Build a target list that gets you offers, not just letters

Most recruits e-mail the wrong 20 schools: the ten they've watched on TV and the ten within an hour of home. The recruits who end up with a choice in February built a list of 40 to 60 programs across three levels, on purpose, and worked it like a sales pipeline.

The 20/50/30 rule

Split your list by how realistic each program is:

• 20% reach programs — one level above where your measurables put you today. You're betting on development or a coach who falls in love with your film.
• 50% realistic programs — the level your size, speed and production say you belong at now. This is where most offers come from.
• 30% foundation programs — a level below realistic, where you'd be an impact recruit from day one. These are not "safety schools" to be ashamed of; they're leverage and, often, the best fit.

For a 6'2", 205-pound linebacker with a 4.7 forty and a 3.4 GPA, that might mean 10 FCS programs, 25 D2 programs and 15 D3/NAIA programs. Reach and realistic programs shift as your junior film and measurables update; re-sort the list twice a year.

Filter before you research

Start with the full coach list for your levels and cut it down in this order:

1. Distance. Decide how far from home is acceptable for four years of Tuesday practices and a parent who wants to see games. Draw the circle; delete outside it.
2. Academics. Delete schools that don't offer a major you can see yourself in, and schools whose admissions profile is far above or below yours.
3. Depth chart at your position. Open the roster. Count players at your position by class year. A program with four freshman and sophomore linebackers isn't taking two more.
4. Cost. Look up the sticker price and the school's average net price. A private D3 with a $60,000 sticker and a strong aid record can end up cheaper than a state school.

What's left is usually 60 to 100 programs. Now research.

The ten-minute program check

For each school on the shortlist, spend ten minutes and fill four columns:

• Scheme. Watch two minutes of a game. Are they doing what you do well? A run-heavy offense doesn't need a slot receiver.
• Recent recruiting. Look at the last two signing classes on the athletics site or in the local paper. Where do their players come from? If the whole roster is from two states and yours isn't one of them, you're fighting geography.
• Staff stability. Head coach in year one or two: opportunity, but risk. Year six-plus with the same coordinator: stable, predictable style.
• The recruiting contact. From the coach list, note the position coach and the recruiting coordinator — names, e-mails, and the date you're going to write.

Work the list like a pipeline

Keep a spreadsheet with a row per program and columns for: level, contact names, date of first e-mail, replies, camp/visit dates, offer status, and estimated net cost. Each program is in one stage:

Researched → E-mailed → Replied → Evaluating (they've asked for more) → Visited → Offer → Committed/Declined

Every two weeks, look at the pipeline, not the individual e-mails:

• If nothing has moved from E-mailed to Replied at a level in six weeks, that level may be too high right now. Add ten programs one level down.
• If several programs are in Evaluating, stop adding and start visiting.
• If you have offers, let the other coaches in Evaluating know — honestly and without games. Coaches move faster when a peer has already decided.

Two lists to avoid

• The vanity list: 15 FBS programs and nothing else. It produces letters and camp invites, which feel like recruiting and are mostly marketing.
• The panic list: 200 e-mails in a weekend, every school in the country. Coaches can tell; the e-mails are generic because they have to be.

Fifty programs, researched, e-mailed with a specific sentence about each, updated every time you have new film or new numbers — that's the list that produces a decision in your hands.