Below is a letter we received from one of our parents. It is always awesome to see how we can support a young athlete in achieving their goal.

As parents of a student athlete, we were lost when it came to the recruiting process. Our son Drew was a sophomore and thrusted into a starting role on the High School Varsity football squad. He found success and played at the highest level in Oklahoma High School football. We set down with Drew and he expressed the desire to play football at the collegiate level.  We started to reach out to friends, trainers, and his high school coaches for any information about recruiting. We were given general information and learned that we were basically on our own to figure out the process.

Our family attended a seminar at a local gym for football prospects and was introduced to Bryan Bedford. We learned that he had coached at multiple collegiate levels and was sharing valuable information about the recruiting process. Bryan was very informational and transparent about the rare opportunity of playing football at the next level. Bryan gave a basic plan towards recruiting. That summer we took his advice and attempted to apply what he had said. Drew attended football camps at the Division 1 and 2 level but we still were not sure if we were approaching the process correctly. Before our son’s junior year, we made the decision to contact Bryan for assistance. Bryan met with our family and completed an honest and transparent evaluation of Drew. Drew is an offensive lineman with extreme talent but not division 1 size. Bryan gave us a plan and advised us on steps to take in the process. We committed as a family to “follow the plan” precisely as Bryan instructed.

Drew was now a junior and actively reaching out to coaches through social media and email. Drew was on the radar and receiving attention from smaller schools. Drew grew in strength and skill and established himself as one of the top offensive linemen in his class. Bryan continued to guide us and decipher feed back from schools. Prior to the start of Drew’s senior year, he started to receive scholarship offers and the recruiting process took off. Bryan was available for multiple phone calls and emails. Bryan’s knowledge assisted us with planning for summer camps and understanding the coaches’ perspective during recruiting.

Drew had several scholarship opportunities going into his senior year. Drew had established himself as one of the top linemen in 6A. Drew started to gain interest from smaller division 1 schools. Bryan reminded us (parents) to encourage Drew not to focus on recruiting but enjoying his senior year in football. Bryan continued to monitor Drew’s success and was always available for conference calls, texts, or emails. Bryan updated us on rule changes and requirements on recruiting. As Drew finished his senior year, he had become a hot recruit in the Division 2 level and was in the process of making a decision on what school to attend. Our family relied on advice from Bryan two years prior from our initial meeting, “Stay within the 8 Hour window” and “Your not making a decision for 4 years but 40 years”. Drew received a scholarship and signed his National Letter of Intent in February 2018. Drew received several post-season awards and led his team on and off the field. I believe Bryan was instrumental in helping Drew achieve his goal to play college football. I highly recommend the Bedford Agency for any recruiting assistance.

– Adam and Cassi

For decades the first Wednesday in February was the holy grail of college football recruiting.  On that day kids and families would have their lives “officially” transformed forever as they signed a National Letter of Intent with the NCAA or NAIA and a Financial Aid agreement with the university they planned to attend.  This normally occurred after months of active recruiting, official visits, calls, mail, fax (gosh, who remembers that), text messages and of course now via social media.  Well that has changed when the NCAA in collaboration with the America Football Coaches Association (AFCA) agreed to add an “early” signing date, of which occurs Dec. 20, 2018.  For most this might not mean a lot, but for those going through it (coaches, players and families) this year has created quite a sense of urgency.

Let me explain! You see, in 2018, the cart is really coming before the horse in some cases.  What does that mean?  Well, normally a prospect and his family sort out their official visits (the time when you do a deep inspection of the university, coaches and program) after their senior season  (in some cases its been during the season), well this year the clock is sped up so much that in some case (take Texas High School Football), they will play the State Championship Football game AFTER the early national signing date in 2018.   So again, for those 1-3% of the country getting actively recruited by a major college university the clock is really sped up to make a decision.  This goes away in 2019 to some degree with the addition of Spring Official visits, but in 2018, its caused some serious anxiety.

Now, for those kids the won’t sign on Dec. 20th, 2018, the race to fill the rest of the major college class will be a sprint to February and the rest of the IAA, D2, NAIA and DIII schools will be eagerly lining up official visits in mad fashion during the month of Jan.  For more news and tips on college recruiting and how we advise families on this important process, contact the Bedford Agency at bryanpaulbedford@gmail.com or on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube by searching for @BedfordAgency.

Thanks,

Bryan Bedford, Managing Director, Bedford Agency