An Open Letter to the Parents of Future College Athletes

A different perspective on recruiting in the modern era

By Dr. Chad Peters – Precision Performance Concepts

 

 

Last week, Ben asked me if I would want to come speak at a parent meeting about football recruiting in the modern era. (because of this, I will often use he and son as my reference while writing but these ideas pertain to ALL athletes.)

Honestly, I probably could have gone on and on for two hours and accidentally ruined the entire meeting.

Not because I think I’m right about everything, but because recruiting today has become incredibly layered, emotional, confusing, and honestly… very different than most parents realize. A 3-4 minute rah-rah wouldn’t cut it.

The truth is my own kids are not currently going through football recruiting specifically. My son Braylon is navigating the basketball recruiting process right now, which is an entirely different animal, but there is still plenty of overlap between the two worlds.

So rather than stand in front of a room and ramble endlessly, I thought maybe it would be more useful to simply write down a few things I think are worth understanding.

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Chad Peters. I played college football, still have many close friends coaching at the high school and college levels, work on college and high school athletes all day, and I also own a sports performance business where I spend a tremendous amount of time around high school athletes and families.  Oh yeah, and my kids want to be college athletes.

And if there is one thing I would tell parents right away, it is this:

The Recruiting World Has Changed Faster Than Most Parents Realize

Every kid wants to play Division I.  Every parent dreams about it too.

That’s a great goal. But it’s not the only option. And it MAY not even be the best option.

To be very clear, I am not anti–Division I. Division I athletics can be absolutely incredible. For many of these kids, it should be the goal.

But recruiting simply does not work the same way it did 20 years ago. Honestly, it does not even work the same way it did five years ago.

Love it or hate it, the transfer portal has changed nearly everything.

And if you want to avoid frustration during this process, you have to stop viewing recruiting from only the athlete or parent perspective and start looking at it from the coach’s perspective too.

Because I will ask you a very simple question:

Why Would A Coach Prefer An 18-Year-Old Over A 20-Year-Old?

That is not meant to discourage anybody.
It is just reality.

There used to be a time when coaches could recruit young athletes and slowly develop them over several years.

We had redshirts.
We had scout teams.
We had developmental systems.

1. By the time athletes reached their third or fourth year in a program, not only were they physically stronger and more mature, but the coaches knew whether they could trust them.

That system still exists in some places, but overall college athletics has shifted toward immediate production.

Coaches are under tremendous pressure to win quickly, and many are looking for athletes who can contribute immediately.

And the truth is your 18-year-old son, no matter how talented he is, is usually not as physically developed as a 20-year-old athlete who already has two years of college practices, meetings, film study, lifting, nutrition, and games behind him.

But honestly, that is only the first reason.

2)  The larger reason many coaches prefer 20-year-olds has less to do with talent and development and far more to do with simply knowing who can stick with it.

The first two years of college athletics see more than half of all athletes quit or completely rethink their plan to continue playing.

And this happens for a million different reasons.

One of the biggest shocks for young athletes is going from being the high school star to suddenly being a third-string player.

Because here is the reality:

Every college athlete was the star in high school.

I do not care what level you are talking about — Division I, Division II, NAIA, JUCO, whatever — once athletes have even a year of college practices and development under their belt, they become really, really good.

Ask almost any former college athlete to go back and watch a high school game at their alma mater.

Ask them if the game feels slower.

Almost all of them will say yes instantly.

Not because the high school athletes are bad, but because the speed of the college game changes your perspective completely.

The college game moves unbelievably fast at every level.

And because of that reality — combined with homesickness, relationships, pressure, academics, depth chart frustration, injuries, finances, burnout, and simply growing up — many athletes decide college sports is no longer what they want.

That is not failure either.
It is just reality.

And this is another reason the portal exists and why coaches recruit older athletes so aggressively.

Recruiting a 20-year-old who has already survived the first two years of college athletics removes a tremendous amount of uncertainty for a coaching staff.

3) southern athletes dont do as well far from home and/or in the cold.

Want to know why the powerhouses from the north have so fewer Texas players than other colleges.   Because It’s cold as hell up NORTH!   Kids quit.

For the coaches, having an experienced kid is safer and better for at least 3 reasons!

They already know that athlete can handle:

• college structure,
• college speed,
• adversity,
• and the day-to-day demands of being a college athlete.

That matters far more than most parents realize. – and none of us know what our own kids will feel their first 2 days, months and years of college sports.

That should not make you panic.

Because if your son stays with it, he is going to be 20 years old someday too.

I remember my own freshman year of college football. I was mostly a scout team player. By the time I eventually started seeing the field on special teams, I had added nearly 25 pounds of muscle and matured dramatically.

When I arrived at college, I shaved about four times a year.

