Recruiting 101

Loving the sport that you play at the college level and how vital it is during recruiting

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:10:21 +0000

A while back there was a comment on Recruiting-101 talking about the potential to play college basketball. What struck me as out of place regarding this post was the fact that the person said “he is not really into the basketball scene but think that it is something that he could play in college.” After having played four years of college basketball myself, I find a big problem with that comment.

No matter what sport you play at the college level, the time you are going to have to put in is intense. It doesn’t matter if it Division III, Junior College, or Division I, each player and coach involved logs a ton of hours. And unless it is something that you are going to be into, it may not be a good move to even consider playing it.

At the Division III level of basketball, lets say that you practice for two hours each day for six days a week. That is twelve hours a week from somewhere around October 15th until at least late February (That depends on how good your team is and when your conference tournament is). If all you do is practice those two hours per day, six hours per week, that is 192 hours of basketball.

That doesn’t count watching film, lifting weights for basketball, extra shooting, going to the training room, and talking to the coaches. That is the very minimum of things that you would have to do. For me, unless I really love something, there is no possible way that I can spend 192 hours playing a sport that I am not really into.

This holds true for all sports and is not just a basketball thing. In order to play college athletics, even at the non scholarship Division III level, you have to log a lot of time to be able to get on the court or the field. So unless you heart is totally into that sport, you are going to be wasting your time. I can promise you that this is going to be a lot more serious than playing the sport in high school. The coaches will be more demanding and the class work will take up more of your time as well.

One story that I want to bring up was an athlete who is in the process of following his heart. He was a small school standout in football and basketball but grew up loving hoops. He was a little undersized for basketball but had the perfect frame for football. This athlete started focusing more on the recruiting attention for football and ended up with multiple Division II scholarship offers.

But instead of taking the money, his heart was in basketball. He turned down the Division II schools and decided on playing Junior College basketball. It may not have been the best choice in terms of dollars and cents but this athlete followed his heart. I hope he is able to end up at a great school following his Junior College run because few athletes would have the determination and focus to do that.

With many senior football players and athletes from all sports making decisions over the next month, it is vital that you make sure you know what you are getting into at the college level. These coaches will be pushing you until they can’t push you anymore. They are going to make you into the best athlete that they can but it definitely won’t be easy. And if you want to excel, then you are going to have to put in extra time and hours.

I would take a long look in the mirror before signing up with a school. I have seen it first hand with an athlete going to play a sport at the Division III level and she had doubt going into the process. Once you get to the hard part of the preseason, that doubt continues to get louder and louder in your mind. Every little thing that goes wrong will only make it worse. And while it is great to try something, if you know there is an issue going in, then it may be best not to do it in the first place.

The moral of this article is that unless you can fake your way through hours everyday of something you don’t enjoy, you need to love the sport you play at the college level.

Want to help support Recruiting-101 to keep all of our articles free? Please consider purchasing one of our E-Books today!
Recruiting-101 has written a 51-page E-Book that helps parents throughout the journey of the recruiting process. This includes an example recruiting profile, a step-by-step time line, and much more. It is currently available for sale for only $10.00. Find out more about purchasing the e-book and what else is included by clicking here now!

Are you a junior football recruit who needs direction on where to go from February until August of your junior year? Recruiting-101 has written a 29-page E-Book that breaks down the football recruiting process from Signing Day until Summer of their junior year and is for sale for only $10.00. Find out more about purchasing the e-book and what else is included by clicking here now!

Are you a senior football recruit who needs direction on where to go from August until February of your senior year? Recruiting-101 has written a 26-page E-Book that breaks down the football recruiting process from Summer until Signing day of their senior year and is for sale for only $10.00. Find out more about purchasing the e-book and what else is included by clicking here now!

Recruiting-101 has put together a 25-page e-book on how to Produce a Scholarship Worthy Highlight Video. It breaks down the overall process of creating a Highlight Video and gives step by step instructions for football and basketball recruits. Click here to learn more about the e-book now, which is currently on sale for only $7.50!

For position by position help throughout the football recruiting process, Recruiting-101 has put together a 28-page guide to help athletes get a better feel for what college coaches are looking for at each spot. Click here to learn more about the e-book now, which is currently on sale for only $5.00!

Can you take away the bias on your kids’ athletic ability? Should a parent really try?

