I need to know if this is normal or not. I've always been brutally honest when it came to my kids and sports. I point out their strengths and weaknesses as I see them. Little Joey, all 6'7" and 400 pounds, wants to play football. He started playing in 10th grade, so he's well behind the technique curve, but he's learning. He is strong, but slow. He has never started a football game, and never played significant minutes, but hopefully that will change his senior year. Since he is on the team, though, he was encouraged by the coaches to post his info, what little there is, on some recruiting sites. Since posting, the following schools have requested game footage, which doesn't exist at this time: Massachusetts, Navy, Princeton, Gettysburg, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Dickinson, William and Mary, Michigan, VMI, Bowling Green, Hamilton, Marshall, Brown, Stony Brook, Syracuse, Army, UVA, and Colgate. Is this shit normal?
And the general rule of thumb for lineman is the same as basketball players, you can't teach size... There was a player for FSU last year that had never played basketball before coming to FSU from Africa, he's 7'4 so they thought him to play...
I work in athletics as an athletic trainer at low level division 3. Someone at that size will get A LOT of looks but once the coaches at the division 1 level see his video and as you say isn't great then they will move on or not offer a legitimate scholarship. You did not mention his age. If he is 15 years old then he really does have room to grow agility/skill wise. If he is 18 then not so much. There are a few schools that you mentioned that are at a higher level then we are but lower then the others that will/may find him a spot but most likely will use him on the practice/scout team for practices (project). Funny you mention this, I just watched The Blindside last night and the chances of that happening are really slim to none. We had a kid from Maine that was 6'11" and weighed around 350/400 lbs. He had little skill, did not really play and only lasted 1 year at a very low D3 school. As much as I like to see success stories, they just don't happen often.
I was just using that as an example of recruiting. Not so much the story I have no idea how experienced Michael oher really was of course.
He has a lot of work to do. Junior (and to an extent Sophomore) year is the year a lot of schools look at for scholarship athletes. Senior year is not a lost cause if he has a major breakout year. Sites like Sportsrecruit (a great one and from what I've learned and the one I'd recommend), CaptainU (a bit hit or miss to me) and the rest are useful tools and worth the time and money if your kid is talented and want to play in kollege. His size is something some coaches look for but that will only get him an initial look. Now skills will come into play. Grades matter. With Great grades and a standout year, he might get some serious looks.
With his size, they'll want to know his work ethic as much as talent or experience. If he's motivated, an equally motivated coach, trainer and nutritionist can turn him into a next level player. If he wants it, the right people can get him there. If he's not all in, though, he'll learn to hate football.
He just turned 17 last month. Remember I said I was brutally honest. I will say Joey won't quit on a coach. Want him to run laps? He might take a while, but he'll keep moving.
I'd try and get his speed up and weight down. Cardio, strength, cardio, cardio and cardio. I know he's a big kid but 320 ~ 350 his speed will improve and so will his playing.
He's eating better confined at home, and he's rehabbing his knee daily. Work will start when the doctor clears him. I've encouraged him to keep working his upper body while the knee heals.
He may want to leave ok into intermittent fasting for while he's recovering. I just started doing it while quarantined and it's really helping and seeing results even without working out
and one thing I tell the girls who ask me about playing in college: Do not over look D2 or even D3 schools. You won't get scholarship cash from D3 but it may get your foot in the door and a "discount" on tuition. I don't know how it it is with Basketball and football but lacrosse the coaches can not contact the parent or player until Sept X of their <edit> Junior year for recruiting. There are some legal and approved tricks to get them to look at you but no direct contact.