Two years later, I was a grown man and one of the starting linebackers. But there were many times i called my dad and told him I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the field!

That is simply how life works between 18 and 22 years old.

And honestly, this is one of the reasons I actually like the portal.

The Portal Is Not The Enemy

I know many parents hate the portal.

But there is another way to view it.

The portal is not destroying opportunity for most athletes.
In many ways, it is redistributing opportunity.

It gives athletes a chance to find the level they are best built for.

One of the biggest mistakes families make is comparing their own child to the top one percent of athletes in America.

That is a terrible measuring stick.

You cannot compare your child’s path to Arch Manning or the handful of athletes on the planet living in that recruiting universe.

Those are outliers.

Despite all the headlines about NIL money, massive transfers, and athletes jumping schools constantly, that reality still represents a tiny percentage of college athletes overall.

Most athletes are simply trying to:

• find a good fit,
• develop,
• stay on a roster,
• get an education,
• and hopefully enjoy the experience.

As parents, we would probably all be healthier if we focused more on the other 99% of NCAA athletes instead of the one percent. Even the 99% of D1 athletes that don’t make the headlines (or the millions).

And I truly believe the portal is helping college athletics adjust to modern reality.

The truth is there are probably 10X more phenomenal athletes now than there were a generation ago. Especially women athletes.  Coaches are trying to sort through an overwhelming amount of talent while also trying to win immediately.

The portal helps programs move faster.
It also helps athletes adjust faster.

And for most families reading this, the odds that NIL millions and celebrity-level recruiting drama will impact your household are incredibly small anyway.

That is not our world.

Understanding The Different Levels Of College Athletics

I also think parents sometimes misunderstand how the levels themselves actually stack up in modern sports.

And honestly, this has become much blurrier than it used to be.

Most families grow up thinking the hierarchy is simple:

Division I
Division II
Division III
NAIA (with divisions as well)
JUCO (with divisions as well)

But this is far from accurate – modern college athletics overlap constantly.

There are lower-level Division I programs that would struggle against elite Division II teams.

There are powerhouse JUCO programs loaded with future Division I athletes.

There are NAIA football teams in places like Kansas that are unbelievably competitive and filled with transfers and older developed athletes.

There are Division III programs with incredible culture, facilities, academics, and long-term life outcomes.

The lines are no longer as clean as people think.

If I were roughly explaining the current landscape to parents, I would probably describe it more like this:

Tier 1

Top-tier Division I FBS football programs
The biggest brands, largest stadiums, highest budgets, NFL pipelines, and the most physically gifted athletes on the planet.

Tier 2

Elite FCS programs and some upper-level Group of Five programs

Still Division I.
Still scholarship football.
Still incredibly difficult to play at.

Many of these teams would have been considered major programs just a generation ago.

Tier 3

Lower Division I programs, elite Division II programs, and top JUCO programs (in fact many experts feel that for many men’s sports, D1 JUCO may be the second toughest level to break into out of high school!) 

This is where things start overlapping heavily.

There are Division II athletes at this level who absolutely could play Division I football.

There are JUCO teams with players who were once highly recruited high school athletes but simply needed:

• time,
• development,
• maturity,
• academics,
• or another opportunity.

Tier 4

Strong Division II, NAIA, Division III, and lower JUCO levels

And honestly, this is where parents really need perspective.

There are fantastic football players at these levels.

More importantly, there are fantastic college experiences happening at these levels every single day.

Some athletes at this level are:

• undersized,
• late bloomers,
• overlooked,
• or simply prioritizing fit, academics, proximity to home, or enjoyment of life.

And many of these athletes are still among the top few percent of football players in the entire country.

That matters.

One thing I would specifically tell Texas parents is this:

Do not underestimate NAIA football.

Especially in places like Kansas. check out the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference — usually called the KCAC.

Schools like:

• Friends University
• Southwestern College
• Kansas Wesleyan University
• McPherson College
• Ottawa University
• Evangel University

absolutely love recruiting Texas athletes.

Why?

Because Texas high school football (all sports) is that respected nationally.

Those coaches know Texas athletes have often played against elite competition every single Friday night.

And ironically, that creates both opportunity and invisibility at the same time.

Texas produces so many talented athletes that some kids simply get lost in the numbers.

That does not mean they are not talented enough.
It simply means the pool is unbelievably crowded.

And honestly, this is another reason development matters so much now.

Sometimes the athlete who is lightly recruited at 18 becomes a completely different prospect by 20.

That happens far more often than parents realize.

Texas Creates Opportunity… And Invisibility

This is another reality parents need to understand.

Texas high school sports are unbelievably competitive.

That is a positive.

