To the Class of 2016 Good afternoon, I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one. I sent this to our recruits in the High School Class of 2016. I hope it will provide you with some perspective into who and what we look for in creating a class. I hope you and your family are well. The recruiting process changes gears and our staff will be on the road in high schools for the next two weeks. As a junior in high school you will understand that the pace of this process has increased every year. The most important thing you must be aware of is that this is not a race. Your goal should be to find a school that offers you the following in priority order: 1. The best Undergraduate Education 2. An opportunity to play College Football at the most competitive level 3. The best environment for you as a person learning to live away from home If Bucknell University is the place you decide to pursue these goals then it is great for you and for us. This is a special place. I want to provide you with some insight into what we look for when we recruit student-athletes. The most important component is your performance academically. We are looking for someone with a GPA of 3.2 and above. The academic rigor of your curriculum is critical when we look at your transcript. Challenge yourself with the courses you are taking. One thing you have to be aware of is that declaring a major as a 17 or 18 year old is a hard thing to do. You might have a general idea as to what you want to study. Many people change their major at least once. Many change their majors more than once. You will find your calling in time. Standardized tests are important as well. Bucknell will evaluate you based on your performance on either the SAT or ACT. We are looking for SAT scores of 1100 and above in the combined scores of Reading and Math. The ACT scores we are looking for are a Composite Score of 23 and above. The extracurricular activities you are involved with are important as we evaluate you. Our school is looking for someone who will benefit by being here. They look harder for people who benefit Bucknell by their presence on our campus. From a football standpoint we are looking for position specific needs initially. We have certain specific needs at each position and they will vary dependent on our present roster and our success with the recruiting we are completing in the High School Class of 2015. We look for people who can run. Speed and change of direction skills are critical at every position on our field. This is something that we evaluate based on your video and at our camps. We look for people who are tough and play the game hard. Our team is a DOWNHILL team in all three phases. Physical and mental toughness are critical to the success of our program. Physical strength is important. This is an attribute that will develop as you mature. Playable Strength is another thing that will show on video and is at times position specific. Ball skills and special skills will be position specific. The more you can do in these parameters the more things you can do on our field. Size and size potential are important as they related to certain positions. Our offensive line averaged 6’4” 295 LBs this year and will continue to be big. Our Defensive Line averaged 6’2” 260LBs. athletic ability in space, movement and lateral quickness are critical in both of these positions. We spend a great deal of time evaluating who you are. The character evaluation is critical in our decision making process. We work to get feedback from people who know you. Your coaches, teachers and guidance counselors are very important to this detailed component of our evaluation. THIS WORLD NEEDS LEADERS. We look for young men who possess certain leadership traits. You do not have to say a word to be a good leader. You have to be willing to prepare, to work hard and to take a stand in doing what is right. Leaders must be able to set the example for what is right, even if what is right might not be the most popular thing on your team, in your school or in your community. WELL DONE IS BETTER THAN WELL SAID. The relationship we have with the young men we recruit and their families is an important part in getting to know one another. We are limited by NCAA regulations in our ability to make contact with you in your school. You are welcome here at any time. I only ask that you let us know when you intend on visiting. Our spring practice is a great time to come and visit. I will send you a schedule once it becomes final. We will have an organized junior day on the date of our spring game as well. If you are able to come to any of our spring practices you will be able to see our players and how they work in practice. You will also see how our coaches approach teaching this game. We offer three, one day camps. This is a great opportunity to showcase your talent as a student-athlete. Our camps are non-contact skills camps. We do not require helmets, only t-shirts, shorts and football shoes and an open mind. Our camp dates and link to the camp registration are included below: We have three camps during the summer of 2015. The dates are as follows: SUNDAY JUNE 7TH SATURDAY JUNE 20TH SATURDAY AUGUST 1ST Our camp brochure can be accessed by using this link: bucknellbison/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=32100&ATCLID=209163261 Our camp evaluation is critical to our final decision making process in creating a class. As an FCS school we do not attend other FCS camps. We do attend some FBS camps but at times the numbers at those camps become prohibitive in our ability to provide you with and honest and thorough evaluation. I hope this information helps you. Please understand that this is an effort to help you to be efficient and successful in the recruiting process. We do it every year. You do it once. It is important that you do what it takes to get it done right. My best to you. Take care, Joe Susan Joseph G. Susan, Jr. The Bob Odell Head Football Coach Football [email protected] 570-577-3057
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 15:09:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015