Benjamin J. Carey

From Long Island to the SEC

In a locker room full of world-class defensive linemen, the freshman earned more snaps tonight in his 3rd game and his 1st SEC game. I love that Kirby Smart and Tray Scott are ruthlessly demanding, with relentless expectations. So are his teammates. There is no better example of iron sharpening iron. Embrace the process.

Thrilled that my 74-year-old mom got to witness this milestone. Her first game, and her first flight in 30 years!
@PrestonJCareyPJ #DawgsWin

Recruiting is a brutal place to discover your son has been lied to.

College football at any level—D1, D2 or D3—can be the best years of your life. D1 comes with expectations and physical demands you need to understand.

Football is a big man’s game, and anyone telling you size doesn’t matter is full of shit. Exceptions exist, but naming an undersized player who made it does not establish that your son has his ability.

That’s one reason the old youth football weight limits are foolish and have been replaced with unweighted divisions in today’s leagues. Dominating opponents in a division with weight limits can create a false picture of where you stand. When adults sell that success as a projection, kids inherit expectations they were never prepared to meet.

On Long Island, daddy ball can preserve that illusion for years. A board position, manipulative donations, a friendly coach and a protected role can make a family comfortable. None of it tells a high school or college staff whether the kid can play against the athletes they recruit.

Measurables are only part of the evaluation. TALENT, athleticism, SPEED, body composition, bend, football IQ, character, grades, coachability and work ethic all matter. A sloppy 300 pounds that cannot bend, redirect or sustain effort is no advantage just because it looks impressive in a bio. Coaches need to see how you carry that weight and what you can do with it.

Build your college list around verified measurements, honest film evaluation, academic fit, projected development and what each program recruits at your position. Study their players and recent signees. Target schools where your ability gives the staff a legitimate reason to recruit you.

A parent’s insistence that his son belongs at a certain level is not evidence. The film, physical tools, production and transcript must support that argument.

Your kid deserves a recruiting strategy that can survive outside your zip code.

My recruiting app walks players through everything from a very young age building a realistic college list and teaching families how to communicate with coaches. Click the link to sign up studio.com/apps/benjamin/…

I had this October in mind long before there was anything to photograph.

Montauk daisies spill along the house, and red dahlias stand above bronze foliage. The roses and marigolds are still flowering. Most of the neighborhood has finished blooming, but I wanted something beautiful when everything else was dying.

Seeing it now reminds me of what I hoped it would become and all the attention I gave it when there wasn’t much to admire.

Fatherhood and coaching have given me plenty of practice with that kind of patience. You recognize something in a kid and spend years helping him recognize it in himself.

Sometimes that requires faith in what you can’t see in the present, but you know it exists inside of them, and in the future.

It means being obsessive and demanding, and being a pain in the ass on behalf of a future he hasn’t given much thought to yet. I’ve always been willing to take that job.

Love has a longer attention span than people give it credit for.

There are people I love whose best days are still ahead of them. Some of what I do today is for those days. They may never connect the two, and that’s fine. I want them to have the life, whether they understand what went into it or not.

For now, I get to stand in the October sun and enjoy something I once had to imagine.

Connected with this young man and his family at @PrepRedzone with @AlPopsFootball and got to see him work.
Technically sound, very smart kid with huge upside 📈