But it can also create a strange problem:
great athletes can become almost invisible simply because there are so many other great athletes surrounding them.

My own son is living this right now in basketball.

If he had grown up in places like South Dakota, Nebraska, or Wisconsin, I honestly believe he would already be viewed very differently from a recruiting standpoint.

But in Texas, there are endless high-level athletes everywhere you look.

That is not bitterness.
That is just math.

And ironically, this is another reason the portal can become a huge positive for athletes from states like Texas.

Because in a couple years, my son will not be competing against other 18-year-olds anymore.

He will be 20 himself.

And now suddenly the same athlete who may have been overlooked physically at 17 or 18 years old is far more mature, stronger, more experienced, and more capable.

That completely changes how I personally view recruiting.

Instead of obsessing over:
“What level does he need to get to right now?”

I find myself asking:
“What level gives him the best opportunity to survive long enough to become the athlete he is actually capable of becoming?”

That is a much healthier question.

Different Levels Are Different Lifestyles

As parents, we are hardwired to help our kids achieve their dreams.

But they are 18 years old.

Their dreams are supposed to change.
In fact, they probably should change.

What your son or daughter thinks they want at 17 years old may not be what they want halfway through their freshman year of college.

That is not failure.
That is growth.

And I think parents need to understand something important:

Talent alone does not get athletes to Division I nearly as often as people think it does.

And I say that respectfully, because we all wear parent goggles a little bit. We all believe our kids may develop another level in the next few years and honestly, many of them will.

But Division I athletes, especially at the highest levels, are wired differently.

The reason top-level athletes are now getting paid is because the workload has become enormous. Sports are a JOB!

I was talking with my own son Braylon during his basketball recruiting process about one of the schools recruiting him.

I asked him:

“If they wanted you there July 1st instead of later in the summer, would that change your thinking?”

He immediately said yes.

He told me:
“I don’t want to give up my entire summer to start basketball that early.”

So I told him:

“I know Duke is not recruiting you. But if Duke was recruiting you, they would probably want you there June 1st, not July 1st. You most likely would not get a summer break at all.”

At the highest levels, Division I sports become work.

That does not make it bad.
But it absolutely makes it different.

And I want to contrast that with one of my favorite young athletes who is currently playing Division III volleyball at Schreiner University and absolutely loving her experience. (Ironically, they recruit a ton of kids from Flour Bluff.)

Her volleyball season ended around Thanksgiving and the athletes were told not to even come back to campus until the middle of January.

Two full months of Christmas break!

That sounds impossible to some Division I athletes.

I remember one year in college football when we reported back for winter workouts on January 3rd despite the fact that our first football game was not until the very end of August nearly nine months later.

So yes, the talent pool changes from level to level.

But so do:

• the expectations,
• the lifestyle,
• the pressure,
• the time demands,
• and the balance between work and fun.

Those differences matter more than parents realize.

For Football Families, This Is Exactly What JUCO Was Built For

While football does not really have the same type of post-grad prep school system that basketball now has, this is essentially what junior college football has always been designed to do.

And I think many parents misunderstand JUCO completely.

Junior college football is divided into multiple levels itself — Division I, Division II, and Division III JUCO programs.

The easiest way for parents to think about those levels is this:

Generally speaking, the higher the JUCO level, the higher the potential level of recruitment afterward.

Now obviously there are exceptions everywhere, but overall that is the basic structure.

And although JUCO programs absolutely want to win games, winning is often not the primary long-term purpose of the system itself.

The primary purpose of junior college athletics is development.

JUCO gives athletes:

• time,
• maturity,
• physical growth,
• game experience,
• academic improvement,
• and another recruiting window.

For some athletes, JUCO can actually create a far better long-term opportunity than immediately signing with an NCAA or NAIA school directly out of high school.

That can be difficult for parents to understand because emotionally we often feel like:
“If my son was truly good enough, he would already be there.”

But that is not how development works.

Some athletes are simply late bloomers physically.
Some need structure.
Some need reps.
Some need strength.
Some need confidence.
Some need two years to become the athlete they are eventually going to be at 20 or 21 years old.

And honestly, that developmental process is becoming more and more important in modern athletics, not less.

The New Paths Didn’t Even Exist A Few Years Ago

Many of you know my son Braylon, and it is still absolutely his dream to play Division I basketball.

That dream has not changed.

But what has changed is the number of pathways available to athletes today.

As he compares schools and opportunities right now, one of the things he is seriously considering is what is called a post-grad opportunity.

Years ago, we would have called this a prep school environment.

Back then, some of the top basketball players in the country would leave high school early and essentially enter a year-round basketball development setting before college. Players like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant became associated with that era of elite basketball development.

Today, the system looks different.

