On Jan. 26, junior Drew Esper received a Division 1 (D1) offer to play football at Eastern Michigan University due to his hard work and dedication to the sport. D1 is the highest rank in which you can play a college sport sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Drew also received offers from UPenn and Central Michigan University. Because D. Esper is only a junior, he has a while to try and put more work in, stand out and receive many more offers, and there is no doubt that they will stop anytime soon.
“Drew has an extremely high focus to attention to detail, and he’s very disciplined to his habits he creates,” head football coach James Wagner said.
This trait D. Esper carries is effective in many ways to the recruiting process. Coaches long for these capabilities within athletes.
“Coaching Drew is a privilege and an honor and it’s been really fun with his level of IQ about the game of football,” Wagner said.
Not only does being knowledgeable about the game make it more fun, it also makes it easier to see through the opponent’s game plan.
“[He got] the game-sealing interception against Traverse City Central his sophomore year. [That] was also my first win and experience beating Central,” Wagner said.
Being a junior, D. Esper has plenty of time to keep working and add on to his list of offers. Implementing strategies to get offers will increase chances of receiving them.
“Drew has worked hard in and out of season to try to be decent at football and be a good teammate. From a recruiting perspective, he’s made films, filled out questionnaires, traveled to college camps, sent emails and DMs and [has] gone on visits. His relationship with the staff at Eastern started at a camp last June and they’ve stayed in touch since then,” dad of D. Esper and principal Joe Esper said.
Building relationships is one of the main factors to receiving scholarships. This process may be a bit nerve racking for some, but it makes you improve on some skills.
“Drew is fairly quiet and humble, but you can’t be recruited if you aren’t able to market yourself, talk to adults you don’t know yet [or be] very organized,” J. Esper said.
People waiting to hear back from schools are advised to be patient but stay determined and don’t take anything the wrong way.
“Drew has a list of schools he wants to play at and is constantly messaging the coaches and analysts from those schools. College coaches get thousands of messages a week and you have to be persistent because their lack of response is not always a lack of interest; they literally may not have looked at your film yet […] so try again,” J. Esper said.
D. Esper is not only influenced to put in work by himself. He has other people that push him daily as well.
“My whole team pushes me to be my best,” D. Esper said.
This is why taking high school slow is a great thing to do before moving onto the next level. The bond and relationships high school sports foster are greater than any higher level could offer. Thinking too much about the recruiting process can be stressful and can cause one to overlook their high school experience.
“Drew has a great group of teammates.They make him better and he’s just enjoying playing high school sports with his friends and trying to win championships. Even if you go to the next level, the relationships will never be like the ones you have in middle and high school. I think Drew is enjoying the moment and not trying to fast forward to what’s next. I think all of the athletes, boys and girls, in our current classes are like that. There will be a number that play at the next level, but they are just enjoying the game they are in right now,” J. Esper said.
