Has your D-I recruiting hit a wall? Spend some time researching the D-II route, which could land you with scholarship money among great competition. We spoke with Chuck Martin, former head football coach of D-II powerhouse Grand Valley State University right before he took an assistant coaching position at Notre Dame, about playing D-II ball.

STACK: How does a D-II athlete compare to a D-I?
Chuck Martin: They can be as successful as anyone else in the country. In the last three years, we’ve had eight, seven and six guys [respectively] in NFL camps. Just because you go D-II doesn’t mean you can’t play football at the very highest level. I wouldn’t say that it is as easy to get [to the NFL] from D-II, but you certainly can get there.

STACK: How is D-II athletics similar to D-I and D-III?
CM: It’s the same game from a caring standpoint and in terms of the time student-athletes put in to be the best they can be. From my experience at all three levels the game, coaching and studentathletes do not change.

STACK: How is it different?
CM: From a talent standpoint, it’s not nearly as good. If Florida played Grand Valley, we’d lose by 100 points. If Florida played an NFL, team they’d lose by 100 points.

STACK: How can an athlete get noticed by you?
CM: They can send tapes and transcripts and have their high school coach call us and tell us why you’re a legitimate prospect for us. For me, the worst thing you can do is send an email. I get over 100 emails a day; if I responded to every one with a phone call, that’s all I’d be doing every day.