For Rockwall High School’s William Beasley, investigating every collegiate option has been a part of a sound recruiting strategy as he enters his senior year. Beasley, who will be a second year starter for Coach Scott Smith’s Yellow Jackets this season, adds an agile and explosive edge to Rockwall’s offensive arsenal.
As it is the dream for almost every high school football player in America to play big time BCS college football, the same holds true for Beasley. The difference; however, is that William has embraced the possibility of playing at colleges outside of the BCS realm. Beasley participated in Brown University’s football camp this week in Rhode Island where he turned several heads on the Brown staff including that of head coach, Phil Estes. William will attend Penn University’s football camp in the weeks to follow, this in response to an invitation that Beasley received after Penn caught wind of the athletically and academically gifted wide receiver. “It’s good to have some options on the table, we started to receive interest from several Ivy League schools and military academies in the spring and the more we learned about them the more interesting they started to appear,” said Neil Beasley, Williams father. “William is very open minded when it comes to his college choices, his primary goal is finding a college where he can get a good education and playing time.”
William and his family have been extremely wise when it comes to the recruiting process, they understand that playing Division 1 football is far from the only option available for those seeking an opportunity of getting an education paid for. Often times, athletes can become mesmerized by the aspiration of playing on television, so much so that they overlook more realistic options until it is too late. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with reaching for the stars and dreaming big when it comes to sending stuff to colleges, but it is also a good idea to take a shotgun approach and send info to colleges at all levels,” said Justin Simons of NLA. According to Simons, the philosophy behind getting your name out there is simple, “exposure equals opportunity, the more colleges that you send information to the higher the likelihood that you will get a bite.” This is just the case for Beasley as he has sent his Next Level Athlete Showcase footage to several colleges around the country. Williams footage from the Lancaster Showcase in March, effectively displays the athletic prowess that is catching the attention of several colleges and should result in a much deserved payoff for William.