10 Tips for College Camps

Headed to a college camp this summer? Here’s ten great tips to help you out…..

1. Dress accordingly, roll up with a Rubio Long Snapping shirt on so they know what you are all about and that you have a great background in Long Snapping. Earned a TOP 12 shirt, even better.

2. Be prepared to answer basic questions regarding your name, height, weight, school, GPA, test scores, where you live, etc. Speak clearly and slow down. Remember, everyone might now have your same accent 

3. Look each coach directly in their eyes and shake their hands firmly. Nervous about speaking to someone, look at their forehead or right above their eyes and it will be close enough. Breathe

4. Drink a ton of water and make sure you are continuously stretching. You don’t want to cramp up and you don’t know when they might pull you to the side to do something different.

5. Do NOT over-snap. If you get thrown to another field to “just go and snap” be sure to take long pauses. You bodies are not meant to snap hundreds of balls in one day. Once your form is gone, your snaps will be negatively impacted.

6. Be friendly to everyone (should be a no-brainer) while on campus. You never know who is talking to you or who is watching you. CAMERAS ARE EVERYWHERE

7. Never, and I mean NEVER, lose your composure over a bad snap. Your recruiting will not end over one bad snap but it might over one bad reaction.

8. SNAP WITH CONFIDENCE and believe in yourself. You’ve snapped a thousand balls in your life, these will be no different. You are still just an upside quarterback going the wrong way Snapping some leather backwards. It’s not rocket science.

9. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT do too many camps in June. NEVER go back to back days and try to limit yourself to no more than FOUR camps in the month. Your body won’t be able to handle it and your performances will be impacted. One bad camp can spread quickly amongst coaches

10. Thank your parents/guardians for spending the money to take you to these camps. Big hugs to them (after you shower). Be nice and, of course, never be the first to let go from the hug #RubioFamily#TheFactory #TeamRubio

Rubio Long Snapping is, by far, the biggest and best resource for Long Snappers in the country. Rubio has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the USA Today, Deadspin and countless other publications.

Offering the best instruction and most exposure in the world, Rubio Long Snapping can help you to become the best snapper you can be!

In just 12 years, Chris Rubio, President and Owner of Rubio Long Snapping, has become the #1 Long Snapping instructor in the country and the go-to man when a college coach needs a Long Snapper. Colleges from across the country rely on “Rubio’s” word day in and day out on who the best Long Snappers are in the country. Rubio Long Snapping has assisted in over 300 Long Snappers earning FULL SCHOLARSHIPS to major colleges and universities just for Long Snapping and many into the NFL as well.

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NFL Training

In lieu of a Rubio Long Snapping NFL camp this year, I will be personally offering private lessons in Northern Idaho. Spots are limited and I will not be taking a mass group.

After speaking with college and NFL coaches, scouts and agents, I was advised to run specific lessons, this year, with each NFL ready Long Snapper to offer more one on one interaction to give back to the scouts and agents. Last year alone, Rubio Long Snapping had ELEVEN Long Snapper earn tryouts based on Rubio Long Snapping film and my word.

For this year, Rubio Long Snapping will not be running a NFL Free Agent camp to focus solely on the private lessons with NFL Free Agents

One of the things the coaches, scouts and agents liked the most is that there was no bias. If you can snap and move at the next level, I tell them that. If you can’t snap and move at the next level, I tell them that as well. I don’t care if I have seen you snap at my camps or not. This is all about a bottom line with the NFL. You either are the full package or you are not.

With eleven guys getting tryouts, it is quite clear that my word is good and definitely respected.

The lessons will offer the following….

  • Private instruction with me in an indoor location
  • Film to review as well film to send out to agents and teams with my stamp of approval on it.
  • Game plan to get each Long Snapper ready for their pro day.
  • Detailed planning on meetings with agents and coaches.

I will get you ready, it is up to you what you do when you get there!

If interested, email Rubio@RubioLongSnapping.com as are limited and once they are gone, they are gone.

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Rubio Long Snapping is, by far, the biggest and best resource for Long Snappers in the country. Rubio has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the USA Today, Deadspin and countless other publications.

Offering the best instruction and most exposure in the world, Rubio Long Snapping can help you to become the best snapper you can be!

