The first thing to sort out is division. D1 football has one set of rules. D2, D3, and NAIA have different rules and different timelines.
Most families spend the first two years of their kid’s high school career planning for D1 when D2 or D3 is the realistic target, and they lose time because of it.
D1 FBS is the version on TV. These programs are recruiting nationally, offering full scholarships, and in most cases have identified their top targets by the end of sophomore year.
If a D1 FBS program has not made contact by the start of junior year, they are not recruiting your kid. This is not a judgment. It is just how the pipeline works at that level.
D1 FCS, D2, and D3 programs recruit on a longer window and often closer to home. D3 does not offer athletic scholarships, but the financial aid at many D3 schools is aggressive and the net cost can be lower than a partial D2 scholarship. Do the actual math on each offer before comparing them by label.
NCAA contact rules: before September 1 of their junior year, college coaches cannot call recruits first. They can receive calls from recruits and they can correspond by email. This is why your kid’s inbox gets populated with mass-printed letters from programs they have never contacted.
Those letters are not offers. They are marketing. A real offer or a real interest communication comes after September 1 of junior year and involves a direct conversation.
Unofficial visits (you pay, you visit a campus) can happen at any age. Official visits (the school pays) cannot happen until senior year at D1. Attend unofficial visits to schools your kid is genuinely interested in, not to accumulate campus visits as a resume item.
Film is the most important recruiting tool for a high school football player. A clean four-minute highlight film with position-specific clips, clearly labeled, gets watched. A 12-minute film that requires sorting through a lot of running time does not.
Your kid’s high school program usually produces this. If they do not, it is worth paying an editor $100-$200 to make a proper cut.
What parents can do: send an introductory email to coaches at programs your kid is interested in. Attach the film. Include GPA, measurables, and a direct statement of interest.
Keep it short. Coaches read these in 90 seconds or less.
What parents cannot do is call the coach on behalf of the kid. At the D1 level, the coach wants to talk to your kid, not you.
The last thing: recruiting is not a measure of your kid’s worth as a player or a person. The number of scholarship offers is not a reflection of how good a parent you were. The families who handle recruiting the best are the ones who kept the sport as the kid’s project from the begin