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:10:20 +0000

While I do not have kids, I do know that parents think that their kids are the best at whatever they do. It may be in school or sports but they always feel that the son or daughter they raised is the best in whatever they do. My parents felt that way even as I struggled to get playing time on a very talented basketball team.

But when it comes to college, can parents possibly take away the bias and be able to evaluate what level their child can play at in college? My guess is that the answer to that question the majority of times is a big no. This is not a shot at parents who feel that their kid is a sure fire scholarship athlete but an honest feeling that makes it tough to take the bias out of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your child.

Whenever I talk about starting the recruiting process, I always make sure to mention that you should talk to the high school coach and any talent evaluator that does not have any bias in the situation. For the prep coach, his answer will really depend on a lot of things. Is he a straight forward coach who is not going to feed you lines, even if the truth hurts? Few coaches are like that but that may be what you need in the long run.

The problem with parents as well as coaches taking the bias out of evaluating a kid is that few know what it takes to play at the Division I level. I have been in college sports nearly a decade and I can say honestly that I am not always 100% sure what kids will and will not get a scholarship. While some recruiting experts claim they can tell within thirty seconds of watching a kid, they are talking about the top 100 players in the country. But for other athletes who are fighting for Division I-AA and II scholarship offers, it is much tougher to tell.

A recent example of this happened when I posted player rankings for a certain sport and a certain class. I was basically told by three different parents that their son was rated too low but one in particular felt that his son should have been ten spots higher. I also know a lot of coaches who see the rankings and emailed back and fourth with him. This is a Division II college coach and he has seen these players a lot during the summer and the season. Anyways, the coach emails me and says that this kid is overrated.

So on one side of the equation, I have a parent who feels that their kid is underrated and should get the respect he deserves (The kid really was rated pretty high on this list). Then a college coach, the one who may eventually be offering him a scholarship in the next year, says that he is overrated and should fall down the list. Considering that the college coach has zero bias in regards to the rankings, I have to side with him.

This parent has been very rational when talking to me about the recruiting process and the rankings. He just really feels that his son is better than some college coaches and recruiting experts think. However, a big part of his bias has to do with how his son played during events in the summer. Considering that some may not take this summer sport all that serious, and it can be considering a glorified pickup game, that is tough to use as a real indicator.

Some parents may also use a comparison against an elite player. For example, they may feel that their son or daughter had better stats than the Division I recruit that night so they obviously are better overall. The problem with that thinking is the major recruit may have traveled the country on the AAU circuit or ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at football camps. Really, a head to head comparison is not something that should factor in.

I heard from a extremely bias AAU coach a few years back who was telling me how well this player was doing. He was a very good player who ended up with multiple low major Division I scholarship offers. But because he outscored a recruit that had verballed to Michigan, the coach assumed that he would get some major offers just from that game.

As a parent, you need to take the whole body of work into account when trying to evaluate what level your child can play at in college. If he or she plays bad games against good competition, that is likely not a good sign because the next level will be all against good competition. As mentioned, try to speak with as many straight shooters who will tell you the truth. It is important to get a real evaluation that doesn’t over hype them. I know of a recruiting service that seems like every kid rated is a low major Division I to high Division II player. In the end, most of these players end up at the Division III level.

This is a tough period because you are forced to view the weaknesses of the child you spent the last 17 years raising. Some parents are very realistic while others are not. It just happens that way. Again, I don’t have any kids at this point of my life so I can only imagine how tough it would be to take that bias away. It definitely would not be easy but is essential to targeting the right schools in the recruiting process.

I’m a junior with football recruiting interest but I do not have any scholarship offers. What should I do now?

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:10:18 +0000

Like a few of the other series of articles that I have started, I plan to break down what I would recommend to high school athletes in different situations. This will cover football and basketball as well as the year the athlete is and the recruiting interest they have been receiving. This should help those athletes and parents that are confused about the recruiting process and what they are doing.

If you played your junior year of high school football this fall and have been receiving recruiting interest from colleges, then you must be doing something right. It may have been from your coach or from you making an All State list, but your name has gone on the recruiting list for college coaches. There is a much longer process that you must go through to get that eventual scholarship offer but you are off to a good start.

