Football Tackles the Recruiting Game by Dividing and Conquering
If you walk around Wesley College’s campus and see a prospective student on a tour, that student more than likely will be a future athlete.
Bringing in a new football player to Wesley takes about a year. It begins in the summer, when the different football coaches pick a separate geographical area in the region.
Steve Azzanesi, the Wide Receivers coach, focuses on New Jersey. Like other coaches, he attends football camps around his area to scout players.
Once Wesley’s football season is over, Azzanesi travels to about six high schools a day in New Jersey.
“That’s where the contact starts, in the school, where you meet the player, have them fill out information cards and tell them how great Wesley is,” Azzanesi said.
Once prospective students have made contact with a Wesley coach, they come for a campus visit.
“When I came for a visit, the coaches and some players took me on a tour of the campus,” said former Wesley football player Mark Harris. “After the tour, I ate lunch in the cafeteria with some of the upperclassmen players.”
While recruiting, the coaches of all the sports encourage their prospective students to attend an open house run by admissions, to get a feel for the school as a whole.
“It’s important for us to help them and for them to help us,” said admissions counselor Christopher Jester. “It could be getting students in contact with us for working on applications, scholarship opportunities and booking visits. There isn’t a separation because we need each other in that sense.”
