Get Recruited For Football - How To Play

"Some advice that I would give to kids that want to get recruited for football coming out of high school going into college: I'd tell them to work hard and make sure your grades are up - that's the most important thing, and it's the first thing that colleges look at. Other than your athletic ability they're going to check up with your GPA, your grades, what's up with that. Going into your senior year of high school I'd focus on that a lot, especially if you want to get recruited for football.

And then, also, heading into your freshmen year of college - the important thing is to work hard. When I was in college, the two things that I would tell myself are:

1. 'Do you want to be a hero or a zero' - and that means: do you want to take the easy way or the hard way. The hard way is to be a hero, and the easy way is to be a zero - to be a nobody. And so I'd always tell myself to be a hero: do things that are out of the ordinary, do things that are extraordinary. Let's say the team starts working out at 7:00am, I'd get there at 6:00am and get an hour extra. Because I know that if I'm doing it you've got to believe that someone else out there is doing the same thing as me. So you can never work too hard.

2. My dad used to always tell me 'winning is everything because the losers go home and cry' and you know, that's the mentality I had throughout my entire athletic career. You've got to win, and in order to win you've got to have that state of mind that if you lose it's the end. Because winners go on to be bigger, better, more successful and get recruited for football, and losers - they go home." -Jayson Rego (Running back for the University of Hawaii)

"One saying that is always in the back of my mind - that I always think about is - 'don't give up what you want most for what you want now'. And I know, for me, I want to play college football - I knew that college was something that I wanted to do, I wanted to get a college degree. And if there was a way that I could get it paid for through football, if it was able to help me get a scholarship to pay for it, then that would be a huge blessing, and a big plus - not only for myself, but also for my family it would help out financially. It definitely meant a lot of sacrifices, but I wanted to play college football.

If what you want most is to play college football, or maybe even at the professional level, don't give it up for temporary things right now. Which might mean going and hanging out with friends all the time - not that it's bad to hang out with friends, but you shouldn't do it excessively. You should be going to the weight-room or taking care of your school work, doing those things that will help you to get to the next level, making those sacrifices. If you do those things, then you'll be able to accomplish your goals, so always keep in mind what you want most, and I think that's what has helped me even until now - I always try to set goals, and sometimes there will be temporary things that seem fun that I want to do at the moment, but if it's not helping me work towards my goal of finishing school or becoming a coach, (maybe for you it's becoming an athlete at the college level), then just think twice about the decisions that you make." -Inoke Funaki (Quarterback for the University of Hawaii)

"Football's pretty big in the community where I grew up, and so I always focused on how to get recruited for college football. I didn't think that I would be able to play at a division I. I guess I always saw myself - because I saw my brothers playing at a smaller college - that I would also play at a smaller college. But, fortunately for me, the University of Hawaii and some other schools came around toward the end of my senior season.

School is definitely very important to focus on. If you don't have the academics, if you're not taking care of school right now (at the high-school level) - as much as any coach would want to recruit you, or bring you to their college, they won't be able to if you don't have the grades to be eligible. So that's always been a big priority of mine.

Something that my parents have always emphasized to me is 'School first'. Also continue to work on your skill - whatever sport it may be - as an athlete. You can be the greatest athlete in the world, but if you don't have the grades to get you into college then it's going to be an unfortunate circumstance. School is a very important part of how to get recruited for college football. Definitely take care of school as you continue to develop yourself in your sport." -Inoke Funaki (Quarterback for the University of Hawaii)