The first thing I would do, if there is interest for it, is put together a highlight video. You can do it yourself, have a coach do it, or even have a site like www.highlight-videos.com put it together for you. If you really feel that you have the skills needed to play at the scholarship level and you want to pursue it, this would be the first option I would do.

When I mentioned if there is interest, I wouldn’t rush putting together a video if no college coaches have expressed an interest in seeing it. As I have said before many times, it is a waste of time and money to blindly send out highlight tapes to college coaches without them asking for it. The chances of getting a scholarship that way are so slim and the majority of your tapes will be tossed into the garbage. If multiple coaches have been asking you for a highlight video, then now is the time to look into your different options.

As mentioned in the five steps to a scholarship offer (CLICK HERE FOR THAT ARTICLE), now may also be a great time to put together a recruiting website. This website will allow you to send college coaches the link to your video and they can quickly and easily view footage of you in action. This saves the money of postage as well as whatever putting the highlight video cost.

If you are happy with the current interest that you have been receiving, now is the time to try and setup unofficial visits. After the holiday break and going into the spring, many schools put together Junior Days. What these include is inviting a number of their junior prospects. Some schools invite the top athletes on their list while other schools invite as many players as possible.

I have seen major Division I schools invite kids who went on to play Division III football or not play at all. This may be a great honor to get invited but it is not a sure fire scholarship offer. Some of these schools mass invite players so that it could help with their camp numbers during the summer. The smaller the group there, the more elite of a prospect they probably think you are.

While on these visits, it is a good time to get to know the coaching staff. If the numbers are low, it is a great time to speak with them about their program, learn more about your position, and have any questions answered. While some athletes are lucky enough to leave with a scholarship offer in hand, the majority do not. Expect the line to keep working hard and come to summer camp to come up if you ask about your current status.

If you have already sent them your highlight tape, chances are good that you will need to come to their camp to get an offer. What makes that part so tough for many is that these camps are expensive. Your parents will be throwing down hundreds of dollars for a hope that you stand out enough to get your college education paid for.

Now is also a good time to start thinking about what camps you want to attend during the summer. If a school has sent you one piece of mail and it is a camp invite, they are not serious about you. There have been some great stories where a player goes to a BCS school and stands out enough to get an offer. However, what normally happens is that a player spends hundreds of dollars and doesn’t end up getting much interest at all from the school.

Talk to your high school coach and anyone with knowledge of college recruiting about what level they think you can realistically play at in college. If they say Division III, chances are that if you are going to a big time camp, make sure to enjoy the experience and not expect to come away with any substantial recruiting attention.

If you are unhappy with your recruiting options, take a look at the website that lists all of the colleges in the country (Click here to see that link, and no I am not getting paid to advertise this, although I wish I was). Anyways, go through that list and see what colleges would be a good fit for you academically, athletically, and socially. Check out what programs they offer in academics as well as how good their football team is. And when you see USC and LSU, just move on.

After finding the schools that seem to be a match, the question now is have you put together a recruiting profile sheet yet (Click here to see the information on it)? If you haven’t, follow that link and put one together. After you finish, what you will do is contact the schools on your list and send them that information. Tell them that you are interested in their school and that it could be a good fit. Make sure to include your stats, contact information, and a link to your website if you have one.

Overall, I think now is a good time to also find out more information about the schools recruiting you. Check Rivals.com or other sites to see what players they have offered at your position. See what other kids in-state that they are recruiting. Also check into the school’s website and what programs they offer. If you know what you want to major in, look into that.

While you do not have any offers, you are in a good situation where colleges are interested in you. Don’t take what you have for granted and make sure to show all of the schools that are recruiting you attention. There is no reason not to at this point, even if you feel you are destined to play Division I. Do not limit your options in the recruiting process (CLICK HERE FOR AN ARTICLE ON THAT).

Signing Day 2012 is here

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:10:17 +0000

With it being the first Wednesday in February, today is the first day of winter Signing Day 2012. It seemed like just a few months ago that the football recruits in the Class of 2011 were signing their National Letters of Intent. It has been a crazy year and the most successful in the history of Recruiting-101.

For those seniors out their signing their NLIs, congratulations. For the seniors who have not yet made a college decision, we will be bringing information about your best plan of attack to find a school. And last but not least, the juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen, we will be giving you the best information to get your skills evaluated by college coaches. This is crucial for a college scholarship. Stay tuned and thanks for visiting the site. Also, if there is anything you are interested in reading about, please let me know!

