That is a huge problem.  The evaluation period is forty five days.  There are a lot of opportunities for coaches to call you.  And if they don’t, then they obviously do not have you high on their radar.  It may be your dream school right now in your mind but it doesn’t mean it will be in February when you need to sign your Letter of Intent.

If your dream school has not called, the first thing that you must not do is get worked up about it.  What good is it going to do to get mad about the situation?  There is nothing good that will come out of you getting upset.  You do also have to realize that there are still weeks left of the football recruiting spring evaluation period.  I am not trying to get your hopes up but there is still plenty of time to field calls from college coaches.

You may want to send an email or call the coaches yourself just to check in.  That is your call and something that you may want to do if you are getting anxious.  But if you do that, will they call you back later in the month?  Since they already spoke with you, is that something they are going to do?  An email may be the best option because a call may make it fuzzy in trying to gauge the interest that you have from that particular program.

What happens if the month of May flies by and your dream school has not called you?  Unfortunately, this happens to a lot of athletes.  State University recruits across the country but apparently doesn’t think highly enough of you to give you a call?  What this signals is that they are not serious about you and that you need to seriously consider other recruiting options.  State University may be a great place but that doesn’t mean it is the best place for you overall.

I hate to say that you need to cross out your dream school if they don’t call but I would guess that 95% (or more) of the Division I-A (BCS) offers come from schools that call the athletes during the evaluation period.  There are certain exceptions (an athlete being an amazing diamond in the rough, a coaching change, or a player just adding offer after offer) but that number is a reality.

In all of my articles, I have never once said that you should pin all your hopes on your dream school.  It doesn’t matter if you have been going to their games since you were five.  The recruiting process can be a cold business and even if you love a school, that doesn’t mean you will end up getting a scholarship or even an opportunity to walk-on there.  That is why focusing on your dream school and their hopeful call is a mistake.

The focus now should be learning about the schools that are calling, logging the calls, and asking specific questions about what their program has to offer.  If you are lucky enough to get any calls from college coaches (and I don’t care what Division), you should feel extremely lucky.  So take advantage of what attention you are getting and don’t harp on the fact that State University has not called.

And if you are not happy with your recruiting attention, go back through The Five Steps to a Scholarship and market yourself to some new programs.  This would be broadening your horizons and possibly looking into new schools that you had not heard from prior to this.

This was refreshingly honest because I hear athletes try to make up schools recruiting them and not answer the questions that I ask.  With this athlete, he was completely honest the entire time and that made it a great interview.  But what this player said to me regarding the recruiting process really stood out to me.  He said he wasn’t expecting to have quite the junior season of football that he had.  With that, he had no idea what he should do to help himself get recruited.  Now he feels that because he hasn’t learned or been able to look into his recruiting options, he is behind.  What should he do?

Just a little more background on the athlete.  He played his first varsity season on the football team this past fall.  He knew he was going to see playing time but didn’t expect to rush for over 1,400 yards and receive All State honors.  His team also plays in the toughest conference in their State and he did it against some great competition.

So far, this player has received interest from two college programs.  I believe that the main reason he has been hearing from both of those schools is simply because he was named All State last fall.  When you are named All State, you seem to find your way to the recruiting databases of college coaches and get on their mailing list.  I would suspect that is the case.

There will obviously be some questions if he has the speed to play running back at the Division I-A level (BCS) but that doesn’t mean he can’t try and send out some feelers to college coaches.  His high school has sent a number of players to the Division I level so him excelling at this school with a veteran coach who knows the process should help things along.  If I was in his shoes and I had done nothing thus far in recruiting, here are four things that I would do:

• Make/update your recruiting profile (see The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer)
  Getting your name and ability in the eyes of college coaches is a great way to help yourself in the football recruiting process.  This profile is key.  Also, just to let readers know, I am confident that he has finished a highlight video so if he had not, that would have been something I would have added as well.
• Find colleges that fit at all levels (Division I-A, I-AA, II, III, and NAIA) and market yourself to them (see The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer)
  My advice here is to do the second and third steps that I have talked about in The Five Steps to a Scholarship.  Click the link above for more.
• Speak with your high school coach about your college potential and what you should do
  Again, the high school coach has sent numerous players to the college level, and even the Division I-A level.  So college coaches respect him and he likely can help you with the process.  Talk to the coach about what you should do, what level he thinks you can play at, and anything else college related.  Your high school coach should be a great resource.
• Have a quality highlight video put together
  Coaches will want to see you in action from this past season.  If you don’t have one or need one updated, see www.highlight-videos.com for more.
• Sign up for summer camps but be picky about the ones that you decide on
  This is a hard one to decide on.  You want to help get your name out there to college coaches but with none calling or showing serious attention, it is hard to pick.  One option may be to pick two large in-state camps and then call it good.  The reason for this is because these large in-state camps likely have a number of coaches from other colleges working the camp and that will help garner interest from other programs.  You could also pick a few Division I-AA (FCS) or Division II camps as well.  This is tough because you don’t want to be wasting money but need to do something to help put your name and abilities in front of college coaches.

