Home > News > College Football > Rivals now charging high school athletes $499 for evaluation, ranking consideration Ad Disclosure ✕ Ad Disclosure This article/post contains references to products or services from one or more of our advertisers or partners. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products or services. close College Football Rivals now charging high school athletes $499 for evaluation, ranking consideration By Braden Ramsey Published: Sep 24, 2026 · 1:49 PM EDT Rivals, the recruiting service of On3, will now charge high school athletes for an evaluation and ranking consideration. The new “ Rivals Recruits ” program costs $499. “Rivals Recruits is designed to expand the recruiting radar by giving more athletes the opportunity to be seen, professionally evaluated and discovered,” Rivals wrote. “More than 1 million boys participate in high school football… Rivals Recruits allows us to evaluate deeper into the talent pool and help identify athletes who may ultimately compete at the FBS, FCS, Division II, NAIA, Division III and other levels.” 1.04M kids played HS football last season. About 6,600 held a Rivals star rating… roughly 0.6%. That's not a talent gap. It's a capacity gap. Our scouts have always focused on FBS prospects, and FCS, D-II, NAIA and D-III kids rarely get their film watched. Rivals Recruits puts… https://t.co/DWZnrgISOU — Shannon Terry (@ShannonTerry) September 24, 2026 On3 founder/CEO of Rivals Shannon Terry explained the decision on Twitter/X, calling it a move to address “a capacity gap” in scouting. Unsurprisingly, social media didn’t give a singular care about his supposed justification, saying it was out of greed. Sounds like taking advantage of parents who have a kid whom they think is a lot better than they actually are and can afford to pay $500 to try and buy them into the rankings. — RLeopard (@RLeopard300) September 24, 2026 This is disgraceful — Warren Wilhelm (@FormerlyKnownWW) September 24, 2026 Greed is ruining Grassroots, something's gotta give… — adidaskid (@theadidaskid3) September 24, 2026 https://twitter.com/dwightsmartll/status/2103167863423131718 Is this you excusing charging $500 for this? Its complete bullshit. — James Turner (@turnertheburna) September 24, 2026 On3 Executive Vice President Jack Terry tried to demonstrate how the service can be effective on his own Twitter/X feed. He pointed 2029 QB prospect to Colton Dabkowski earning an offer from Tulane shortly after utilizing it. Fans quickly pointed out that Dabkowski was the No. 20 QB in the nation, though, and questioned why he didn’t already have a profile. Others stayed in Terry’s comments to further bash the action. Pay us $500 and we will rank you. Classic scheme — SECSOONER_LIFE (@Sooner_K7) September 24, 2026 Colton held at least one other D1 offer and had interest from several power programs prior to your evaluation. He’s far from the average person you’re targeting. You’re selling a dream to gullible parents who think they’re going to help their kid. Apple doesn’t fall far. — Ryan (@pencerm) September 24, 2026 So y'all weren't scouting the 20th-ranked quarterback in the country with visits scheduled for Indiana, Penn State, Florida State, Nebraska, and Virginia Tech until he paid you? https://t.co/mubBUMzYAc pic.twitter.com/0tlXc11zuv — David Covucci (@DavidCovucci) September 24, 2026 So if you're doing this honestly, it means you'll be taking a whole bunch of $500 checks and handing out 0-1 star rankings. Otherwise, the rankings are going to be skewed with a bunch of upper middle-class 3-5 stars that can't really play, and the entire system will be worthless. — snackson (@jacks_onS) September 24, 2026 On3 acquired Rivals — which was an original venture of Terry’s back in 1996 — in 2025. Braden Ramsey
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