Ryan HunterWhen did you know you wanted to play college lacrosse at the D1 level?
I think I knew I wanted to play college lacrosse when I was in the 7th grade. My high School coach, Coach Calabria, has really helped me get to the next level in becoming a D1 lacrosse player.

When did you start the recruiting process?
We started sending emails to coaches the spring before my rising sophomore summer. I was lucky enough to have some game tape from my freshman season so we signed up with SportsRecruits.com and sent them some highlights and they did it all for me.

How did SportsRecruits.com help you with the recruiting process?
Once the highlight video was done we sent emails out to a lot of college coaches right from the website telling them about my freshman season and my upcoming rising sophomore summer schedule with the link to my video and profile right on the email.

Tell us a little bit about your visit to Ohio State?
When I toured Ohio State it felt like I was visiting an NFL training facility, from the weight room and training room to the locker room and the new lacrosse stadium. They even have an indoor turf full field with bleachers to practice and play games in when the weather is bad. I went to the football game with 105,000 screaming jumping fans and the coaches brought me down on the field during warm-ups. It was an amazing experience.

[wp_lightbox_ultimate_inline_content_embed div_id=”450″ anchor_type=”image” title=”Ryan Hunter Highlight Reel” text=”click here play video” source=”http://sportsrecruits.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/0_gpb20s5o.jpg” width=”240″ height=”180″ auto_popup=”false”]

What did you really like about the Ohio State?
One of the big factors in my decision was that I felt Ohio State is a school I would choose even if I didn’t play lacrosse. I loved the big time football school atmosphere and though it is a huge school it seemed really easy to get around. Coach Myers spoke to me about the team being a close family and what they are building at Ohio State and where they see an opportunity for me as a lefty attackman. I knew right then in his office that this is where I wanted to play lacrosse.

Now that you have locked in your college choice, what are your goals for your junior and senior year of high school?
Now that this process is over I can focus on taking the SAT’s and keeping my grades up and getting more time in the weight room lifting and speed training. On the field I want to work on my dodging and feeding.

What advice would you have for a player just starting the recruiting process?
As a freshman make sure you get your coach to recommend you for rising sophomore recruiting camps. My high school Coach Calabria really guided me on a lot of this stuff. If you are not on varsity it may be hard to get video but it seems like the camps and tournaments are starting to offer it so make sure you take advantage of that and then have SportsRecruits set you up with a highlight video and profile to send to the coaches and tell them you are interested in their school.

Were there any surprises throughout your recruiting process that you were not expecting?
Yes, it’s a lot tougher than I thought. All the DI schools and coaches are great but there is so much competition for just a few spots so you need to have a good amount of schools to look at.