Taking a post graduate year at a prep school is more prestigious than Junior Colleges when it comes to bridging the gap between high school and a four year university. A post graduate year is where a player can play basically another year of high school football. That year could be necessary for a player to develop better size, speed, and skill. A majority of schools that take post graduates are prep schools in New England. Schools such as Choate, Taft, Deerfield, Loomis, Cheshire Academy, St. Thomas More, and Trinity Pawling are famous for not only their world class academics, but for also receiving post graduates. These New England prep schools offer boarding accommodations, making attending a prep school way easier for athletes all around the world.
However, a post grad year is not a sure bet. Although there are some post grads on the team, the majority of the team is still composed of high school players who have been in the program for years, meaning a starting spot is never guaranteed. Coupled with the fact that a post grad year is only a year, makes attending one pretty risky. Positions such as quarterback, wide receiver, linebackers, and oline and dline players have a much better shot than kickers or deprioritized positions.
The most likely route into these prep schools is to play three years at a local high school (or through your junior year) then reclassify and repeat your junior year at the prep school. A reclassification is basically resetting the clock on whatever year you just completed. The extra year offers players the opportunity to grow physically as well as mentally and prepare them more for college football. Another route taken by postgraduate athletes is to complete a full four years at their local highschool before reclassifying and repeating their senior year.
The risks involved with post graduates are met with the fact that outside of football, these New England prep schools have some of the most competitive academics in the nation. And although they are expensive to attend, they have deep connections with many of the most prestigious four year universities in the nation.