In just 12 years, Chris Rubio, President and Owner of Rubio Long Snapping, has become the #1 Long Snapping instructor in the country and the go-to man when a college coach needs a Long Snapper. Colleges from across the country rely on “Rubio’s” word day in and day out on who the best Long Snappers are in the country. Rubio Long Snapping has assisted in over 300 Long Snappers earning FULL SCHOLARSHIPS to major colleges and universities just for Long Snapping and many into the NFL as well.

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Form Letter to a Coach

You should send a school a simple letter/e-mail/Facebook message to let schools know you are interested and for you to get on their radar/mailing list. 

First, make sure you send it to the Special Teams Coach and/or the Recruiting Coordinator. Remember to keep it very simply and to the point. The person reading your letter will almost always be male and they don’t need any fluff. They will want a bottom line and quick points.

I created a template for you and it should do the trick. Embrace….

Coach __________,

My name is _________________ and I am very interested in becoming a student-athlete for your university.  I am a Long Snapper.

I currently play at __________________ High School in ____ (put your home state) and will graduate in ________ (month) of 20__.

I attend Rubio Long Snapping camps and am currently ranked ____ in my class and ____ in my state. You can see my profile, which will have Chris Rubio’s evaluation, my picture and a video of me HERE. (link your profile within the word HERE since it looks cleaner). Please feel free to contact Chris Rubio at either 208-572-2852 or Rubio@RubioLongSnapping.com if you would like more detailed information regarding me and my Long Snapping abilities.

You can also view my YouTube channel with more practice and game footage HERE. (Put a Hudl link if you have one as well)

I also noticed you have a home game (you could also use this for Spring Games) coming up on Saturday, the ____ of _______________. I was hoping to be put on the recruit list for that game so I can see what game day is like for the _______________ (school mascot name).

Please let me know what the next step in the recruiting process is for me to become a member of your team.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope to see you at one of your games this fall!

Thank you for your time,

John Smith
____________ High School, Class of ______
GPA: ______  ACT: ______ SAT: _________
Twitter: @____________ Instagram: @____________
E-Mail: _______________________________
Cell: _________________________________
Home Mailing Address: _________________________________________ (Street Address, City, State and Zip Code)
Other Honors: ________________________________________________  (Eagle Scout, All-League, MVP, Captain, Etc.)

Rubio Long Snapping is, by far, the biggest and best resource for Long Snappers in the country. Rubio has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the USA Today, Deadspin and countless other publications.

Offering the best instruction and most exposure in the world, Rubio Long Snapping can help you to become the best snapper you can be!

In just 17 years, Chris Rubio, President and Owner of Rubio Long Snapping, has become the #1 Long Snapping instructor in the country and the go-to man when a college coach needs a Long Snapper. Colleges from across the country rely on “Rubio’s” word day in and day out on who the best Long Snappers are in the country. Rubio Long Snapping has assisted in over 1,000 Long Snappers earning full scholarships and preferred walk-on opportunities to major colleges and universities just for Long Snapping and many into the NFL as well.

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ASK RUBIO “How do you tell a coach”, “Where does an Inexperienced player begin”, “Heavy footballs?”

Dear Rubio….

How do you tell a coach that you are de-committing from his college to go to another college? How do you approach him and what tone do you use?
Signed, Confused

Confused….
You need to be up front with them and make it quick. If you are leaving a preferred walk-on for a scholarship, they will completely understand. If they argue with you, they are lying. No one would offer to pay for a car (tuition) if someone was giving them a car (tuition) for free.

If it is a preferred walk-on to a walk-on or scholarship to scholarship, explain your reasoning and be prepared to be swayed back so be strong. BE PREPARED and BE POLITE. That exact coach might be your coach in the near future since they never stay at the same location too long.

If it is a full scholarship to a preferred walk-on, you need your head examined.
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Dear Rubio….

Where does an inexperienced player begin to make it as a “Starter” on their high school varsity football team? Where do you begin?  What advice would you give to an inexperienced player?  Suggestions to go from JV to Varsity to college scouts looking at you
-#JV2Varsity

#JV2Varsity…
This is a great question and I would say it all starts with showing dedication to your craft and your sport. You don’t need to be the loudest talker on the team, you just need to be the smartest and hardest worker…the coaches WILL notice. My advice would be to show up early, bust your butt, do what your told and keep your mouth shut. If a player is ALWAYS hustling and moving, while not being afraid to make a mistake, that will move them up quickly.

