A college recruiting highlight reel is the single most important piece of your athlete's recruiting profile — and most families get it wrong. Not because they lack talent or effort, but because no one tells them what coaches actually want to see. One athlete in our research sent the same highlight reel to 20 coaches. Fifteen opened the email. Two clicked the video link. She had no idea if her video was bad or if coaches were just busy. That uncertainty is the norm, not the exception. The good news: a well-made highlight reel is one of the few things in the recruiting process that's entirely within your control. Here's how to make one that works.
Why most highlight reels don't work
The fundamental mistake families make is treating a highlight reel like a greatest-hits montage. They compile every spectacular play from three seasons, set it to music, and send a seven-minute video to 50 coaches. The problem: coaches receive hundreds of these. Most won't watch past the first 20–30 seconds. If those seconds don't show what they're looking for, they close the tab and move on.
What coaches are looking for isn't the same as what impresses your family. A parent sees a goal and thinks "incredible." A coach sees that same clip and thinks "was that skill or was the defender out of position?" Coaches evaluate decision-making, positioning, technique under pressure, and athleticism — not just outcomes. A perfectly executed defensive read that prevents a scoring opportunity can be more impressive to a coach than the goal your family celebrates at dinner.
The other common mistake is making a reel that's too generic. A video that tries to appeal to every program appeals to none. A D1 coach evaluating a libero has different priorities than a D3 coach looking for a multi-position athlete. If you don't know what kind of program you're targeting, your reel can't speak to what those coaches need. (Not sure how to narrow it down? See our guide on building a recruiting target list.)
Highlight reel vs. game film — coaches want both
Most families don't realize there are two distinct types of recruiting video, and coaches use them differently.
A highlight reel is a curated compilation of your athlete's best plays — typically 3–5 minutes, 15–25 clips, edited together with simple identification markers. This is the hook. It's what gets a coach interested enough to keep watching. Think of it as the trailer.
Game film is unedited footage of full games or extended sequences of play. This is where coaches do their real evaluation. They want to see how your athlete plays when things aren't going well — how they respond to a bad call, a mistake, a strong opponent. They want body language, communication with teammates, and consistent effort. No highlight reel can show this.
The athletes who get recruited send both. The highlight reel opens the door. The game film is what coaches use to decide whether to invite your athlete to a camp or visit. If a coach asks for game film after watching your highlight reel, that's a strong signal of genuine interest.
At the D2, D3, and NAIA levels, game film often matters more than a polished reel. These coaches have smaller staffs and less time — they'd rather watch two full sets of a volleyball match than a slick three-minute montage. Ask the coaches you're targeting what format they prefer. Some will tell you directly.
What to include in your highlight reel
The first 5 clips are everything.
Most coaches make a judgment within 15–30 seconds. Front-load your strongest, most representative plays — not necessarily your most dramatic ones. A clean first touch under pressure, a smart defensive rotation, or a well-placed serve that shows tactical awareness can be more compelling than a highlight-reel dunk.
Show range, not repetition.
If all 20 clips are goals or kills, a coach learns one thing about your athlete. Mix in defensive plays, transition moments, set pieces, and leadership situations. Coaches want to see a complete player, not a one-dimensional scorer.
Keep it to 3–5 minutes.
For most sports, 15–25 clips is the right range. Shorter is fine if every clip is strong. Longer is a risk — you're betting a coach will watch past the point where most stop.
Identify your athlete clearly.
Start with a title card: name, graduation year, position, jersey number, high school/club team, and contact information. Before each clip, use a simple arrow or circle to identify your athlete. Don't assume the coach knows who they're watching.
Skip the elaborate effects.
No slow motion (unless it reveals technique), no music beds that drown out game audio, no cinematic transitions. Coaches want to evaluate, not be entertained. Clean, simple editing communicates seriousness.
Include clips from competitive play.
A beautiful skill in practice means less than a decent skill against quality opponents. If possible, show your athlete competing against the best competition they've faced — it gives coaches a realistic frame of reference.
Organize by skill type, not chronologically.
Group defensive clips together, offensive clips together, and so on. This helps coaches find what they care about quickly. For sport-specific guidance, ask coaches or look at what successful recruits at your target programs have shared.