In all honesty, you are behind the ball if you haven’t started marketing yourself and getting your name out there.  But it certainly isn’t too late to get interest from college coaches and be evaluated.  These coaches are always looking for athletes who can play.  And if you can, even if you start late, these coaches will want you and do what they can to land you.  The obvious key here is being good enough.

For those with varsity experience, it is a no brainer to start actively getting yourself involved with the recruiting process.  While it may take away from of your precious time, what will it hurt to start going through The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer?  If you have not logged varsity time at this point, then you have to make a decision whether or not to go ahead with the process and start trying to put your name out there.  It will be tougher with a lack of varsity experience but can be done.

So why should you wait until you have varsity experience?  It is easier to send video and stats to coaches that are strong and against the best competition in your area.  Will you be sending Junior Varsity film out to college coaches?  What about stats?  These are things to think about before going ahead and starting the marketing process.  So before going ahead, try to answer that question.  I cannot answer it for you unfortunately as each situation is unique.  But if you decide to go ahead, then here are some things that you should be doing.

Like previously mentioned, because college coaches cannot send anything more than questionnaires or camp invites until September 1st of your junior year, gauging their overall interest is nearly impossible.  The only way that you will get a good feel for it is if they offer a scholarship to you through your high school coach.  And honestly, that is rather rare for a Division I college program to feel comfortable enough to offer a scholarship this early in the process.  I would assume it happens to no more than two hundred prospects in each class, if it even reaches that high of a number.

With summer football camps quickly approaching, it would definitely benefit an athlete at this age to get to at least one.  The reason is simply because getting college coaching at these camps is something that can really help you develop.  Because you have no idea what schools are really recruiting you, it is difficult to try and go to camps simply on the amount of recruiting attention that they have been showing you.  What you should go to camps are should be based on if you have heard good recommendations in terms of a teaching camp or if there is a school you have dreamt of playing for.  A good camp that can help you get better is essential.  And also getting a chance to see what your dream school is like is worth it if money is not a factor.

If you are attending camps, there is certainly no reason to be worried about going to just one day at each camp.  The reason why you are going to these is to improve, work on your skills, and possibly help yourself in the recruiting process.  But don’t count on helping yourself very much overall.  You need to go in focusing on becoming a better player, not hoping to get an early scholarship offer.

One other thing to think about specifically this month is the potential to speak with college coaches.  If you are at a larger school and your coach thinks that you are a legitimate prospect, then he may be calling you to his office to say hello to the college coaches.  These coaches will definitely be giving you the eyeball test, saying hello (because that is all they can do according to NCAA rules), and probably giving you a camp brochure.  As I said before, wear the big shoes during the month of May so you can pass the eyeball test.

After getting all of this in line, then I would strongly recommend going through The Five Steps to a Scholarship.  Create a recruiting profile, find schools that match you, and then market yourself to the programs.  Getting into their recruiting database early is something that will be a plus overall in the football recruiting process.  It allows you to be evaluated and that is a key step to get a scholarship offer.

Should you do the highlight video and the website?  That is definitely your decision.  I would strongly recommend it for juniors but it is not needed as much for sophomores and freshman.  It certainly could help you get your ducks in a row early but it just depends on your resources overall.  If you have the skills or the money to do it, then go for it.  If not, you will not hurt yourself all that much without them.  But start thinking about doing them as a junior so either start saving or learn some computer skills.

Recruiting-101 decided to take a look at the costs for those going through the football recruiting process, basketball recruiting process, and baseball recruiting process.  If you are going to be handing off the services to others, you will be spending a great deal of money.  Then again, it really depends on how much you know and how much you want to get involved.

Here is the breakdown for a number of different things you obviously are going to want to do to get ahead during the recruiting process.  Some vary to the three sports that I mentioned above but many are actually similar overall.

