I have close to zero knowledge of American high school football. Generally, does “demand” work in favor of, or against, the team? (That is to say, is it usually that a spot on the roster is highly coveted, and it’s students who are jockeying hard to get in, and the team leisurely skims off the cream of the crop…or is it that the team needs players and actually has to recruit sometimes-reluctant students to sign up?)
For a marquee position like quarterback, there would be no shortage of guys who want to be it, I’m sure, but what about other positions, where, let’s say, a team desperately needs big defensive linemen because they are undersized at DL, but they have a shortage of big guys - do they then go into the student body and begin prodding the 250-pounders to give it a try? If they lack speedy guys, do they then again scout about for their fast students and cajole them?
There is no one answer. For some schools (especially smaller ones), they practically have to beg every boy in the school to join the team in order to have an adequate roster. For some larger powerhouse schools, you need to try out to be on the team.
When my son was in high school 10 years ago, he worked out with the football team over the summer for something to do. He mostly lifted weights, because that was what he was into. The coach watched him and offered him a spot on the team, which he declined.
The coach contacted me, asking for my help making him change his mind. I talked with my son and told him I thought he was making the right decision.
This. It depends. There are some high demand areas for high school football and there are some low demand areas. So some high schools have to turn players away and some have to beg them to play.
When I was an incoming freshman I had to go to the local public school for a set up day and the football coach came up to me and asked if I was going to join to football team. I was 6’2" and 280 pounds. Once I was a freshman the track coach came up to me during football practice and asked me to join the track team in the spring. So there was some recruitment but it was mainly for people who seemed to be the top end of the physical bell curve. I know really fast guys on the football team were recruited similarly.
Outside of that recruitment we had 3/4 of the guys at the school come out for football so it wasn’t like they actually needed to recruit it was more hedging their bets to ensure they got the guys they wanted.
My son played football in high school. His football days started when he was in 3rd grade in a junior league, and most of his team-mates from the junior team also ended-up on the high-school team with him. Due to their experience and chemistry over those years, his varsity team won the State championship two years in a row (when he was a sophomore and a junior). Since the team had a decent run for multiple years, as mentioned, a lot of kids tried-out each year, and in this case, every one of them “made the team”. But, here is the difference - not all of them got to play in games. Mainly, those with experience got the nod to play, and even when they ran-up the score, and nothing was at risk in the 4th quarter, those riding the bench rarely got to play. They were still required to go to every practice and learn all the plays, and keep their grades up or get kicked off the team. There was no shortage of sheer numbers of players, but the coaches only trusted a handful to execute plays.
Yes, there was recruiting, but AFAICT it was not to the student body, but to talent outside the school’s area. Sometimes good players would “move” into town in order to play on this team, since they were winning a lot and getting a lot of attention (from college recruiters), so if you wanted your kid to be seen, you had to find a way to get them on this team. While the local talent (my son and his friends) was good, there was always someone they needed for a specific position. It was pretty ridiculous, IMHO, for a public HS team to operate this way, and get away with it.
I would imagine some of the smaller programs without the winning record would have a harder time filling spots, and I would expect they would always be scanning the student body for potential recruits, as mentioned. Additionally, football at the junior level is waning from what I can see, so the pipeline is not as full as it once was - this is most likely due to recent clarity around the risks football poses to kids’ health, and parents not allowing/encouraging going into football.
That’s generally how it worked where I went to school as well. Most of the players were guys who’d played in middle school already and wanted to keep playing. I can think of only two guys who people (mostly players) bugged to play- a standout soccer player, and a buddy of mine who was merely all-around athletic. My buddy ended up being a ok player, but the soccer player ended up playing two seasons for the Packers after a standout career at the University of Minnesota. So I guess it worked for him!
My grandfather got his college letter at the end of the season because his coach had put him in to play when they were either so far ahead or so far behind that it didn’t matter. Coach just put him in to give him a chance to play.
I went to a high school in Los Angeles that had like 700 people per class. We had a Varsity team of course. We also had a Junior Varsity team for people who didn’t make Varsity. We were a three year high school so I assume that JV was mostly sophomores or juniors and the Varsity was seniors and the best athletes in the lower grades. We also had a thing called B Team for smaller dudes. I think there were height and/or weight maximums. Athletics weren’t my world but I am sure there were more people who wanted to play than there were spots.