There is no perfect formula for predicting how a high school football player will perform at the college level. But college coaches are assigned with the high-pressure task of handpicking athletes who will produce on and off the field.

So how do they do it? How do they sift through thousands of talented football players and put faith in certain athletes?

“College football is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work,” Cal-Davis defensive line coach David Braun said. “It is important to identify the type of athlete that can handle the highs and the lows.”

Braun, who coached at USA Football’s Regional Development Camps this past summer, knows exactly what he is looking for when recruiting defensive lineman for UC-Davis’ program.

Character

“The most important component of recruiting is the character of an athlete, and character boils down to four main factors,” Braun said.

• How do they treat the people in their life?
• How seriously do they take academics?
• What is their competitive spirit like?
• Do they love the game of football?

“We look for coachable kids who are open to criticism, kids who enjoy the game of football,” Braun said. “Athletes that don’t truly love the game don’t do well at the next level.”

College coaches and scouts across the nation are searching for athletes with certain intangibles. Athletes need to be dependable, stable and be driven. Coaches need to know they can count on their players to give their best effort whether the score is 49-0 or 0-49.

And that all has nothing to do with what an athlete can do when those cleats are laced up.

Measurables

“I look for long bodies. It doesn’t matter the height of an athlete, although the ideal frame for a defensive lineman is 6-foot-2, at the end of the day it’s arm length that creates separation,” Braun said.

• Long-bodied
• Arm length more than 32 inches
• Growth potential

When 18-year-old athletes reports to a college campus, for many it will be the first time they have top-of-the-line training facilities and resources. Athletes will lift full time with the guidance of a strength coach, receive diet help from nutritionists and have access to some of the best athletic trainers in sports.

It can be tantalizing for scouts to see athlete sgoing into their junior or senior seasons already built for their positions – before any of the benefits of a college program.

“It’s exciting to have a defensive line prospect who has superior athleticism,” Braun said. “We are going to do our best to maximize his potential and develop his body to be a force on the defensive line.”

Athletic ability

“With the way the game is played today, it is ultra-important that defensive lineman are versatile in what they can do,” Braun said. “They need to be athletic enough to be efficient in the run game and the passing game.”

• Explosive qualities
• Utilization of burst
• Active hands
• Ability to create separation
• Mobility
• Change of speed
• Change of direction
• Foot speed
• Strength
• Nose for the ball
• Good pad level
• Finisher mentality

Defensive lineman with a wide variety of skills and tools, such as the ones that Braun looks for at UC-Davis, can be a dynamic force and major asset to a football program.

“Recruiting is chaotic. So much can go wrong. Look at J.J. Watt,” Braun said. “He was two-star recruit walk-on tight end, but his character wouldn’t let anything stop him, and now he is a NFL three-time defensive player of the year.”

Braun knows that it is unlikely to find the next J.J. Watt while out scouting. But if he finds a defensive lineman with the right mix of character, measurables and athletic ability, he might just hit the jackpot.