Coaches understand a player will make a mistake…it happens. They just want you to make the mistake at 100 mph and learn from it. If a player doesn’t learn from the mistake, he is showing ignorance and the coach won’t have confidence to move them up and put them in the game. Once you are in the game, that is where all your works comes in and the scouts will notice and the coaches will make them notice. If they don’t, I will:)
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Dear Rubio….

What is your opinion on a Long Snapper using a heavy ball?
-K Dad

K Dad….
I am a big fan of the weighted footballs (best one I have seen is from WizardKicking and is the Baden 30 oz model) for warming up, laydown drill and some shorter snaps (less than ten yards) BUT I only like them for Long Snappers that have exceptional form. If a Long Snapper does NOT have exquisite form and uses a heavy ball, it will create more bad habits (think little kid shooting from the three point line in basketball…they push the ball instead of having really nice form like they would in close).
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Remember, if you would like to ASK RUBIO a question on any topic (honestly, it shouldn’t be on Long Snapping since you can find almost all questions answered on my blog and on RubioLongSnapping.com, just go ahead and send your question(s) to Rubio@RubioLongSnapping.com with the subject line: ASK RUBIO.

Ask Rubio

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Top 7 Things a Coach Asks Me about a Possible Recruit….

How are his grades? (No grades, no college….pretty simple concept, I would hope)

What type of person is he? (Long Snappers have a lot of free time and they want someone they don’t have to worry about)

Would you let him date your daughter? (In other words, can they trust you)

Is he coachable? (Nothing upsets a coach more than someone who thinks they are better than coaching that hears what they are saying and not listening. Trust me, they, and I, know the staring through someone trick)

Do you think he has “it?” (If you don’t know about this, you don’t have “it”)

Does he have video on YouTube? (the only time they bring up another video service, like Brand H, it is with disgust and DVD’s are pretty much obsolete)

Would you hang out with him? (Pretty much rolls with #2, #3, #4 and #5)

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, they don’t ask too much about a recruit’s athletic ability. They will know all about that from talking to me and your football coach. A coach, at any level, and agents, will want to know about things that usually aren’t on paper since those things will play a major role, in the long run, in how you do on the field.

_________________________________________________________________

Chris-Rubio-2Rubio Long Snapping is, by far, the biggest and best resource for Long Snappers in the country. Offering the best instruction and most exposure in the world. Rubio Long Snapping can help you to become the best snapper you can be!

In just 12 years, Chris Rubio, President and Owner of Rubio Long Snapping, has become the #1 Long Snapping instructor in the country and the go-to man when a college coach needs a Long Snapper. Colleges from across the country rely on “Rubio’s” word day in and day out on who the best Long Snappers are in the country. Rubio Long Snapping has assisted in over 300 Long Snappers earning FULL SCHOLARSHIPS to major colleges and universities just for Long Snapping and many into the NFL as well.

Rubio_Card_frontMAGNET

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What You Do….What They See

I speak with a lot of college coaches throughout the year. We hang out together and we speak about a lot of different things. Being the kind of guy I am, I like to do a lot of listening and observing….lots of it. Often, I will sit back and watch a coach watch an athlete. In doing so, I have noticed that coaches tend to do a lot of hidden “watching.” Not in a weird way or anything, they just really, really like to eyeball a prospective recruit. And, after communicating with many of them over the years and just being able to figure things out on my own, I have come to the conclusion that they see and decipher things you are doing that you might not even be aware of. Therefore, I decided to create a little chart to help you out. It will be broken down into two parts and will be labeled as WHAT YOU DO vs WHAT THEY SEE.

What You Do: Walking to greet them
What They See: An athlete’s gait (basically means strut and/or the way you walk) is a huge one for coaches.

  • Do you look awkward and/or nonathletic? Do you have your head down? Are your shoulder’s hunched? Are you shuffling along? All of these are Code Reds for a college coach. Hold yourself up high and be confident in your strut. You would already know this one if you had read this long snapping blog.

