Titans Host Seventh Annual High School Football Recruiting Fair At Nissan Stadium

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Pictured: Tennessee Titans High School Recruitment Fair at Nissan Stadium. Photo: Cameron Faulkner/Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans welcomed high school football programs from across the state at Nissan Stadium on Tuesday (April 19) for the 7th Annual High School Football Recruiting Fair.

High school football coaches from more than 160 schools in Tennessee set up tables in Nissan Stadium’s north concourse to show off their programs and student-athletes to over 60 football scouts from the NCAA and NAIA.

“The participation has just grown year after year,” said Josh Corey, Director of Marketing for Youth & Community Engagement with the Titans.

The annual event allows these schools to showcase and promote their players to colleges, giving them an opportunity to be scouted and hopefully recruited. The Titans send an invitation to every single high school tackle football program in the state.

John Overton football coaches at the Tennessee Titans High School Recruitment Fair at Nissan Stadium. Photo: Cameron Faulkner/Tennessee Titans

“We wanted to give kids in our state, especially kids that probably aren’t going to play at major Division I schools but kids that are going to play at FCS schools, DII or DIII. We wanted to give them exposure and opportunity,” Corey added.

These schools from around the state set up tables with player stats, school transcripts and some with small monitors to show off their players’ highlights.

The fair is great for many colleges who don’t have big enough budgets to travel the country recruiting. This event offers university coaches and scouts an opportunity to discover players from schools they never would’ve seen otherwise.

“We wanted to set up a networking opportunity for our high school coaches with these college coaches,” Corey noted. “They kind of work hand-in-hand and one kind of strengthens the other. So I think we have been able to establish both and it really has exceeded our expectations.”

Tennessee Titans High School Recruitment Fair at Nissan Stadium on April 19, 2022 in Nashville, TN. Photo Cameron Faulkner/Tennessee Titans

Coaches who have attended these recruiting fairs can tell countless stories about student-athletes who were able to go to schools on a scholarship, as well as plenty of young men who wouldn’t have been able to attend college if it weren’t for this event getting their name out in the open.

“It impacts everyone a little differently,” said Coach Matt Bates, President of the TnFCA, and Assistant Head Football Coach/Head Wrestling Coach at Hardin Valley Academy. “As a guy who was a head coach at a 1A school several years ago, coming here I was able to see schools who would’ve never stopped by because we were a rural 1A school that nobody knows or even how to get to. But because we were here, we ended up with four or five FCS schools coming to our spring practice to watch our kids.”

Starting in January, Bates along with other coaches and the Titans, reach out to college football programs from around the U.S. and invite them to this recruiting fair. Attendees rose from 50 college representatives last year to over 70 this year. And since, the fair has been moved from the club level to the main concourse, the potential for more schools is even more likely.

“I think our next step is to try and push to maybe 200 high schools and 100 colleges,” Bates sums. “It’s very doable, and we’re close on both aspects. We have a great venue, and the Tennessee Titans are phenomenal to work with.”

Steven Boero
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