How to film and edit without spending a fortune
You don't need professional equipment or expensive editing services. Here's what actually matters:
Filming:
- A smartphone on a tripod, elevated above field/court level, gives coaches the angle they need. Sideline-level filming makes it hard to evaluate positioning and spacing.
- Film full games whenever possible. You can pull highlight clips later, but you can't go back and film a game you missed.
- Record horizontally. Vertical video is unusable for recruiting purposes.
- Audio matters less than stability. A shaky, zoomed-in video is harder to evaluate than a steady, wide-angle shot with mediocre sound.
Editing:
- Free tools work fine. iMovie (Mac), CapCut (mobile), or DaVinci Resolve (free, cross-platform) can handle everything you need.
- Hudl is the industry standard platform for uploading and sharing game film. Many high school and club programs already use it. If yours doesn't, you can create an individual account.
- YouTube (unlisted) works as a free hosting option that's easy to share via link in emails to coaches.
- Add a simple title card and player identification before each clip. That's all the editing most coaches want.
What about professional editing services? Some companies charge $200–$500+ to produce a polished reel. This can be worth it if your family genuinely lacks the time or technical skills — but production quality is not what coaches evaluate. A clean, well-organized reel you make yourself is just as effective. Coaches care about the athlete, not the editor.
How to get your video in front of coaches
Making a great reel is half the job. The other half is distribution.
Include the link in every coach email.
When you email a college coach, the video link should be prominent — not buried in a paragraph. Put it on its own line. Make it a direct link (not a link to your profile on a recruiting platform where the coach has to click again to find the video).
Upload to your recruiting profile.
If you're on Hudl, NCSA, or another platform, make sure the video is current. But don't rely on the platform to get coaches to watch — most coaches receive so many profiles that yours will get lost in the noise unless you're proactively reaching out.
Update regularly.
A reel from freshman year won't get your athlete recruited as a junior. Update the reel at least once per season with current footage. When you email a coach, mention that the video is recent — "Here's my updated highlight reel from the fall 2026 season" tells the coach the content is worth their time.
Tailor when it matters.
If you're targeting a specific program and you know they need a center back, lead with your best center back clips. You don't need a custom reel for every school, but for your top 5–10 programs, reordering clips to match what they're looking for can make a difference.
How to know if your video is working
This is the part no one talks about: what to do when you send your reel and hear nothing back.
Use email tracking.
Services like Mailtrack or email tracking built into recruiting platforms can tell you whether a coach opened your email and clicked the video link. This data turns a black box into something you can diagnose.
If coaches open but don't click:
Your email is the problem, not the video. The subject line or body copy isn't compelling enough to make them watch. Revisit how to email a coach and make the video link more prominent.
If coaches click but don't respond:
The video may not be showing what they need. Ask a coach you have a relationship with (high school, club, or a college coach you've met at a camp) for honest feedback. "What would you want to see differently?" is a question most coaches will answer if you ask directly.
If nobody opens at all:
You're emailing the wrong coaches, or your emails are going to spam. Make sure you're targeting programs where your athlete is a realistic fit and that your email is going to a coach's direct address, not a generic recruiting inbox.
One parent in our research described the exhausting cycle: filming every weekend, editing every week, updating profiles constantly, and still getting no response. The recruiting process when you're not a top-tier prospect is relentless. But the athletes who get recruited through film aren't necessarily the most talented — they're the ones whose families figured out what coaches want to see and put it in front of the right people at the right time.
The bottom line
A recruiting highlight reel is a tool with a specific job: get a coach interested enough to watch more. It doesn't need to be professionally produced. It doesn't need music or effects. It needs to show — clearly and quickly — that your athlete has skills a college program can use.
Make the reel short, front-load the best clips, include game film alongside it, and send it directly to coaches at programs where your athlete is a realistic fit. Then pay attention to the data. If coaches aren't watching, fix the delivery. If they're watching but not responding, fix the content. The reel is never finished — it's a living document that improves as your athlete improves.
If you're still figuring out how the recruiting process works or which division level fits your athlete, start there — knowing where you're aiming makes every decision about your highlight reel easier. And when your reel is ready, our guide on how to email a college coach walks through exactly how to get it in front of the right people.