Three Day Football Camp – $300 plus
If you are going to be staying on campus at the football camp and eating there for meals, then it is not going to be cheap.  I always recommend speaking with the coaches about possibly going to one day of camp to save money.  Most college coaches have the ability to recognize if you can play or not rather quickly.  If you decide to go to all three days, you may be funding an assistant coach to get their kitchen redone.  They probably should be thanking you.

Elite Basketball Camp – $100 plus
If you are good enough to be invited to an elite basketball camp, the coaches will keep the price tag down because they want to get as many recruits as possible on campus to see the school.  But then again, are the coaches just using you to have the numbers to hold this elite camp (Click here for an older article on this)?

Baseball Showcase – $150 plus
Are you a baseball recruit waiting to get out and play in front of the eyes of college coaches?  Then you definitely will need to go to at least one baseball showcase.  These are huge during the baseball recruiting process.  Playing well in front of a coach at this can really make or break the recruiting process for you.

Nike Football Camp – Free
The Nike football camps may be free but you are failing to add in the costs of gas and food along the way.  I know some recruits that traveled ten hours to get to an event like this.  That would not be cheap with the price of gas these days.

Quality Highlight Video – $400 to $3,000
This has a very broad range simply because some parents think that their athlete needs to to have a Hollywood production team putting this together.  The truth is that the coaches are looking to see the player showcase his or her skills on the field.  The smoke and mirrors introduction is not going to get you a scholarship.  It is going to fund the person who made the film (www.highlight-videos.com for more).

A personal website for the athlete – $300 to $1,000
Depending on how high tech you want to get, these can cost a great deal.

Recruiting Service $500 to $5,000
These can really start to cost a lot over the long run.  Some services are cheaper and while others are expensive.  Is it worth it?  I think the biggest key is it comes down to time here.

Junior Day Visits – Free
Again, these ones will really add up when you think about gas, possible accommodations, and food along the way.    The colleges will take you around their campus, feed you, and possibly bring you to a basketball game.  But you are fitting the bill to get to the school and everything involved there.

Phone calls from coaches – Depends on your phone plan
If your child is a sought after recruit and has a lot of schools interested in them, you may need to seriously think about their phone plan.  While texting is now illegal, the college coaches will be calling every second that it is legal (And Kelvin Sampson will be doing the same when it is not legal).  Again, it depends a great deal on the sport, how much interest they have, and if they are a social butterfly.  But this really can add up over time.

Official Visits – Free for the athlete
They may be free for the athlete but every well informed parent wants to make the trip.  So you will either need to fire up the car or take a plane with your child.    Unless you live in the same city, it cannot be cheap.

These are just a few of the things needed to consider before going through the recruiting process.  If you have some computer skills and time, there are some of these steps that you can avoid.  Keep these in mind when things start heating up for you!

But lets say you received a lot of interest from schools via the phone during May and you attend their camp.  While you may think you did outstanding, how exactly do you know that you have been standing out against the stellar competition?  Outside of receiving a scholarship offer, there are important things in each sport that show you have excelled against your opponents.

In football camps, the main thing that the coaches will do if they are pleased with a handful of prospects is pull them aside away from the bigger group.  What the coaches are usually doing is having the best among that group go head to head and see how they react and respond when going each other.  These talented prospects are no longer going against kids that hope to start varsity the next season.  They are now going against potential college players.

This happens very often at the line positions.  As I have mentioned before, it is very easy to figure out the top few linemen at a camp where they go 1-on-1.  The coaches may pull aside the linemen and have them battle better prospects on the side.  While it doesn’t mean a scholarship is in the bag, it does show that the coaches have been watching you.  And now you will have the opportunity to go against more talented competition.

Please note that all coaches are going to tell you throughout the camp that you are doing a good job.  With the money that you spent to make an appearance there, don’t expect them to tell you suck and that you are wasting your money.  Basically what I am saying is don’t put too much stock into what a coach tells you during drills.

Some camps may also hold the top prospects back after the day and have them tour the campus.  If the coaches eventually feel that you are good enough for the offer, they want you are familiar with the school as possible.  They use this approach in both football and basketball camps so them inviting you to stay later for a tour is usually a great thing.

In basketball camps, what a lot of college coaches will do is have their own players work the camps.  The majority of the camps then will have games at night where the college players are playing pickup basketball.  If a recruit does really well and shines during the camp, he will be asked to play that night against the college competition.

