The generic advice for emailing college coaches applies to football — be specific, include film, personalize the message. But football has structural differences that make the generic version inadequate. The coaching staff is larger and more specialized than in any other sport. The film requirements are position-specific in ways that don't exist in soccer or volleyball. And the sheer volume of emails that football coaches receive — hundreds per day at FBS programs during peak recruiting — means the first email has to be formatted for a 10-second skim, not a careful read.
If you've read our guide to how to email a college coach, you have the framework. This article gives you the football-specific version: who on the staff to actually email, what film to send by position, and how outreach expectations differ at FBS, FCS, D2, and D3.
This is where football diverges most from every other sport. A soccer program might have two or three coaches. An FBS football program has a head coach, offensive and defensive coordinators, eight or more position coaches, a recruiting coordinator, and a director of player personnel. Emailing the wrong person doesn't mean your message gets forwarded — it means it gets lost.
FBS programs (Power Four and Group of Five):
Email your athlete's position coach. At major FBS programs, every assistant coach doubles as a regional recruiter assigned to a geographic territory. The linebackers coach who covers Texas is the person who needs to see your linebacker's film. Find the position coach on the program's staff directory page — most list titles, and many list recruiting territories. If you can't determine who covers your region, email the recruiting coordinator as a secondary contact. Do not cold-email the head coach at a Power Four program. The message will be handled by staff, and you'll have missed the person who actually makes the initial evaluation.
FCS programs:
FCS staffs are smaller — typically 10 full-time assistants compared to FBS's larger roster. Position coaches still exist but carry heavier recruiting loads. Email the position coach directly, and CC or separately email the recruiting coordinator. The head coach is more accessible at FCS than FBS and may actually read your email.
D2 programs:
D2 staffs are significantly smaller. There may not be a dedicated recruiting coordinator. Email the head coach directly — at D2, head coaches are typically hands-on in recruiting and evaluation. You can also email the position coach if one is listed, but the head coach is your primary target.
D3 programs:
Email the head coach. At D3, the head coach handles most recruiting personally and is often the only full-time football staff member. No need to identify a position coach or recruiting coordinator — go directly to the person making decisions.
Every element in this template exists to survive a 30-second scan from a coach processing hundreds of messages.
Subject line: [Name] | [Grad Year] | [Position] | [Height] [Weight] | [Key Measurable or Stat] | Hudl Link
Examples:
Jake Martinez | 2027 | OLB | 6'2" 215 | 4.55 40 | 3.8 GPA2027 OL | 6'5" 285 | First-Team All-State | Marcus Johnson
Football subject lines differ from other sports because measurables matter immediately. A coach scanning a linebacker's email decides whether to open it partly based on height, weight, and speed visible in the subject line. Include them.
Email body:
Coach [Last Name],
My name is [First Last], a [graduation year] [position] at [High School] in [City, State]. I'm [height], [weight], and play in the [conference/league].
I'm reaching out because [one specific, genuine reason you're interested in this program — their defensive scheme, a recent season result, an academic program, a coach's background].
Film: [Direct Hudl link]
Key stats (most recent season):
- [Position-specific stats: tackles/sacks for defense, yards/TDs for offense, completion %/TD-INT for QBs]
- [Verified measurables: 40 time (note if electronic or hand-timed), shuttle, bench/squat for linemen]
Academics:
- GPA: [weighted/unweighted]
- SAT/ACT: [score]
- NCAA ID: [if registered]
Upcoming schedule: [Next 2-3 games with opponents, dates, and locations]
My high school coach is [Name], and he can be reached at [email] or [phone].
Thank you for your time, Coach.
[Full Name]
[Phone Number]
[Email Address]
Two football-specific notes. First, including your high school coach's contact information isn't optional in football — it's expected. College coaches routinely call high school coaches to verify what they see on film and get an honest character evaluation. Leaving it out slows the process and raises questions. Second, the upcoming schedule gives a coach who's interested an immediate action item: come watch you play.
Football film requirements are position-specific in ways no other sport replicates. A quarterback highlight and a defensive lineman highlight are evaluated on completely different criteria.
General film rules (all positions):
- Keep highlights to 3 to 5 minutes maximum. Coaches make a judgment within the first 4 to 5 plays. Front-load your strongest, most representative clips.
- Include clips from multiple games against different opponents. A highlight reel stacked entirely from one blowout against a weak team is a red flag.
- Use an arrow or circle to identify your athlete before each play. Start each clip a couple seconds before the snap so coaches can see alignment and pre-snap reads.
- No slow motion, no music beds that obscure game audio, no cinematic effects. Coaches are evaluating, not being entertained.
- Make full game film available on your Hudl profile alongside the highlight. Coaches who are seriously interested will watch full games.
Quarterbacks:
Show plays where your athlete works through progressions — hitting the second or third read, not just wide-open first reads. Include fade patterns, comeback routes, zone reads, bootleg play fakes, and throws into tight windows. Coaches want to evaluate decision-making and pocket awareness, not just arm strength on wide-open receivers. Include at least one or two scramble plays that show awareness before running — not just athletic scrambles, but moments where the quarterback read the pressure and made a decision.
