You just finished your high school football season and have to finalize your highlight video before posting it on social media and distributing it to college football coaches. Your team played 12 to 14 games, you have a lot of highlights, and you have little to no experience putting videos together. This is a scenario that 99% of high school football prospects face at the end of the season. When you get to this point, a common question almost always comes up.
How long should my highlight video be?
I would be a rich man if I had a dime for every time this question has come up over the last 25 years. I have heard a lot of different answers on this topic. If you make it the wrong way, it could cost you a scholarship opportunity.
The old-school myth is to make a three to four-minute video. I hear this all the time and shake my head. Another player got bad advice. I do not agree with this philosophy.
If you follow this advice, college coaches will have question marks about you.
The first question will be: Are those all the highlights you have for a full season, and you played 12 games? The top-tier college prospects will have more highlights beyond three to four minutes. Don’t let them question whether or not you had a great season based on a limited number of clips. Don’t ever let them think that this is all you have.
The other main question is: Is three or four minutes of video enough for a college coach to decide on a prospect? It may be for a few, but more is needed for the majority.
What is the conclusion from these two questions, and following this philosophy? College coaches will say 3-4 minutes is not enough video to make a decision, and a large percentage of the time, they move on to the next prospect.
After 25 years of making highlight videos and getting feedback from college coaches, I suggest showing everything you have. As long as they are quality highlights, don’t limit yourself to a specific time. Let each college coach decide how much video he wants to watch.
College coaches will turn the video off after 1-2 minutes for kids they don’t feel can play at their level. Coaches will watch every last second of players they like, even if it is 10 minutes or longer. A longer video reinforces that you made a lot of plays during the season. It shows consistency and that you were a standout in your local area. You want college coaches to feel confident about you and want to learn more about you.
Another reason for a longer video is it allows you to show a variety of plays multiple times. Let’s use a running back as an example. A complete video would show several plays showcasing his speed turning the corner, catching balls out of the backfield, pass blocking, shiftiness in traffic, and power running between the tackles. A 3-minute video wouldn’t allow this.
If you don’t show a variety of highlight examples in your video, coaches may assume you can’t do it, leaving a big question mark in your overall evaluation.
Don’t shortchange yourself if you had an amazing season. Put all your highlights on your video and give them everything. It is better to show it all and let them decide when to turn it off. Don’t listen to the myths or someone who doesn’t understand the process.
For more recruiting tips and information, please check out our 54-page EBook. A Step-by-Step Guide to Create the Perfect Recruiting Highlight Video.
