How To Get Recruited For College Football, Scouting & Recruiting

"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)

"During the high school football scouting process, you might start to notice some differences between high school and college football. One thing that I notice that is different for me from high school to college football is the speed of the game is faster. Everyone is faster, even the big guys. Your 'O' line, your 'D' line, your linebackers, your tight-end - everyone's bigger. They're all bigger and they're all faster. Wide-receivers are a lot quicker. That's one thing that I noticed in high school football scouting.

Because of that one fact that everyone's bigger faster and stronger than they were in high school, you have to become a student of the game. What that means is that you're going to spend just as much time watching film, learning plays, and running through plays as you do in school - because that's how you get the edge. It's a whole new level of play - after high school scouting - once you get to the college football level, especially if it's a D1 level.

One way that faith and your beliefs will play into college football: You have to have a strong belief in yourself and you have to have faith that things are going to work out the way that they're supposed to, even when the don't. You have to be ready for the worst, but you have to hope for the best. Believe in yourself, know that you can do whatever you want to do, no matter what anybody tells you. If somebody tells you that you can't do something that should give you more of a drive to do it and to make yourself better." -Jayson Rego (Running back for the University of Hawaii)

"The junior college football recruiting process isn't much different from that of the bigger schools. You shouldn't feel bad looking into junior college football recruiting. I started out looking into junior colleges and later on, towards the end of my senior season I was fortunate enough to be recruited by the University of Hawaii as well as Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

There are a lot of high school athletes that aspire to play at the Division 1 level and currently aren't getting looks from the Division I schools. Some of them are only getting looks from junior colleges, and some aren't getting any looks at all. My biggest piece of advise would be: don't be discouraged. I know a lot of athletes who took the long route, or developed later, or were just overlooked by coaches that didn't see their talent - and they went to play at junior colleges and persevered through it all - and now they're playing professionally.

If it's something that you really want to do it can be done. Whether you're interested in a bigger school or the junior college football recruiting process, you have to work hard. Hard work beats out talent when talent doesn't work hard. There is no substitution for hard work." -Inoke Funaki (Quarterback for the University of Hawaii)