Jake Williams’ favorite position to play in baseball is shortstop. He can also step in as a right-handed pitcher or play third. His infield throw is 94 miles per hour. He also has a 4.4 GPA and a 1440 on his SAT. All of this information can be found on his sports resume.
Williams was in the 10th grade when he went to his dad and said he needed videos to bulk up his chances of getting recruited to play college ball. But instead of uploading videos to YouTube and emailing those out to coaches individually, he started MySportsResume, an online portfolio that gives students a platform to showcase their academics and athletics.
The website lets students upload video highlight reels, show off key stats and plug in their GPAs and standardized test scores. Unlike other recruiting pages where a coach might be updating a student’s profile, mySportsResume gives high schoolers complete control over the content.
“After I started to see some feedback on the resume platform from the schools, that’s when I kinda realized ... this is going to help me, [and] it could help other people too,” Williams, 18, said.
Williams, a senior at Franklin Regional high school, described the site as “LinkedIn for high school athletes,” connecting student athletes to college coaches. The site offers free access for students to search a database of schools based on location, size and other demographics.
With help and funding from his dad, Williams opted to turn the website into a nonprofit, so it’s free and benefits students. Currently, they have about three dozen students across eight sports from schools in Western Pennsylvania.
“Ultimately down the road, I think this could really change the way high school athletes get recruited to go to school,” Williams said.
Williams said he's gotten multiple offers to play collegiate baseball and is now trying to decide where he'll go to school next year.
