you.
Guidelines for Basketball Players
For basketball players on College Prospect Network the process is just a little bit different. Game film is just as important for basketball as it is for football but college coaches are looking for different things.
Our coaches want to see 5:00 consecutive game minutes, not a highlight video. Too many prospects make the mistake of getting a highlight video made without also having a full game tape available. The thing is, college coaches want to see how you run the court, hustle, get into position when you’re playing help-side defense and pursue offensive and defensive rebounds. Highlights can show some good plays but they don’t show your heart or whether you are a complete player.
With that in mind, we set our basketball video system up to help you make a good 5:00 clip. All you need is a full game tape so you can upload it with these steps:
- Click the “Manage Game Film” page after you log into your account.
- Upload the full game and start to watch it.
- Find a section of the game where you are scoring the ball and showing your offensive game but make sure you are also hustling, playing good defense and going after rebounds aggressively during this 5:00 span.
- After you have watched the 5:00 section and you are confident that it makes you look like a good all-around player, go back to where you want it to begin and click Start. Then let it play for as close to 5:00 as you want and click Stop to end the clip.
- Give the system a few minutes to process the clip you have just created and then go to your profile page to make sure it worked properly.
Just like with football players, there are some things you need to consider:
- No AAU footage! – We really mean this. We will remove your video if it has footage from AAU games and, if you re-post it or post another video from an AAU game, we will remove your account from our site. The NCAA will not allow us to post any footage from AAU games and we will not put your eligibility or our reputation on the line.
- Utilize YouTube. – If you have a highlight tape or footage from AAU games, put it on YouTube.com and include a link to it in the Bio section of your profile.
- Be critical of yourself. – While you are watching the game to make your clip, you need to look for things you can do better. Did you pass up on open three and end up missing a tougher shot? Did you take a tough shot when you had a teammate open? And here’s the big one: Did you hustle to get back on defense after your team turned the ball over? Try to think like a coach and it will help you become a better player.
If you have any questions or problems creating your video clip use the Contact Us page on the website. We will help you get it resolved as soon as we can so you can finish your profile and start contacting college coaches.
If you are a member, you can also use the Contact Us page to ask us for the best ways to use any other features on the site. We will write another blog just like this one and notify you when it is posted.
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