Can you get an athletic scholarship playing sports at a small school? Will it hurt you?

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:10:16 +0000

One of the biggest myths in the world of recruiting is that just because you play at a small school, chances are low that college coaches will give you a scholarship just because of your competition. But considering that the majority of scholarships seem to be handed out to players from large school, is this a myth or reality?

While the answer to that question really depends on a case by case basis, I am going to say confidently that I don’t think coaches at the next level will discriminate against you if you play at a small school. However, these same coaches may not be as wowed after watching your highlight tape when knowing you are playing against mostly weak competition.

In basketball, it is going to be tough for you to receive a scholarship if all you do is play high school basketball during the year. Even if you average forty points a game, many coaches will think it is inflated stats against bad competition. Unless you are putting up those jaw dropping numbers in a big conference, I don’t know how much it will help in playing at the next level.

Like I have said before, if you are not proactive during the recruiting process, the schools that will come find you are Division III programs. And while I played at that level and there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever, you need to do some work to get your name out there during the recruiting process.

For basketball, if you are a small school player, it is vital that you get on an AAU team that travels the country and gets exposure in front of college coaches. This gives you a chance to showcase your skills against top competition and not against Class 1A opponents. The AAU scene will show to coaches if you can play or not. You basically have little time to impress coaches so this is vital.

A few years back, there was a player in the second smallest class in a Midwestern State who went on to a major Division I University, played in the national title game, and was a lottery pick in the draft. I don’t see this talented athlete playing the blame game and saying that the reason he couldn’t get any looks was because he played at a small school. This standout dominated the AAU circuit and could have played basketball at any college program in the country, Duke included.

Switching over to football, I do feel that the season means more in football than basketball. A highlight tape gives a coach a chance to see how good the player is, no matter what the competition is like. While they may not offer a scholarship based on weak competition, it is obvious to see someone who can flat out play versus someone who can’t. I don’t have much football background and I can see that myself on tape.

What the schools want to see is the players at their summer camps. This gives the coaching staff a chance to work with the athlete, run specific drills, and throw them in one on one workouts to see how they stack up against other competition. If you play at a smaller school, you better get ready because you will be forced to prove yourself on the camp circuit.

Here is a perfect example for you in terms of how much a camp matters to an athlete. Going back to the same Midwestern State as I mentioned earlier, a player playing in 8-Man football eventually received multiple scholarship offers during the spring of his junior year. This player was able to do this after impressing college coaches during the summer at their camp and then sending junior year film. That was enough for multiple schools to offer this player because they had seen the improvement from the summer to his junior year.

Obviously this recruit impressed the coaches enough during the camp that he could play. But even against 8-Man competition on tape, the coaches were wowed into offering an early scholarship. If he had not gone to the camp the previous summer, there is little doubt that he would have gotten the scholarship that early in the recruiting process. College coaches put such an emphasis on camps for many reasons that if you are a small school player, you need to excel at the camps.

Also I would try and get to as many combines and different things to show off your ability as you can. You will receive less accolades as a whole if you are a small school player. But if you do a great job on the camp circuit and show the coaches what you are made of, then you won’t have to worry about if you are playing at a small school or a big school.

Top five things college coaches search for in athletes that they are looking to sign

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:10:09 +0000

One of the reasons that I pose questions on the weekends to users is to get feedback regarding what they want to see on the site. That was the case last weekend and I have already received some good responses on what users want to see. If you do have any other suggestions, feel free to comment on it.

Bryan was nice enough to ask what colleges look for in potential athletes. So I decided to put a whole article about the top five things that college coaches look for in potential athletes at the next level. There are a lot of different options but I can tell you early on that the first thing a coach looks for is the ability to play.

1.) Ability It doesn’t matter what level or what sport but the number one thing that a college coach looks for in a potential athlete is their ability in that sport. College coaches are getting paid thousands of dollars for their job and they must recruit the best athletes they can to remain in that job. This ability trumps every other thing on this list, there is no doubt about that. Why do you think people with question character and bad grades still end up at some of the best schools in the country? It is because they can flat out play and have what it takes to be successful at that level.

