"Football's pretty big in the community where I grew up, and so I always focused on how to get recruited for college football. I didn't think that I would be able to play at a division I. I guess I always saw myself - because I saw my brothers playing at a smaller college - that I would also play at a smaller college. But, fortunately for me, the University of Hawaii and some other schools came around toward the end of my senior season.

School is definitely very important to focus on. If you don't have the academics, if you're not taking care of school right now (at the high-school level) - as much as any coach would want to recruit you, or bring you to their college, they won't be able to if you don't have the grades to be eligible. So that's always been a big priority of mine.

Something that my parents have always emphasized to me is 'School first'. Also continue to work on your skill - whatever sport it may be - as an athlete. You can be the greatest athlete in the world, but if you don't have the grades to get you into college then it's going to be an unfortunate circumstance. School is a very important part of how to get recruited for college football. Definitely take care of school as you continue to develop yourself in your sport." -Inoke Funaki (Quarterback for the University of Hawaii)

"I want to talk to you today about football recruiting videos (highlight videos). Coaches use football recruiting highlight videos as one of their main tools for recognizing players and evaluating them. There are some misconceptions about highlight videos - a lot of people think that you have to have fancy music or cool effects. Really, your highlight video should have - first of all - it should have all of your best plays in the beginning, because most coaches will only look at your highlight video for about 15 or 30 seconds and make a decision about you after that. It sounds unfair, but you want to make sure that you put your best plays in the beginning so that the coaches get to see what your potential is.

Also, one thing that helps is editing your videos. If you just have raw footage, a lot of times it's hard for coaches to follow you - they won't know where you are on a play. You want to make it as easy as possible for the coach to see you, recognize you, and notice your good plays. Therefore, editing is very helpful - just show them where you are before the play by freeze-framing for a second and highlighting where you are, and then letting the play run. A good football recruiting highlights videos can definitely help you get noticed by college coaches." -Joshua Rice (former football player for the University of Hawaii)

"College football recruiting services can help you get recruited, but one piece of advice I would give any high school athlete going into college, education wise, is to go into a degree that will be good for you - something that you like, something that you enjoy, but also something that you could see yourself doing in the future. A lot of college athletes go into school thinking 'Oh, I'm just going to play football' and they don't have a backup plan. So when their football career is done they're stuck with nothing. They don't have a degree, they haven't finished, or they're going into something that they can't do anything with. So my advice would be - coming out of high school, going into college - make sure your degree is applicable, and is something that you want to do, and make sure it's a good backup plan for you. Talk to a college football recruiting service, so that if you finish with football at the end of your career you know that it's something that will work out for you and be good for your future.

If there's one thing that I would have done differently in high school while being recruited it's: I wouldn't have given a verbal commitment so early, because when you do that some teams tend to back off. Some schools tend to pull out - if they're giving you and offer, they won't anymore, and they'll look at someone else instead. So that's one thing that I would have done differently: not commit so early. College football recruiting services can help with that process" -Jayson Rego (Running back for the University of Hawaii)