Episodes

  • Season 3 Ep.1: Injuries and Recruiting, Preparing for Social Media Negativity and What's your Worth in Recruiting
    Dec 2 2025

    Season 3 starts with a three topic pod focusing on

    1. How do injuries impact an athlete's recruiting journey?

    2. Have a plan and be prepared for the negativity that is Social Media when entering the recruiting world.

    3. How our PPV formula is meant to simply help show you an idea of your worth in the recruiting craziness to help you get an idea of where you might fit in.

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

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    58 mins
  • Remote from Austin: Catching Up on Recruiting, College Season and More
    Oct 31 2025

    In town for Kentucky vs. Texas and decided to record at one of UT's biggest tailgate spots. It's been a while, so I'm just getting caught up on '27 recruiting topics, '28 Class Preview, and what we learned doing the America's 200 Project. Plus College Volleyball: what we learned.

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

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    1 hr
  • Back to Recruiting: Learning from the Class of 2025
    Sep 12 2025

    We talk about the basics of recruiting for future classes after watching some of the top recruits in the Class of 2025 start their college careers.....on the bench this past month. We reflect back on talking with them during their recruiting processes and their stories.

    1. Did they take their time? 2. Did they do their research?

    3. What can prospects start to learn when watching college vb now?

    4. What questions should you be asking and what research should you be doing if you are a 27, 28 or a 29 prospect?

    5. Why it isn't the coach's fault when you don't play early.

    6. We tell some stories of some perfect culture fits that weren't highly ranked recruits and how they are thriving because they picked culture over anything else.

    7. Plus our college thoughts and early POTY rankings.

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Opening Week Thoughts and Recruiting Continues
    Aug 29 2025

    Thoughts on First Serve in Lincoln and on to Nashville. Talk Vandy VB and more opening thoughts. Plus Class of 2027 recruiting notes and some recruiting prospect updates.

    On your radar, athletes, some staff shout and show shouts to some coaches, making some great presser comments, and more.

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 22 mins
  • What Makes College Sports Great, Staff Shouts, Camp Winners and Characters Wanted
    Jul 28 2025

    I get back on my kick of trying to make college volleyball more exciting again. Pumping up the need for better rivalries and more exciting coaching characters in the sport.

    I point how colorful HC's in other revenue sports fuel rivalries and get "edge spectators" to tune in and spend $ on tickets, apparel and draw additional interest to a program or contest that normally they would not. Still going back to my main point that eventually volleyball is going to need to draw my "Buffalo Wild Wings Crowd" to truly grow and survive and thrive if they want to catch basketball as a revenue sport (at the college level). Also, it's just boring listening to the same old press conference where every coach and every athlete says the same boring rehearsed line time after time.

    Plus we get into staff shouts from the latest recruiting weeks and who has been crushing it at the end of the Select Camp Circuit before we head into Prep VB season.

    Lots of fun banter as the college "fan" in me comes out and I draw up some potential trash talking rivalries that might be fun to see for VB Fans:)

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Todd Chamberlain: Building a Successful Career in the Louisville Family
    Jul 17 2025

    I talk with Louisville Associate HC Todd Chamberlain about many topics in his career at Louisville from: Talent evaluating, to building their culture, treating people the right way, locking down hometown recruits from Day 1, all coaches having valuable say and knowing who they could get and who they couldn't.

    He talks about the early years of building to get a step better and how they struggled to fill their 1000 seat arena in the first year, but they invited anyone who wanted to be a Louisville fan to do so.

    One of the great guys in the sport who has been a part of the recruiting and talent evaluating for the past 8 years. One of the people I have been fortunate enough to meet and know in this sport.

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

    Show More Show Less
    41 mins
  • Episode 22: Recruitology "The study of Program Power Values" how colleges land on the pyramid
    Jun 4 2025

    We explain the other half of the PPV Pyramid and how it came to be. There is the athlete PPV Chart and then the program PPV Chart. Recruitology is the study of volleyball recruiting and it's patterns and predictability. I break down who is rivals with who, what programs tend to recruit where and and why the actual athlete PPV score doesn't matter as much as the Level does. This is a generalized look at my study of program recruiting trends over the past 3 seasons and predicting this class from information gathered through our website and communication with prospects, etc.

    It may be interesting if you are a volleyball recruiting nerd and it may be extremely boring or useless who knows

    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

    Show More Show Less
    53 mins
  • Season 2 Episode 21 Recruiting Myths and Sensitive Topics
    Apr 19 2025

    We dive deep into some sensitive subjects, dealing with hot topics in our world of recruiting and helping athletes and families have the experience that is best for them.

    We tackle topics like athletes being unable to attend Select Camps due to club practice, overpractice, and too long a season, as well as the insane month of June for 16s.

    Then we dive into our yearly topic of WHY would any club ever tell prospects that they ARE NOT ALLOWED to talk about camps they are going to or schools they are looking at ? We discuss why that benefits the athlete and the reasons why the clubs may be doing it in their best interest, not that of the athlete.

    Other topics covered...." Anytime a coach or club person tells you 'you are not allowed to... ' that should probably be a RED FLAG," and why athletes should and need to speak up about their experiences MORE in HS and College.

    This aligns with what we teach in our Str8 Talk Recruiting Series, which focuses on educating people on the process and asking why. This is an individual process that clubs shouldn't have blanket policies on.


    Support the show

    Connect with VB Adrenaline:

    • Check out the website
    • Connect with Darren on Instagram @vbadrenaline.com


    PS- Do you love this podcast? We would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review for the show. This will help us continue to grow and spread the word about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of college volleyball.

    Don't forget to FOLLOW the podcast so you don't miss a single episode.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 11 mins