I believe attending the free Nike camp will get you a free profile. You do not have to pay for it. I know people who have gone on to pay for their services that have done very well with them and others, like ourselves, that have conquered the recruiting process on our own. Let me add that it can become a full time job and throughout the last two years, my son and his father work on football recruiting at least a few times a week. They update his profile, add film, email coaches and plan visits and camps. Set up and email account that you use specifically for emailing colleges and coaches and make sure it has a professional sounding name, not some "teenager" handle.
As far as protein drinks, my son uses the GNC pro performance AMP system. He uses a pre workout, protein shake and a vitamin pack. You MUST drink a lot of water when you add protein as not to stress your kidneys and you MUST be actively working out seriously. so as a parent it is important that you monitor this as you would any other activity that could have potential health dangers. He used the Pro Source Gaspari system in the past, but likes the flavors of the GNC better. Just make sure whatever you use is not packed with sugars because this just causes energy surges and dips.
As far as weight gain, muscle gain and height, you can do the best you can health wise and hope for the best. With height, you roll the dice. I would LOVE for my son to be a few inches taller. College coaches have told him if he was taller, they would offer him a scholarship. They can be very blunt. At a true 6'1 he is undersized for an offensive lineman and even a defensive lineman. He works hard at keeping muscle weight on his frame because he wants to be strong, not fat. He snacks often throughout the day, nuts, fruit etc. He gets more sleep than most teenagers because he knows how important it is for optimum performance. Tell your son to research Philadelphia Eagle's Shady McCoy and coach Chip Kelly and the effect of sleep on his performance. It helps when I reference this when telling my son to put down the phone and get some rest. As kids mature, they will get bigger and stronger naturally so if they work hard along with it, it will happen. My two oldest boys continued to grow in college. You really never know.
Believe it or not, here in NJ, it is not unheard of for parents to make sure their kids are the optimum age to be playing high school sports. Sometimes that means they start them later for kindergarten. Sometimes it means they repeat eighth grade at a private school after eight years in public before entering high school. Players switch schools to play for better programs, whether it be parochial or public. It happens a lot. It use to really bother me, but now I kinda get it and only wish that maybe we had done this to help our kids have an advantage.
I will answer more questions if you have them later. Actually am off to a game. Last high school game EVER. SOB!!
Oh!
I hated knowing it was the last game of youth football last year when my son was in 8th grade - the last high school game is going to wreck me LOL Football is unlike any other sport, emotion-wise...at least in my experience! What a journey!
DS always played the line as a kid, but after he grew and thinned out, he now wants to focus on end and outside linebacker, so he will still need to be tall, but not as thick. We will see what happens. Thanks for the advice on the protein shakes - I stand in the aisles and am totally lost!
We talked to a NCSA recruiter yesterday and it is anywhere between $700-$2500 to sign with them!!!??? Holy cow. I don't even know if DS will grow past 5'10" yet!! We decided to hold off on that until a year from now, and if DS has a great season next year and grows into a size that will support a possible D1 or D2 school, we will think about it then. I think we would be able to handle him getting a shot at a D3 or local college on our own. Until then, the recruiter gave us a whole bunch of advice and tips for DS - he will join track in the spring to work on some of his speed times and continue to hit the weight room this winter and spring.
The recruiter also defined the different types of camps and which types would be most beneficial, and also said to be sure to do the Sparq combines, so we will def sign up for those. He talked about emailing the coaches/staff of the schools DS is interested in, and how to put together a highlight video. and much more.
This will definitely be a process! We had a long talk with DS last night and told him that he would need to realize that if he truly wants to take this as far as he can go, there will be sacrifices along the way involving his free time, family vacations, and other activities he may not have time for. And that he needs to understand that this is completely his choice with no pressure from us and, while eventually there will be a semi-firm "no turning back now' point, if he ever thinks it is too much or he loses his passion, he has to tell us and we can work it out together.
As for the last part - I completely understand what you are saying. We lived in MI for the first 10 years of DS's life before moving to IL, and the date cutoff to enter Kindergarten was Dec 1. DS was always the size of kids two years older than him, so he towered over his fellow Kindergartners even though he was one of the younger ones with an end of June birthday. Then we moved out to IL, where the date cutoff is Sept 1st. He stayed bigger than most of his classmates until about 7th grade when all of the kids 18 mo-2 years older than him IN THE SAME GRADE!!!! hit their growth spurts and DS was still only a "little kid". This really impacted him in 7th grade when he was playing "up" with 14 year old 8th graders in youth football, but I think that the challenge made him reevaluate his technique, so I guess it wasn't the worst thing! He is the youngest player on his team this year, and by far not the biggest, thus his change of positions from the interior line to the ends.
Had I known then that we would be moving to a new state, I might have kept DS back too. Not because of sports (who would have known at the time?!), but because the maturity level of a 13 1/2 year old 7th grader is just THAT much more advanced than my poor kid who was just barely 12! And, age-wise, there are many more current 8th graders right now that are closer to DS's age than kids in his own grade. 65% of 9th graders in our school were born in 1999 - DS was born 1/2 way through 2000.
I can tell you both of their experiences. Definately a big big difference between DI and DII. D II teams aren't allowed as many scholarships as DIs are. Has your HS coach had a lot of experience with this? Some colleges have good relationships with certain coaches, especially in the area if the HS team is perenially strong. His HS coach and staff were great about helping with his highlight reel and getting his name outt here, and his dad had lots of resources as the head trainer for the football program at their local DII school. I will tell you that with the one who became a Husker, they did not pay for recruiting sites, and they actually did not market him heavily. He did a few camps and the such and was ranked a 3 star by the services. He also lived in S. Dakota. We were told if he had been from about anywhere else in the country (or if he had done lots or camps and really spent the time and $$$ marketing himself) he would have been a 4 star. There are people that spend the time and $$ to travel to TONS of camps and weekends and such and that is what I think of when people talk about spending money to be recruited. That can also help with your stars. He was the star of his HS team (played varsity all 4 years) and his team won the state championship 3 out of the 4 years he was there. He actually didn't get a lot of notice from schools through football until he dropped baseball his Freshman year and did track. It was his speed that got him noticed. He ran a 40 in 4.42. His parents did pay for a private speed coach for him, and they consider that worth every penny. The track tip is his #1 advice to kids in HS, but that won't help as much on the line. Our coaches talk a lot recently about wrestling helping kids on the line, and their top 2 last recruits were both star wrestlers as well. 
