About Us
When it comes to the Nation’s top colleges and programs, the team at Premier Football have the best connections, experience and knowledge on the recruiting process of any college consultants in the country. As former coaches and players for these top programs, our team knows exactly what it takes to make your son’s dreams a reality.
Experience
Our team at Premier Football Consulting have been helping student athletes navigate the college football recruitment process for close to 20 years. Our advisors bring firsthand experience to the table, both in terms of coaching at the college level and with regards to being recruited by and playing for prestigious college programs. We understand how different leagues—and different schools within those leagues – treat the recruitment process, and what it takes to be recruited by extremely selective schools. We also know how to give young men perspective on what It’s like to play college football, and how it is to balance demanding academic and athletic schedules. In short, we can give our clients advice we wish we had gotten in high school. Our team has been involved in the recruiting process from every angle possible, and have mastered the process.
Reputation and Connections
The PFC team constantly interacts with college coaches across the country. Our impeccable reputation has earned us the respect nationwide from both college/high school coaches and parents/players. These relationships with colleges and college football coaches help us better understand the constantly changing recruiting landscape, which helps guide clients to the best possible college fits, both academically and athletically. We are proud to say that over our 20 year history, we have had 100% customer satisfaction.
Personalized + Transparent Strategy/Approach
We believe that every client deserves to be treated with the utmost care and attention to detail. We are not a “mass marketing” firm, looking to take on hundreds of clients. We want to provide time, attention and a personalized strategy to each of our clients, knowing that every prospect is different. We pride ourselves in knowing each student athlete and family personally; our only goals are helping you reach your goals. Please know and trust that the PFC will always be 100% honest with you about everything related to the process. Our goal is to save your family time, money, and stress by providing a transparent POV on every situation you encounter.
Results
Since Premier Football Consulting began assisting promising student athletes with the recruiting process, we have mentored over 1000 student athletes and their families through their college decision process. This is the result of our wide range of experience and connections, our impeccable reputation and our passionate, personalized approach Our tremendous placement history and satisfaction amongst all of our clients speaks for itself! Our players and their families love working with the PFC!
Our Team
Nico Papas, CEO, President
Columbia Football
As an All-State Defensive Lineman, and All-New England Fullback, Nico was recruited to by colleges at every level of play (FBS, FCS D3), before deciding on Columbia (FCS, Ivy League), where he was a four-year varsity player, playing in every game of his career and starting at Fullback. At Columbia, Nico was named as a National Scholar Athlete, as well as the team’s “Unsung Hero” as a Senior. Nico has been involved in the recruiting process both as a player, a coach, and a consultant for the past 15 years, and has worked closely with all of the 1000+ former and present PFC clients. He has built relationships with college coaches from across the country and knows exactly how each different college evaluates their recruits. He previously worked for Hudl, where he sold to some of the Nation’s most reputable football programs and became an expert on the software and the highlight process. Nico is an expert on the recruiting calendar, the financial aid process, and the strategy behind using football to get into the best school possible.
Examples of where Nico’s clients have gone on to play include: Boston College, Army, Navy, James Madison, Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia, Holy Cross, Georgetown, Tufts, UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Pomona-Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, Washington and Lee, Amherst, Williams.
Matt Fratto, Sr Advisor
Harvard Football
Matt is a former 4 Year Varsity Player at Harvard University, where he started at TE. Matt has worked for ESPN’s Scouting division and has traveled the country to some of the nation’s top recruiting events. He also has experience working with a financial aid consulting company, and is an expert on the different forms of aid available at the college level. Matt specializes on high-academic college placements from FBS to the high-academic D3 colleges, and has personally worked with over 200 players who have gone on to play for the nation’s top programs.
Examples of where Matt’s clients have gone on to play include: UCLA, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Middlebury, Colby, Carleton, Case Western, Pomona-Pitzer
Mike Kelleher, Advisor
Former Brown DC
A FCS coach for over 30 years, Coach K was most recently the defensive coordinator at Brown University for 19 years, and before that coached at FCS colleges Columbia, Rhode Island and Maine. He played D1 football at Boston University, and began coaching right after graduation. He has personal connections with hundreds of coaches and programs across the country. His rolodex, experience, and knowledge on the recruiting process (specifically in the Ivy League and other High Academic FBS/FCS programs) is crucial to the PFC’s success.
Examples of where Coach Kelleher’s clients have gone on to play include: Arizona, Wake Forest, TCU, Washington, San Jose St, Penn, Cornell, URI, Stonehill, Amherst, MIT, Wesleyan
Mike Donovan, Advisor
Former coach Harvard, Brown, Delaware and Bentley
Mike Donovan joined the PFC Team in 2023. Mike brings great FCS/Ivy coaching experince from Brown, Harvard, Bryant and Deleware. He was the Defensive Line Coach at Brown University for the last four seasons. During his last two years at Brown, he also served as the Recruiting Coordinator, overseeing the program’s national recruiting strategy. Prior to his time at Brown, Mike had coaching stints at Harvard University (5 years), Bryant University (2 years), and the University of Delaware (1 year). He attended Bentley University and spent his senior year as a Student Assistant with the Football Program. He is currently the Head Coach at Weymouth High School (MA).
