NC State Basketball Recruiting
North Carolina State University’s basketball program has been at the top of ACC news lately—the season is approaching quickly, and fans can’t wait to see what this team has to bring to the table. NC State has outranked ACC superstars North Carolina and Duke in several preseason polls, and there is a lot of buzz around Mark Gottfried’s successful recruiting efforts.
Needless to say, we feel privileged to be able to film this kind of talent. Last month, we shot footage at Duke, Carolina and NC State basketball practices that will be used to help high school coaches better prepare their young talent for college practices. It’s a big part of our business at In Focus studios, and we love working with athletes at all levels of talent.
Because we work on both sides of the court (pun intended) filming the athletes who play at a high level as well as those working day and night to get there, we wanted to get some worthwhile information for them. Just what does it take to get recruited and where does video footage come into play? NC State director of basketball operations Jeff Dunlap gave us some great insight about what goes into the recruiting process and how film can help young athletes.
As you probably guessed, the bottom line is talent. You’ve got to have the talent if you want video to help you. “First and foremost, you’ve got to be a skilled player,” Dunlap said. “You’ve got to have the skills to be able to compete at a high level within this conference.”
Second—character DOES matter. Dunlap spent a lot of time discussing how valuable character is in the recruiting process.
“Character reference comes into play. Are you coachable? What kind of an attitude do you have when things don’t go your way? Do you play within a team concept or are you an individual? These are huge factors because you’ve got to be careful with who you bring into your locker room as a recruit,” Dunlap said.
While you’re working to fine tune your skills and develop that awesome character that all athletes should have, video can help you “get your foot in the door.” According to Dunlap, it’s really important to start early: that’s where video can become an athlete’s best friend.
“If you’re a young kid—maybe an eighth grader or a ninth grader—we’ll start that young. We’ll find YouTube videos, and we’ll start seeing some skills, some speed and quickness. We’re not going to sign anybody without putting our eyes on you. We’re not going to necessarily recruit you and offer you a scholarship based on video. What video can do is get your foot in the door. We use it for that. No question, we use it for that.”
There you have it. The key to using video is getting to it early. You can use it to get in front of those big schools before the race to the top begins in the later half of high school. Get some great footage of what you’re doing, and—if you can—let someone who knows how to get the best shots do it for you. If you get on recruiters’ radars early enough with video, your team might be one of the first games they visit later on. You never know.
Aside from all recruiting knowledge, we’ll conclude with a little treat for all you NC State fans. As you know, your team has big dreams for this season. Still, it’s doubtful that you can ever get tired of hearing about them.
“I think the goal is to win the national championship. I think all of us share that goal—coaches, players. You’re playing in the best league in the country. You’re playing with some of the best athletes in the sport. If you can put them all together and if the stars are aligned, it’s not an unrealistic dream to go for a national championship,” Dunlap said.