2.) Character I haven’t really talked about how important character is during the recruiting process but it is something that could make or break your chance to receive a college scholarship. When college coaches are recruiting athletes, they are almost like private investigators while trying to find out as much information as possible about this potential recruit. The coach will talk to the high school coach, any other coaches that they have, teachers, administrators, and people in the community to get a feel for what type of person you are. If you are a trouble maker, that honestly does hurt your chances of being a scholarship athlete. The coach does not want to recruit that trouble to their school so it may be something that they eventually look away from. The coaches want to be able to recruit high quality kids that help them sleep at night. They would prefer not to worry about who is in trouble at 3 AM on a Saturday night. But as shown by many schools in the SEC, ability does trump character.

3.) Work Ethic A good story I heard once regarding work ethic came from a Division I basketball coach. We were talking about why they offered a certain athlete a scholarship. This athlete was a player from about as small of a school as they come but he was a talented basketball player who had some major size. The college coach knew he was good but what was the tipping point to offer the scholarship? It was when talking with people around the school, he heard that the athlete came in every morning at 6 AM to lift weights. As a high school athlete with other priorities in your life, coming in every day that early really shows something about the type of person you are and how bad you want to succeed. Who wouldn’t have wanted to get an extra hour of sleep and not worry about being sore the next day? That work ethic helped this player be a three year starter and be named All Conference in the Big 12. Not bad considering his level of high school was the smallest in a state that is not considered a basketball powerhouse.

4.) Grades Grades are an essential factor in the college game, especially in the last few years with scholarships being taken away if the graduation rate slips to a certain percentage for the school. The pay of college coaches are sometimes tied in to the graduation rate so that means it is even more important when it is affecting the bottom line. As I have mentioned in other articles, grades are vital during the recruiting process. I say this because if your grades are good, a lot more doors will open for you. If they are bad, more doors will shut for you than anything. Having strong grades (By this, I do mean GPA and ACT/SAT) can help you get academic scholarships that will pay for your education. While it doesn’t always mean it, having good grades does imply at times that you have strong character. And that is another essential factor in what college coaches will be looking for at the next level.

5.) Family I will be completely honest with readers. I firmly believe that the first four on this list are very important to the college recruiting process. But the fifth thing is something I am a little less confident. Maybe I should have changed the list to for factors but I also find it important to talk about family. A college coach wants a family who is supportive of the program, the coaches, and the school itself. Here is a quick example of parents turning off a potential college coach. A college assistant coach attended a high school basketball game to see a kid. Afterwards, the coach waiting to talk to the high school head coach. While waiting, he saw a parent berate an assistant coach for not getting her son enough touches on the basketball court. I may not have said it before but the game ended with their team winning by a large margin. Instead of being happy for the team, she was mad her son didn’t get enough shots. The next day, the college coach called and said that he would no longer be recruiting this player. That shows that having a over anxious family can hurt the recruiting process.

Are there any others that you think I am missing? Let me know by leaving a comment!

How it feels to be committed and have your college decision behind you

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:25:17 +0000

With Signing Day 2012 nearly here, that means a number of the top football players across the country will be getting a chance to sign a Letter of Intent with the school they expect to play for over the next four or five years. But with many athletes still in the midst of the recruiting process, we thought it would be a good time to put a list together. This list is from real athletes over the last few years. Here is what they said when I asked about how it feels to have the recruiting process over with. Again, these are real quotes.

“Oh my God, it is a relief. It was getting a little hectic there for a while but now it is nice to have it behind me so I can relax. I know what I am going to do.”

“I think it helped out a lot. We could really focus on our season and that helped us make our season turn out really well. There were not any distractions to worry about.”

“It is a relief and has definitely been a load off of my shoulders. Not having to put together a a highlight tape for the season has been nice.”

“It definitely feels good. I know (A teammate) was stressing a lot about it in the past couple of months. I haven’t really felt that since mid-August. It is definitely good. I can just enjoy my senior year and not really stress about Signing Day.”

“It has been great. I don’t have anything to worry about so I can just go out there and play.”

“It is definitely a big lift off of my shoulders. It takes a lot of pressure off. Now I can relax and be comfortable with my choice.”

