The concept of Fourth and Goal Ballers began in early 2009. There was a high school football player, whom I never met, from my home town that was a very good player and no colleges were recruiting him. I did a little research and discovered that his coaches were not trying to assist him in playing football at the next level. I was disgusted. Here is a kid that has come to practice for a coach for the last several years, and good enough to play football on the college level, and his high school coach can't even make a phone call and ask a college coach to come and evaluate the kid? I knew the talent level in the town, even though small, and I knew that I had to do something. I knew that we had gotten off to a late start, because college coaches begin identifying college prospects as early as their freshman year of high school and here we are at the end of the kids senior year of high school. However, I believed this kid could play and just deserved an opportunity to play. So, my video team made him a highlight video and we sent it off to several hundred college coaches. When I began to hear back from the coaches, I knew I was on to something. Even though many of the schools were out of scholarship money, the coaches were impressed with the kid's athletic ability. Finally, after several weeks of emailing and calling college coaches, he got his first scholarship offer from a NAIA school in Oklahoma. They offered to pay for his out of state tuition and with the money he received from Pell Grant, he was getting all of his education covered!
I had graduated from my high school in 1991 and went on to play football at a Division II school my freshman year. One of my teammates and myself were the first players to sign football scholarships in many years in our town. However, our talent level had never changed and it still has not. We always had talented players, the difference was we finally had a coach who was an advocate for his players. The thought of playing football in college never even crossed my mind until he approached me midway through my senior year. He made some calls to a few schools and my recruiting process started. The following year, our high school had 3 Division I prospects. The year after that, they had the best defensive back in the state and a finalist for Mr. Football in Alabama. This kind of talent was coming from a small town with 3 traffic lights! I had taken for granted having high school coach who was proactive in getting his players recruited. The years after he left, the number of players signing scholarships steadily declined. Until now, they have 4 major college prospects and several small college prospects. The difference now, is that the players are getting their highlight videos done and sent off to college coaches earlier in the process.
I had grown tired of hearing of countless high school athletes who never got the opportunity to play sports at the college level. As I began researching athletic services, I discovered that there are companies that charge exorbitant amounts of money and may or may not be good at achieving results. I realized there was a real need for a quality, cost effective service that helps student athletes market themselves for college scholarship opportunities. I have always possessed a passion for football and helping others. I knew that many high school coaches don't know where to begin themselves when it comes to recruiting. I knew that contacting colleges and coaches can be extremely cumbersome. I knew that football was some of these students only means of getting an education. I knew that many of these kids had come from disadvantaged backgrounds. I knew that these kids would need mentoring throughout their college careers. I knew that these kids would need assistance with preparation of admission packets and financial aid forms. I knew that most parents don't understand all the in's and out's of the recruiting process. I knew that many of these kids were left to fend for themselves after their high school coaches had used up their eligibility. In football terminology, I knew it was "FOURTH DOWN AND GOAL TO GO!"
I put together a team of former college and profession players who shared my vision for seeing high school athletes continue playing at the next level and graduate from college.Our years of college and professional playing and coaching experience, knowledge of the recruiting process, and our personal and professional contacts with college coaches is what separates us from the other recruiting services. We take pride in working to hard to gain top sports scholarship offers for our student athletes. We don’t guarantee them scholarship offers. However, we ensure that hundreds of college coaches will view our athletes' profile and view their videos. As former college and professional athletes, we know exactly what coaches are looking for, and developed a database of every coach, in every sport, at the NCAA FBS and FCS Subdivisions, Division II, Division III, NCAAJC, and NAIA levels. We provide a full range of services that will guide our athletes throughout the entire recruiting process and maximize results. No other recruiting service in the country offers every thing we offer for the prices that we offer them.
We are different from other sports recruiting services, in that, we are a non-profit organization. That means, when people use or support our service, they also help athletes who come from disadvantage backgrounds get to college and graduate from college. Our services will always be high quality, cost effective, and TAX DEDUCTIBLE.
