As both a college player and a college coach for a while I would say some of the points brought up here are excellent.
The number one thing a player needs to understand (and not just seniors, but juniors as well) is you need to hit certain pre-requisites before entertaining thoughts on college. The most important of these have nothing to do with your actual football ability.
1) You have to have the correct core classes to even be cleared by the clearinghouse. Now I am not sure what the current requirements are, but a school counselor/college prep person (if your school has one) should know or be willing to find out that information. If not, I would either look up or call someone to ask for materials explaining what classes are needed and how many of them.
2) You have to have the GPA/ACT/SAT requirements of the school to even have a chance. That means being prepared to possibily take the ACT/SAT more than once which means being prepared early. If you can't get into the school of your choice (regardless of level) it doesn't matter what you can or can't do on a football field.
3) No matter how much you love football or just want to play, you have to find a school that fits what you want to do with your life. If they don't know or are unsure, that is fine, but if they do know you need to be prepared for life after football.
Once you have all the pre-requisites taken care of then you can start to think about what playing college football means to the player.
If you don't meet the pre-requisites, your player might have to consider the Junior College route. Some players even go the junior college route as a way to prove their worthiness. I can post more about that option later if people are interested.
1) Is the chance to play the most important thing, or is the level of competition what you seek?
Almost any kid (within reason) who wants to a chance to play college football can do so somewhere. Obviously a 130 LB kid who wants to play DT, probably won't make it. Or a kid with no athletic talent that is sitting at the end of your bench won't make it. If the kid has some ability and a lot of desire, there is a place for them in college football.
Like someone said, most D1 coaches by the time a kid is a senior will have known for a while who/what type of kid they want. DII,DIII, NAIA, that is a different story. They look for potential and for more role players that might have limitations in size, speed, potential, or whatever keeping them from D1. Small schools have to project many players, so they will gamble more on potential ability and the "solid" player who isn't a star, but has shown productivity or attitude.
The kid has to make a choice. Is playing time what you seek? If so, you might have to drop your expectations and go a division lower. Is competition level what you seek? You might have to sit the bench until you either realize your potential or earned your way onto the field.
2) What is a kid willing to accept in terms of financial compensation?
While I believe any reasonable kid can play college football, scholarships are at a premium that most people posted in various numbers on this board. Some kids will have to accept the fact that they are walk-ons. It is hard for some parents with a lot of pride to accept that their kids (their "stars" in their own mind) aren't good enough to get money. That doesn't mean they can't or won't ever play. College football is full of programs where a kid has gone from walk-on to success. In fact many small colleges even hold open tryouts for walk-ons and some colleges will even award walk-ons with scholarship money later in their years. It depends on the program and the availability of funds.
The other catch that most parents don't realize is what each division can offer in terms of a scholarship. At the D1 level it is all or nothing the coveted and overused term "full-ride." The term is used so often and is so well known, many parents think getting a scholarship means getting a "full-ride." Division II schools are allowed to break up their 36 full equivalencies into as many chunks as they want. Quite often teams will give $500 scholarships or even $250 scholarships to players. While that isn't that much money, it means two things. It is something in terms of compensation and that they do believe enough in said player to make them a scholarship athelte at their schools. NAIA works similar to DII. Division III is a place where no football money is directly given, but other "merit" based scholarships (leadership, scholastic, etc) are manipulated to act as a scholarship type program.
3) Players have to understand that when they get to college, they aren't in HS anymore. They may have been the local star or team stud in their class, but now they will be one of several studs. This can get into their head and make them want to quit. It is like high school all over again. You have to prove your worthiness. You have to come to work. Don't expect to be the man right away and it may take several years to become the man. Some players will have to learn to accept that they will become roll players.
I think a lot of the reason that so many numbers are skewed of HS players going to college (the small %) is that a lot of players don't want to continue playing, aren't willing to sacrfice and move down divisions, aren't willing to accept anything less than a "full-ride", can't make the grades or are unwilling to even go to college, are willing to accept their role, or just would like to pursue other options in their life.
College football is a natural selection process and those that can play are lucky to get that opportunity. If you really want it more than anything, or it is a kids dream to play college football, unless they are bottom of the barrell on your bench, they do have a shot. It is just how bad to they want it and what sacrifices are they willing to make to make it happen?
