How many FBS FCS players have you coached

I don't think there has ever been a year that I coached varsity football that there werent at least a couple of future D1 players on the roster.

They just need a chance, Coach! People been sleeping on them! 😂

HAHA

That being written, I am serious. Every varsity team I have ever coached has had at least 2 kids that ended up playing D1. Mind you that doesnt mean that every graduating class has had that. I coached a team a few years back that had 4 sophomores that ended up going D1, but no seniors on that level. 

In just 5 years coaching D2/D3 college football you had that many players either drop down or move up? 

In my years of coaching Div 1AA ( prior to the name change) I don't think we had anyone drop down to D2/D3.   Had several come from D1 down to 1AA, and 1 that I can remember that slipped through the cracks to us at 1AA but after his Frosh year, some backchanneling between his old HS coach and some D1 schools resulted in him sitting out a year to join a Div 1 program. 

I marked yearly, but that is not accurate. I am at least one 70% of the years. But I am averaging more than one per year.

NOT at my current school but at a previous stop… And this sounds outlandish. But it is indeed true.

We had THREE kids sign with Florida State.
The next year we had kids sign at Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri, Houston.

I changed jobs and that year we had kids sign with Baylor, TCU, and Nebraska.

For some reason I am always a way better coach when I have those type of guys!

I graduated high school in 2005. started coaching varsity football in 2006. From 2011-2015 I coached 3 D1 FBS players, one who started 5 years at Michigan State, one who started at Maryland until their coach was "associated" (PC phrase) with the death of a young man during summer conditioning, and one at a MAC school. 2 of them played in those national All-American games which was pretty cool. I thought that was the norm when you coach at a "big school" (high school of 1500+). I became a "permanent" Head Coach for the first time in 2015-2019 (I had been an interim Head Coach in 2010 at a bad school), and never had one of those type of kids. I currrently coach at my alma mater now, and MAYBE , just MAYBE we have a young man who breathed-slept-lived football, he could be a D1 FBS player based on my experience but he does not.

From what I have been told by several D2 and D3 coaches who come through our school to visit. Due to the transfer portal/NIL , everything is cycling down. You will start to see less true high school-to-FBS athletes unless they are THAT good. D2 becomes the "MAC/Sunbelt" D1 type kids, and so on. Many lower level colleges are even recruiting as "hey we will offer you a scholarship, we will help you do great here so you can transfer to "FBS University' and get that NIL money". Some of the these coaches are actually 2nd generation college coaches and have told me they hate this mentality but that is the reality of college football now so they are embracing it.

What I have also heard is a trend is D3/smaller D2 schools going to NAIA and more JUCOs adding football (I am guessing cuase of the popularity of the transfer portal?). Crazy times for sure!

I can verify this.  Unless you are just a straight up dude that can 'wow' on film or dominate a camp, a kid's best best is to find a lower level school and ball out for a couple of years.

FBS schools are no longer looking for kids to develop, they want someone who is product that can help them win.  The old 'red shirt' year is a thing of the past.

Multiple coaches have come through the office stating this to some degree or another.  We are already having these conversations with our kids with potential about what paths they need to take.

Just had a kid get his first FBS offers. It’ll be year 9 and that’s my first kid with that offer. RB. I don’t think he’s the best RB I’ve coached or the best pure RB on our team at the moment either.

1 OL FBS. 1 OL FCS. 1 DL FCS. 1 QB FCS. 2 OL D2. 1 TE D2. 1 K FBS. 1 K D2. 5 play D3, 2 play JC, and 2 play NAIA. All through a 50 year career. Had 4 end up going into teaching/coaching.

Years ago we had like 10 or 12 all with in 3 classes. Was fun to be part of. Also made me think I knew it all as a young coach. Now I realize we had almost nothing to do with the success of those teams. Couldn't imagine coaching that talent now with all the experience over the years.

After that run not sure I have coached a D 1 player. Those classes were 2000-2003.

I have coached for over 20 years and only coached 2 athletes that made it to that level of college football. Of those 2 one did not make it. He was slated to go to Marshall and was at a "field party" and jumped into a pond, that was too shallow, and broke his neck. He was paralyzed from the chest down and never recovered. So I guess technically my number is only 1 kid. I've coached 1 D2 guy and several D3 and NAIA guys, but even then it's not much. Now I was an analyst for a program that put a few kids into D1 football, but I don't really consider being an analyst "coaching".

Been a HC for 4 years, 2 D-1 players have graduated from our school during that time, may have another one this coming year. One was Group of 5 and after 2 years transferred to FCS school. The other was P5. During that same time, a couple of D2 kids, and a handful of kids with D3 opportunities, honestly though, out of the D3 kids, so far only 1 has actually went and made it through a season.

Previous stop probably had slightly more talent. We were probably having a kid sign to a D2 or higher level every year. Alot of them were FCS or Group of 5, only a handful of what we now consider P5 kids. I was there for 19 seasons as an asst.

I've never coached an FBS kid. Had a handful of FCS kids over my 14 years of coaching. If anyone has gone on to play, it's been mostly D3 and NAIA.

The first FBS athlete I will get to coach might be in our freshmen class currently.