“It feels pretty good and my phone is not ringing nearly as much. I have a lot more time to myself and my family. It is really a burden off my shoulders and mind. It was nice at first but it got hectic towards the end. All I’ve been able to do lately is recruiting and wrestling. Now that it is over, I can focus on the conference wrestling tournament and districts.”

“It is a huge relief. At times, it was pretty stressful but now that it is done it is good to know where you are going.”

“It feels good. It was nice at first but after a while it got old with coaches calling one or two times a week.”

“It feels good because of all the stress. It is nice not to have to take call after call every night when you are trying to do your homework and study for tests. It is hard to tell them you have to study. It was fun at a time but it was kind of a pain because of everything you have with school work. It was a good experience but I am glad it is done with.”

“It is a big relief. I guess now I can concentrate on wrestling and everything. It is nice to have made a decision.”

“It feels really good. I know my parents were always asking me what was going on. It felt like a weight is off my shoulders after you know what is going to happen.”

“It was really fun at the beginning but towards the end it is hard. It is a big relief and I am glad it is over right now.”

“Nice. It is good to get done with all of the calls. It got pretty annoying.”

“It was a lot of fun to do recruiting and I am blessed to have that chance but it is a big relief to have it over with.”

Do you take the athletic scholarship right now that is on the table or wait for your dream school?

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:25:16 +0000

One of the areas that I discussed in the article about taking all five of your official visits is if you should make your college decision based on the offers you currently have or roll the dice by hoping that another school will extend you a scholarship. But what should you do if the school you are waiting has been the program you have spent your life dreaming of playing at?

This question again depends on the situation and you will have to look at a number of factors before making that final decision. And no matter what state you live in, there is a good chance that you grew up loving a state school or another national program that has made a name for yourself. Making that decision will really affect the rest of your life so it is important to really think about it.

If your dream school is really interested in you (And by really interested I mean calls, hand written letters, and a request to come on an official visit), then there is a good chance that at the very least they would take you as a preferred walk on. Being a preferred walk on would be the worst case scenario here and along with that comes a lot of options.

The first depends on the financial situation of your family. Can your family pay for you to pass up a scholarship either by having the money or taking out student loans? As a preferred walk on, you will get the wear the state jersey that you have dreamed of but the financial situation is what will factor in the most. A lot of athletes that come from wealthy backgrounds have no problem spurning scholarship offers to live their dream and walk on at a Division I school. The problem is few people have that type of money to turn down a scholarship. And as I have said here many times, student loans flat out suck.

The next situation is that as a walk on, everyone’s dream is to prove college coaches wrong and eventually become a starter at the school of your dreams. The problem is that the majority of athletes who take this route either never play for the four or five years of their career or end up transferring to a smaller school to play. I would assume if you are considering this, you are the stud at your high school and most likely play every down in football or never leave the basketball court. Whatever the case, you will have to be happy with sitting for at least a few years. Rarely does a walk on come right in and start within the first few years of their college career. It does happen, but not very often.

If you do a good enough job, the school will likely extend you a scholarship offer. But it could be your third year at the school. And with walk-ons, you may receive the offer one year and it may be taken away the next. While all scholarships are a one year contract, coaches are more likely to pull the ride from a former walk on than someone who was offered in high school. It is not fun but really it does happen.

At this time in basically all recruiting processes, your dream school is probably still evaluating you and if you are worthy of a scholarship. They may be up front with you and tell you that you can come there as a preferred walk on. The most likely case is that the school is waiting on other prospects that they have rated higher on the recruiting board to decide. If they pick another school, then you are moving closer to that scholarship offer on the recruiting board.

What is interesting about following the recruiting process of schools is that with the help of sites like Rivals.com and a variety of others, potential recruits and their parents do follow what is going on with the recruiting process. While it is never going to be 100% accurate, this site will give you a feel for who the school is after and who they have offered. The biggest schools have the most in-depth coverage so if Alabama is after you, it would be easy for you to check what defensive backs they have offered and who they are bringing in for visits.

As I have always said, it is important to ask the coaches questions when they call you. If they are serious about you at this point, they should be calling you weekly. Ask them about your status, who is above you on the recruiting board, and if they feel you have a realistic shot at a scholarship. They may up front with you or they may completely feed you lines. You never know. But asking the questions can never hurt in the recruiting process.