Now these programs are often designed for athletes who have already graduated high school but want one additional year dedicated almost entirely to:

• basketball development,
• strength and conditioning,
• exposure,
• nutrition,
• film,
• and competition.

In many ways, it is almost like full-time AAU basketball for an entire year before entering college athletics.

And honestly?
That entire pathway barely existed just a few years ago.

It is now a very real option for my own son.

And as a parent, I find myself torn.

Part of me wants him to chase his dream as far as he possibly can.

But another part of me values the actual college experience tremendously.

If he chooses the post-grad route, he delays entering college life immediately. He delays the dorms, teammates, campus life, friendships, and all the experiences that come with becoming a college athlete.

On the other hand, if he delays instant gratification and puts in another full year of development, maybe it gives him an opportunity to reach a larger school later.

These are the kinds of decisions that quietly turn parents into pressure cookers.

I lose sleep over these things.

What if the program is not legitimate?
What if it is more of a holding tank or a business model than a true developmental environment?
How do parents even know?
How many players have they actually sent Division I?
What if another path would have been better?

Those thoughts are real.

But honestly, the pressure starts disappearing the second I remind myself of something important:

Neither decision is automatically the right decision or the wrong decision.

They are simply different decisions with different risks, different rewards, and different outcomes.

And ultimately, no matter which direction Braylon goes, it will be the right decision because it was his decision.

Success Is Not Reserved For Division I Athletes

This part matters deeply to me.

Less than 6% of high school athletes will go on to play college athletic at any level.

Any level.

And well over half will stop within the first 2 years! That means if your son or daughter successfully becomes a college athlete and sees that process through, they are already part of a very rare group.

That is success.

And honestly, when I hire doctors or staff for my office, I almost always look favorably upon former college athletes because I know they lived college differently than most people.

They learned:

• discipline,
• the ability to handle coaching and critique
• structure,
• sacrifice,
• accountability,
• time management,
• and how to operate inside a team environment while still handling school and adulthood simultaneously.

That matters in the real world.

Massively.

We sometimes get so locked into “What level?” that we completely forget how extraordinary it already is to become a college athlete in the first place.

Fit Matters More Than Prestige

This may be the most important section in the entire article.

As parents, we tend to think:
higher level equals better experience.

But that simply is not always true.

If your athlete enters college already thinking they may eventually transfer, then honestly their first school choice should probably be more about development than prestige.

The real question becomes:
“Can this coaching staff develop me enough to move me upward later if that is my goal?”

But if your athlete is looking for a place where they may spend four or five years, then fit becomes everything.

Do they like the town?
The campus?
The facilities?
The teammates?
The culture?
The food?
The coaching style?
The weather?
The academic programs?

Because here is the truth:

Your athlete will know within about 12 minutes of arriving on campus whether the place feels right.

And parents know it too.

If something feels off, keep looking.

You cannot spend three to five years in a place you cannot stand.

I do not want to bore you with my own story, but I ended up at a very good Division II football school after originally being recruited by one of the top programs in the country.

Five days before signing day, they told me they were going in another direction.

At the time, I was furious. and heartbroken.

I felt like I had lost my shot at being “big time.”

And yet looking back now, South Dakota State University ended up being the perfect fit for me.

I met 85 teammates there.
Fifteen of them I still talk to daily decades later.

Those relationships shaped my life.

I thought I wanted to play in front of 100,000 fans.

Instead, I usually played in front of 20,000.

And honestly?

It was a million times better for me.

The Pressure Parents Put On Themselves Is Enormous

I understand it completely.

We all want to help our kids make the “right” decision.

But the reality is this:

Most human beings probably only make seven or eight truly major life decisions.

Where to go to college is likely the first enormous decision many of these young men and women will ever make.

And because of that, we place unbelievable pressure on ourselves to get it exactly right.

But modern college athletics no longer works like it used to.

You can change your mind.
You can transfer.
You can redirect.
You can grow.
You can develop later.

The first decision does not have to be the perfect final decision forever.

That should take enormous pressure off families.

Final Thoughts

Throughout this journey, do not forget that your young athletes are about to become young adults.

And while a few of them may eventually become professional athletes, I would never go into this process with that expectation.

What I want for my own children is much simpler than that.

I want them to:

• be happy,
• be curious,
• build friendships,
• feel challenged,
• feel fulfilled,
• and enjoy this stage of life.

If my son someday called me from a Division III school talking about how much he loved the university, his teammates, the town, his classes, and the people around him, I would view that as an overwhelming success.

Far more than:

• what logo is on the helmet,
• how much NIL money is involved,
• or how many games end up on ESPN.

Because at the end of the day, the level matters far less than the fit.

And the fit is what ultimately shapes the life your son or daughter is going to build once they get there.