What makes a good recruitment video?

First and foremost you need decent video to work with.  It doesn't have to be 4K level but you absolutely want to avoid anything that is shaky, blurry, too dark, or has distractions like someone's finger in the frame.  If your footage is terrible there is no amount of editing that can fix that.  Footage from most AI cameras (the one's on the tall tripods) will usually work just fine.

It doesn't matter how talented you are, we do not know many college coaches who are going to watch a highlight video that is 5 minutes long.  The ideal length for a single highlight or skills video is 1:00 to 3:00 minutes.  If you feel that you have must-see content for a video longer than 3:00 minutes then it is best to split it into two or more shorter videos.

Coaches are sent hundreds of recruitment videos a year.  You'll want to grab their attention quickly by putting your best clips in the beginning of the video.  If it starts off too slow you run the risk of the coach clicking out of your video before they really have an idea of your abilities.  We also suggest inserting an intro slide with your profile picture, grad year, position(s), player number, what high school and, if applicable, what club you play for.  A growing number of athletes are also choosing to include their GPA on the intro slide.

Depending on your sport most of the time what you are sending coaches are gameplay highlights.  In certain situations though you may want to send the coach an additional video that showcases you performing a certain skill specific to your sport.

Music really has no place in a highlight or skills video.  Multiple coaches have told us that it is nothing but a distraction and more than one has told us that they mute all the videos that they watch by default.  Social media hype style videos are different though and music is critical for those.

In general you will want to create some social media accounts that you can easily share from.  Many college coaches are used to checking videos out on Youtube, Instagram and Twitter/X.  Due to file size limitations do not try and attach the video directly to your email to the coaches.  Instead, just embed the direct link to the video in the email.