Offensive linemen:
Full game film matters more than highlights for linemen. Show consistent hand placement, ability to sustain blocks through the whistle, reach blocks to the second level, and pass protection sets. Include pulling plays and combo blocks. Technique and effort on every snap matter more than spectacular pancake blocks. Coaches evaluate linemen by watching 20 consecutive snaps, not curated highlights.
Wide receivers and tight ends:
Route precision and separation on contested catches. Yards after catch. Willingness to block downfield — this is the detail that separates serious recruits from highlight-reel athletes. Include catches in traffic and plays where your athlete created separation on a well-run route, even if it wasn't the throw.
Defensive backs:
Coverage skills in both man and zone. Break on the ball. Tackling in space. Include plays where your athlete is in great position even when the ball doesn't come their way — coaches evaluate coverage technique regardless of whether the play was a pass to that side.
Linebackers:
Downhill run fits, coverage drops, blitz wins, and tackling technique. Show range sideline to sideline. Include pursuit angles on plays away from your athlete — effort and motor show up in the pursuit, not just the tackle.
Defensive linemen:
First-step quickness, hand usage, ability to hold the point of attack, and pass-rush moves. Motor on every play matters — include clips where your athlete fights through a double team or makes a play 10 yards downfield after a hard pursuit.
For the complete guide to building a recruiting highlight reel across all sports, see our highlight reel guide.
FBS vs. FCS vs. D2 vs. D3: how outreach expectations differ
The division your athlete targets changes not just who to email but what to expect from the process.
| Level | Who to email | Expected response rate | What drives results |
|---|
| FBS (Power Four) | Position coach + area recruiter | Low without camp exposure or coach referral | Camps, high school coach calls, elite measurables |
| FBS (Group of Five) | Position coach + recruiting coordinator | Moderate — more receptive to direct outreach | Film quality, verified measurables, academic profile |
| FCS | Position coach + recruiting coordinator | Higher — FCS coaches actively discover via email | Direct outreach, film, and follow-up persistence |
| D2 | Head coach directly | Highest among scholarship-offering levels | Athlete-initiated contact, film, academic strength |
| D3 | Head coach directly | Highest overall — coaches need athletes to find them | Fit (academic, geographic, program culture) |
At FBS, email alone is rarely sufficient. Your high school coach needs to make calls on your athlete's behalf, and attending the program's camp provides the in-person evaluation that moves a recruit from "interesting email" to "real prospect." At FCS, email is a primary and effective tool — many FCS recruits are discovered through direct outreach rather than recruiting services. At D2 and D3, your outreach email may be the single most important step in the entire recruiting process. These coaches have smaller staffs, tighter budgets, and fewer scouting resources. The athlete who makes a coach's job easier by putting quality information directly in their inbox has a genuine advantage.
Don't read silence as rejection — especially at FBS and FCS, where coaches are processing enormous volumes of email during peak recruiting periods.
Follow up once after 7 to 10 days. Reference your original email, ask if they had a chance to review your film, and bring something new: updated stats, an upcoming game against a strong opponent, or a new Hudl clip.
Update coaches after strong performances. A Friday night game where your athlete had 3 sacks against a playoff opponent is worth a Saturday morning email with the Hudl clip. Timeliness matters — coaches are watching film over the weekend.
Space ongoing communication every 2 to 3 weeks. Each follow-up should include new, substantive information — updated stats, new film, improved test scores, camp attendance, or playoff schedule. "Just checking in" without new content reads as noise.
Read the patterns. If your athlete has emailed 30 programs at a specific level with thoughtful follow-ups and received zero responses after 6 to 8 weeks, that's meaningful data. The division targeting may be too high, the film may not demonstrate what coaches need, or the measurables may not fit what those programs recruit. Recalibrating the target list in junior year beats discovering a mismatch in senior year. For more on interpreting coach behavior, see our guide to reading college coach signals.
The bottom line
Football recruiting rewards the family that understands which level they're targeting and adjusts every part of their outreach accordingly. Who you email, what film you send, what measurables you include, and how aggressively you follow up — all of it changes based on whether you're contacting a Power Four program or a D3 coach.
The email itself is not a lottery ticket. It's a tool. Used well — position-specific film, correct coach on the staff, verified measurables, genuine personalization — it opens conversations that lead to campus visits, scholarship offers, and roster spots. Used poorly — generic template, wrong coach, inflated numbers, no follow-up — it disappears into an inbox that already has hundreds of messages just like it.
For the full overview of football recruiting across all divisions — timelines, scholarships, and how coaches evaluate at each level — our football recruiting guide covers the complete landscape. For the general principles behind coach communication that apply across every sport, our complete guide to emailing a college coach has the full framework. And when coaches do start responding, understanding what their signals mean will help you figure out which conversations are real and which are polite non-answers.