Pat Fitzgerald (@coachfitz51), a PCA National Advisory Board Member, is the Northwestern University Head Football Coach. Prior to coaching, his College Football Hall of Fame career included twice being named an All-American, twice winning both the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Awards, and leading Northwestern to back-to-back Big Ten titles and a Rose Bowl appearance in the mid-90's.

In this video, coach Pat Fitzgerald outlines four aspects he looks at when recruiting athletes. He lists them as...

1) Be a person of character. Conduct yourself, especially in the age of social media, in a way that that is respectful that won’t negatively impact your athletic or professional future.

2) Strive to be great academically. Just qualifying for a scholarship isn’t good enough and more opportunities open to you when one keeps academics as a priority.

3) Great effort on the field of play. Coach Fitzgerald and many other coaches will speak with your high school coach to gage the effort you put into improving yourself athletically.

4) Be a great teammate. Coaches will look past your talents to see if the way you interact with your team is compatible with the culture around the program that is recruiting you.