Mike’s experience with the recruiting process at both high academic programs and scholarship programs provides our clients with insight into the various possibilities in the recruiting process
Dave Dunn, Consultant
Former Asst Coach at Marshall, Florida Atlantic, Harvard, Colby
Coach Dunn’s college coaching career includes FBS schools Marshall and Florida Atlantic, FCS schools Harvard, San Diego and Indiana State, and D3 schools Colby, Catholic and Becker. He is currently the head coach at Columbus HS in Miami, where he has won 3 state championships in four years.
His knowledge of recruiting at all three levels and college connections throughout the country make him a valuable asset to our PAC team as a consultant.
Mike Foley, Consultant
Former UConn, UMass Asst Coach
Former Head Coach, Colgate
Mike Foley has over 40 yrs of college coaching experience, mostly of it at the D1 level. His most recent stops include UCONN and UMASS, where he was the OL coach and an extremely successful recruiter, having recruited 12 players who have gone on to play in the NFL. His advice in this process is invaluable to players looking to play FBS football.
Tim Fledderjohn, Advisor
Former Springfield, MMA Asst Coach
Coach “Fled” started coaching at the collegiate level first at Maine Maritime as a Defensive Secondary coach and then Outside and Inside Linebackers coach at Springfield College. In 2013 Coach Fled began coaching at BB&N where he served many different roles including coaching the Offensive Line, Run Game Coordinator, Defensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach. In 2021, Coach Fled began coaching for the Junkyard Dogs in the first year of The League where he served as the Special Teams Coordinator and Offensive and Defensive Line Coach.Coach Fled has been an advisor and consultant for PFC for 5 years and brings many years of college and high school coaching background with him.
Examples of where Coach Fledd’s clients have gone on to play include: Michigan, Bates, Rutgers, UNH, Wagner, Trinity, Union, Kenyon, Bates
Kevin Fessette, Advisor
Former Coach RPI, Springfield and Endicott
Coach Fessette joined PFC in 2021. He has extensive D3 college coaching experience and had stints at Springfield, Endicott College, and RPI. He has coached every position on defense along the way; DL, LB, DB, and also served as a special teams coordinator and recruiting Coordinator. He then went on to coach in High School in MA, most notably as the head Coach at Ipswich HS where he won 3 league titles and 3 Coach of the year awards. Kevin grew up in Beekmantown, NY, and did a Post-Grad year at Bridgton Academy Prep where he played Football and hockey. He then went on to play DB and Special teams at Springfield College, where he was an All-Conference Player and Captain.
Coach Fessette is an expert on the recruiting process, and primarily works with skill players, QBs and Specialists (K, P, LS) is also a certified strength and conditioning trainer, and has helped many of our PFC players become more athletic/explosive.
Scott Prince, Advisor
Former Coach, Milton Academy
Coach Prince Joined PFC in 2023. He has extensive experience at the Prep School level, where he has been ian assistant coach at Milton Academy for 10 years. In that time he has coached 5 ISL championships teams including back-to-back undefeated ISL championships in 2019 and 2021. At Milton, Coach Prince is in charge of recruiting players to school and college placement for football players. He has built tremendous relationships with college coaches across the country and has helped over 100 of his players land at top-tier college programs across the FBS, FCS, D2 and D3 levels.
Examples of where Coach Prince’s players have gone on to play include Michigan, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Holy Cross, UNH, Bucknell, Lehigh at Bentley, John’s Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Williams, Amherst.
Dan DiNicola, Advisor
Umass
Dan DiNicola joined the PFC in 2020. He was recruited by Division 1 FBS and FCS programs across the country and ended up at UMass Amherst where he started on the OL. His experience of knowing what it’s like to play at the nation’s highest level is vital to our evaluation process. He now coaches high school offensive and defensive line at his alma mater Dexter Southfield. In his first 3 years coaching, Dan has assisted dozens of players in their recruitment.
Examples of where Dan’s clients have gone on to play include West Virginia. Columbia, Penn, Georgetown, UNH, Fordham
Dante Papas, Advisor
Amherst
Dante Papas joined the PFC in 2020. His résumé includes being an All ISL football player at Buckingham Brown and Nichols School, where he also made the National Football Foundation scholar-athlete team. He was recruited by the Nation’s top Academic Colleges and went on to play at Amherst College where he was a member of the 2014 NESCAC champion team. His experiences of being recruited as a “high band” player and playing small college football is invaluable to our team.
Examples of where Dante’s clients have gone on to play include: Stanford, Williams, Hamilton, Wash U in STL, Bowdoin