What You Do: Getting water. Hanging out in the locker room. Eating with your friends.
What They See: How you interact with your teammates.

  • Are you social? Too social? Reserved? Rude? Passive? Aggressive? These are all things coaches want to see. Most coaches really like a kid that is social but not too social. Bottom line, have fun but don’t be a jerk. Rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t do it with me standing right next to you, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

What You Do: Hanging out with your family
What They See: If you are rude or not to your parents/siblings.

  • Trust me, they get you are a teenager and unless you have reached the age where you actually start embracing your parents again (patience parents, it will come) they understand the dynamic. Saying that, they want to see if you are a donkey or actually a decent human being. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat their parent(s) and coaches know this. Now, you don’t have to be over the top as that will show you are too dependent on them (or the parent needs to spread out) but you also don’t have belittle or spit venom at them either.


What You Do: Grabbing the football
What They See: How flexible or athletic you are.

  • Not even kidding, I have witnessed a ton of coaches focus on when an athlete reaches over to grab a ball simply to see how he bends. Do you look like a 115 year old man or are you fluid? Also, I have witnessed even more check out how a kid catches a snap or fiddles with a football to see his coordination level. I have seen coaches lock onto a kid simply because he looks athletic and not awkward catching someone else’s snap!

What You Do: Running
What They See: If you have that certain type of speed they are looking for.

  • Ok, so you saw this one and said, duh Rubio. But did you know, many coaches know a Long Snapper is not usually going to be a gazelle out of the blocks so they want to see how you finish the play. They look for something called closing speed. Closing speed is when you are finally at full throttle (let’s pray it is less than a quarter mile to this point), you see where the punt is, zero in on the returner and then head towards them. Many top athletes will almost hit a sixth gear at this point and coaches LOVE that in their players.

What You Do: Stare at them, nod at them, have fujidadobs (pronounced foo-ja-da-dobs)
What They See: You are distant, you are fake, you are clueless.

  • Are you even paying attention to the coach? Skip this one and write your own ticket to never playing for that team.
  • Are you looking them in the eye? They want to make sure you have the confidence to stare them down just like they are doing to you.
  • Are you nodding? Coaches know the I-am-going-to-nod-at-every-single-thing-you-say-so-it-looks-like-I-ameally-paying-attention trick. You look like a weirdo and you aren’t fooling anyone. Throw a nod in every once in awhile, but continuous nodding makes you look like a bobble head.
  • Are you in full-on fujidadobs mode? I have good friend named CP. His family (I believe) came up with the term fujidadobs. Every person in the world has done it and the trick is to not do it often or in public. Fujidadobs is the process of being so enthralled in something that you completely zone out, let your mouth open and become glassy. Really bad cases of fujidadobs will involve drooling. If you are still confused, turn on Animal Planet or any show about building the biggest something (plane, tanker, megaloader, tractor, bridge) in front of a male and sit back and watch them. Within five minutes, they will have a huge case of fujidadobs. 
  • Bottom line, focus on the coach and listen to what they are spraying but do not zone out. If they ask you a question and you have no clue what they have even said, you are going to look like a complete idiot and not someone they want on their team.

A coach sees everything….everything. Their job/money/life is based on who they recruit. They control you, but you almost control them as well. Therefore, a coach is going to want to recruit a very athletic, physically good looking, well mannered person who listens. And, this Über athlete should be someone that he would be comfortable with babysitting his child (Lord help us) or dating his daughter (I don’t care how hot she is, run for the hills). 

_________________________________________________________________

Chris-Rubio-2Rubio Long Snapping is, by far, the biggest and best resource for Long Snappers in the country. Offering the best instruction and most exposure in the world. Rubio Long Snapping can help you to become the best snapper you can be!

In just 12 years, Chris Rubio, President and Owner of Rubio Long Snapping, has become the #1 Long Snapping instructor in the country and the go-to man when a college coach needs a Long Snapper. Colleges from across the country rely on “Rubio’s” word day in and day out on who the best Long Snappers are in the country. Rubio Long Snapping has assisted in over 300 Long Snappers earning FULL SCHOLARSHIPS to major colleges and universities just for Long Snapping and many into the NFL as well.

Rubio_Card_frontMAGNET

 

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