In the end, it comes down to money and being able to pay for college. You want to find a school that you love and that has what subjects you are interested in. If your dream school does not have the Engineering major that you want to go into, you need to think about that as well. You will roll the dice waiting for that scholarship offer but sometimes it pays off.

For example, a school in the Midwest is having their potential late minute scholarships/preferred walk ons all on official visits a week and a half before Signing Day. Right now, none of them have made decisions and they all hope that they will get an offer from this school. The problem is, out of the three for sure visiting, I don’t see more than one leaving the visit with an offer. And if that scholarship comes, it may end up coming the day before Signing Day.

It will be a tough decision one way or another. Passing up a scholarship, no matter what school offers it, would be hard. Look into money, your potential major, and your desire to play early vs. going to your dream school.

How to handle athletic recruiting visits from college coaches in order to be prepared

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:25:15 +0000

If you are a sought after recruit, one thing that you must get used to is the fact that you will be getting visits from college coaches very often. These coaches will mostly be coming to your high school but they may also see you in action at one of your games or come to your house for an in home visit.

While a coach will not offer you based on how polite you are, if the staff feels that you are not the type of person they want in their program, they really will move on. Who is going to offer an athlete that is disrespectful of their parents? Chances are high that this athlete will do the same thing to their coaches down the road.

When a coach comes to your high school, you want to present yourself in a positive manner. Make sure to stand up straight because as I have talked about many times, they will be giving you the eye ball test. While legally they cannot say much more than hello, it would be best to be wearing nice clothes. That is tough at times because coaches do come by the school unannounced. However, think of this as the early stages of a job interview. You want the coach to feel that you are a high character person, and for good or bad, they will be looking at your attire when meeting you for the first time.

When speaking with the coach, they may give you a camp brochure or invite you for a visit. Most of the conversation about you will come between your high school coach and the college coach. If you can, speak with your high school coach about the visit and how serious they are about you. Chances are good that the coach may leave the high school with a tape or view the tape with the coach in his office.

There are rules on how often Division I coaches can visit you after games but this is anther important time. Back in my day, the top player on my basketball team would get visits from college coaches all of the time after games. These coaches would wait in line to speak with him. I have seen this many times and even if it happens, do not rush any of the college coaches. They will find it rude and that could turn them off when considering to offer you a scholarship.

Even if you don’t know the coach, make eye contact with him and speak with him about their school. Chances are probably good you have spoken with him on the phone before (At least you hope). They will talk about their season and probably about how you are playing as well. This is just a time to get to know the coaches better.

One of the toughest parts about the coaches visiting is if your team does not win. Honestly, even when I was playing basketball in college, my family knew I would be grumpy for a loss. So even if your team loses, try to be as cordial as possible. No matter if their trip was five minutes or five hours, these coaches drove to see you play in hopes of eventually landing you at the college level. Be nice to the coaches and don’t cop an attitude just because your team lost.

For an in home visit, chances are that the coaches think very highly of you if they are making this trip. While a scholarship is far from a sure thing, it does mean that you are high on their recruiting board if they are spending time to make a trip to your house. This is another time when you want to put your best foot forward. It also gives your parents a chance to learn more about the coaching staff.

When they come for this visit, it is a great time to ask question. Are you concerned about the location? What about their struggles on the court, the field, or the diamond? If those are things that you are seriously worried about, ask them. See what they say about how you would fit into their team and how they would use you. Are they recruiting other players at your position? How is the depth chart?

Unless the visit goes bad (And I have heard some horror stories about the parents eventually yelling at the coaches), they will likely be there to help you with any concerns or questions that you have about their school. This may be the best time to ask questions and learn more about the coaching staff. Talking to a coach over the phone can only help you know more about him just so much. This in home visit is a great time to see what type of people they are.

As with high school visits, make sure to stand tall and wear something that you feel will help you in the long run. If there are questions about your weight or if you have been sick, wear baggy clothes. As mentioned by Ross Tucker in another article, he said wear your big shoes that will help make you look the tallest you can be. That really can help in the long run and is something to think about when they are coming to visit.

Overall, you should be yourself in front of the coaches. If you are putting up a front, they will probably eventually realize it. Make sure to ask questions and learn more about their programs, no matter what level. Don’t just dismiss the coach because they are at the Division III level. When it comes time to transfer from that scholarship school if it doesn’t work out, I can promise you they will remember that.