Predicting Athletic Success: Factors Contributing to the Success of NCAA Division I AA Collegiate Football Players

The recruiting process within the United States collegiate football culture calls for coaches to identify prospective student-athletes who would be most successful at their institution. Humara (2005) argues that while coaches are experts in the identification of physical attributes needed for success, they may lack the ability to identify psychological skills. In addition, Niednagel (2004) would contend that environmental factors also contribute to the athletes’ likelihood of success in sport. Participants were 108 male football players (35 linemen, 18 tight ends/linebackers, 47 skill players, 8 special teams) from 6 teams in a NCAA Division I Southeastern conference. Using multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis, the current research attempted to determine factors from demographic information, the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, and the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28, that most accurately predicts starting status in United States collegiate football players. Results showed that there was a significant difference between starters and non-starters for age, high school size, and coping with adversity, that predicted starting status 79.6% of the time.