[papagrit]

I know that my kids have received letters from several colleges based on their testing scores. I don't know how the distant colleges get the information and know they play football, but, they have received interest from several Ivy League schools and upper echelon academic schools. The oldest got interest from several local colleges and universities and was offered by some of them as well.(Including EKU) He chose to play football out of state at a D3 school that has an excellent academic reputation. My point is this, if a kid has talent, schools will find them. If they have good grades and test scores, that is icing on the cake that will also get them into better schools where they can play football for fun. D3 schools don't give athletic scholarships, but my son's academic scholarship is considerable based upon his financial need. The first question asked at about every school we visited was "What are your grades?" followed by "What did you score on the _______ test?". Good grades and test scores give a kid so many more options if they have good athletic talent. I don't think we ever met a coach who's first business question deviated from academic questions. Performance questions usually followed much later.
One final thing. If you have a kid getting college looks, don't fall for the "You're my number 1 choice and are at the top of my list!" snow job that some coaches will throw at a kid. Make sure a kid you care for throws out a wide net because coaches will contact several kids for one or two spots and will choose the best options in the end and some kids will get left in the cold. It's a business decision for most of them. We had no idea how much until later in the recruitment process. My oldest was the number one choice according to the head coach of an Ivy League school last year on a visit in June. He told my son he already had a mentor picked out for him when he came to the school the next fall. My son loved the guy and decided that was the THE school for him. In September he was still getting called regularly, but in October the interest and phone calls dried up. When we called the assistant we had been talking to and asked if they were still interested in him or not, we were told that he would not be sponsored to attend the school by the football team. He wrote them off heartbroken and recast his net wider and wound up at a great D3 school. (Ranked academically 14th in the nation) What was funny was he was contacted by the Ivy League school around Christmas Day that year wanting him again. He told them he wasn't interested in them any more stating he wasn't going anywhere where he wasn't going to be treated honestly. If they had been straight with him telling him he might possibly get in with them if things worked out, he probably would be attending school in the Northeast now. Apparently their real number one choice decided they weren't his number one choice and he must have went elsewhere leaving my son as their next in line. Just don't let a kid you care for fall for only one school blinded to the other choices. Again, it is a business decision for them to pick their best options and after you deal with several coaches, you feel like a customer walking onto a car sales lot. My younger son will benefit from seeing how his brother was treated and will know better on what to expect. We as parents are also more wary and understand how the whole business works.
That's just my two cents worth on our experiences for some of you who have kids going through this now. Official visits are going on and important life changing decisions are being made by these young men during these months. My son would tell you, the day he called the coach of the program he picked was like getting a huge weight off his chest and he is happy as he can be where he is at. He now has contacted one or two kids here in Kentucky to tell the kids how happy he is where he is at. He is honest with them about his school and how he wound up there and his main advice is to cast a wide net and find the school that fits them and to not just buy into a coaches snow job.