If you were a highly-touted, heavily-recruited, future Division One athlete, how would you decide what school – and football program – you'd attend?
There are so many things that go into that decision that, at times, it almost seems impossible for the country's top players to separate what's important from what's just fluff. Social media has spotlighted every move the elite prospects make and brought attention to every thing they think, say and do.
Wins, losses, coaching continuity, academic prestige – and heck even uniforms for some – can get jumbled into a confusing mess capable of paralyzing even the most analytical mind.
Detroit Cass Tech four-star safety Jaylen Kelly-Powell is one of those hyper-analytical minds, but one thing he's not is confused. With offers from forty of the country's most prestigious schools and their associated football programs, the 6-foot-tall, 180-pound defensive back has any number of reasons to let the weight of his pending decision affect him, but there's no hint of frustration.
How has he maintained such a level-head? By being clear in his thoughts and direct in his purpose. Last week, he released, via Twitter, what is driving his decision and it provides an excellent look what should be important.
Deciding Factors:
— Jaylen Kelly-Powell (@JKellypowell) May 24, 2016
GSR
APR
Academic Ranking
Early Enroll
Degree
School Network
Internship
Coaching
Relationship
Competing for Rings
The nation's 243rd-ranked player knows his opportunities at the next level are a byproduct of his football talents, and he's not going to allow himself to take that for granted. He's choosing to keep on-the-field dreams secondary, realizing instead that it's what the school he chooses has to offer that will likely make a bigger impact on the rest of his list.
Kelly-Powell shared with 11W his process and it's an illuminating look at the mind of a Division One prospect and all they have to consider. He broke down, one-by-one, why these things matter.
GRADUATION SUCCESS RATE (GSR)
"I need to know if the coaches are emphasizing graduation to the players," Kelly-Powell said. "Are they recruiting just football players or real student-athletes? You are the company you keep."
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE RATE (APR)
"Are the players academically progressing? My dad and I hear stories about players taking minimum classes with no major," he said. "There are some with no direction and failing."
ACADEMIC RANKING
"We took all the schools from this website and put them into an Excel spreadsheet," Kelly-Powell shared. "Then we filtered only the D1 schools to see where everybody stands."
EARLY ENROLLMENT
"We know it's based on available scholarships, but it's a huge factor for me," he said. "We know Stanford doesn't allow it, but they makes it up in other areas."
DEGREE
"Do they carry my field of study? I want to be a sports trainer, I'm looking at Exercise Science or Kinesiology with a minor in business . How does that degree stand up against others?" Kelly-Powell said. "Is there masters program good? That's also something we've got to consider."
SCHOOL NETWORK
"You have to be able to network in the real world," he said. "What kind of connections can you make and create when you're out of school?"
INTERNSHIP
"Not just do they allow the players to intern," he said "But do they push their players to do so?"
COACHING
"Of course you have to be able to be coached for the highest level," Kelly-Powell said. "I hear coaches say that they 'coach all the players the same way' but every player is not the same, so can that be possible? Are they able to coach to get the most from every player? Are they being prepared for the NFL?"
RELATIONSHIPS
"That's a major key," he said. "These are the people you're going to be around for four, five years. It's got to feel like family."
COMPETING FOR RINGS
"Who doesn't want a league championship, bowl rings, national championship rings, etc.?" he asked. "That's why we compete. If there's not a real shot, that's not the place for me."
Though it seems like those items should be standard when making a college decision, the order in which the priorities fall for many are certainly different. Kelly-Powell said that checking things out the way he has provided some eye-opening moments.
"We put those metrics in place to help narrow things down," he said. "And it did in a lot of ways. It opened our eyes to schools that we may have not really considered before. Wisconsin, for example. They are near the top in a lot areas and I would not have known that."
Naturally, the breakdown showed that some schools he and his family thought would be at the top of his list, weren't necessarily all they are cracked up to be.
"One school we thought was going to be higher," he said. "Has only a 52-percent graduation rate and that was a red flag. Their APR is low also. Another school has a 66-percent graduation rate, and if you look at their roster year after year, most of their guys are fifth-year seniors. How is that possible? Those guys aren't three-and-done like Ohio State or Alabama, but OSU and Bama have higher graduation success rates."
Kelly-Powell, who's earned an invitation to Nike's The Opening this summer as a result of his on-field excellent, has his work cut out for him over the next few weeks – or months – before a decision is finalized. With 40 offers, those metrics will go a long way towards creating the most thorough decision possible.