If you get that chance, let me stress that there is a huge difference between college and high school basketball.  It will be a big change for you but you might as well give it your all.  I have seen many college basketball coaches do this so they can get a feel for the player.  Afterwards, the coach can talk to his players to see what they thought about you.  While watching is a great tool, hearing from someone who just competed against you may be even better.

And the final indicator of a fantastic performance following a camp is having the head coach bring you into their offices (Expect huge offices for Division I coaches) and eventually offering you a scholarship.  If that is not the case, get ready to hear the most over used line in recruiting.  We will keep evaluating you and your progress this fall.

So with that in mind, it is important that you do everything you can to finish the spring evaluation period strong.  So what can I do to accomplish that?  Here are a few things to think in regards to this and the upcoming football recruiting camp circuit.

In all of these situations that I will be speaking about, I am going to hypothetically say that you received calls from multiple college coaches and had many assistant coaches stop by your high school as well.  If you received zero calls (the most important indicator of serious recruiting interest at this point outside of a scholarship offer), I hate to say this but you need to start over at square one.  Go back to The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer and start the marketing process once again.  Chances are very, very, very, very slim (this needs to be stressed) that you will get an offer if a school doesn’t call.  While I may be saying there is a chance, the ship has likely sailed for that program.

Now going back to more a more positive spin, if you had been logging the interest from college coaches, you should have a great feel as to which college coaches stopped by the high school as well as which ones called.  While some coaches do wait until the end of the month to call, you need to think seriously about if their interest is genuine in you or not.  If a college coach called and came to the school, then they mean business and really want to see you at their camp.  If they stopped by the high school and made sure to give you a camp invite (which is worth as much in the recruiting process as the paper it has been printed on), then don’t waste your time.  They are trying to boast camp numbers rather than seriously look at your abilities.

If you really want to put your best foot forward overall, what you can do is log the coaches that visit the high school/call you.  After finish speaking with them, look up their contact information on their athletic website and send them a thank you email.  If you have not already sent your profile and a video link, you definitely should do so.  Thank them for stopping by the school and taking the time to evaluate you.  While it may not be a sure fire way to a scholarship, the number of athletes who do this have to be miniscule (my guess is that they may think it is the parents doing it).

I have talked about how the recruiting process should be compared to a job interview.  Many recommend that you send a thank you letter following interviews.  While this may not be as serious as a full fledged job interview, there is no doubt that a coach will likely remember the small amount of athletes who send a thank you email/card following the visit.

Hopefully by now you have made a recruiting highlight video.  If not, this is something you honestly need to take care of as soon as possible (see www.highlight-videos.com for more).  The reason is simple.  College coaches do not have the time and patience to be watching a full football game.  They usually either want a prospect to have a scholarship offer from another school or they want to be wowed on the highlight video before watching the full game.

If you have a recruiting highlight video, do what you can to find a way to make a profile online and upload your video.  Being able to send a link to a college coach, regardless of what it is at, is something that is a huge time saver.  If they think you can’t play from the online highlights, it at least saves you time and money involved with sending it.

Try to speak with your high school coach about where you stand with the schools that visited.  Hopefully you have developed a solid relationship with your own coach at this time.  It should allow you to speak with him openly about the college coaches and what they think about your ability.  Your coach should have some great insight overall.

Outside of that and finalizing your summer camps, the key is to continue working hard and prepping yourself mentally and physical for an exhausting few weeks.  The camp circuit is not easy so preparation and finding time to rest is key.  Hopefully you will do well enough at those camps that the football recruiting process will take care of itself.

The problem that some feel when keeping their options open for multiple sports is that this question mark at the next level may scare away coaches. Would college coaches really not recruit a kid for basketball if they thought and/or heard that this athlete was going to go play football in college?

That is a tough question to answer but I feel strongly that the answer is no. What I have always written about in the past and will continue to do so is to keep your options open in the recruiting process. And while I have talked mostly about smaller schools that you may overlook early on, I am also talking about recruiting attention for other sports.

Here are a few examples of this coming up in the past. An athlete known for basketball early on ended up scoring nearly twenty points a game on the court in his freshman year and was playing with the top AAU team in state. He played football because he was an exceptional athlete. By the time he was a senior, he had Division I basketball and football offers to choose from.

In the end, this athlete had bigger and better options on the football field. He spurned the Division I interest and attention he received for basketball and went with his best options. This shows that if you are good enough, college coaches in multiple sports will offer you. They are not going to shy away from a recruit if he is also looking into another sport. The coach should realize that although it may not help them, the more options an athlete has, the better.

The best way to make sure that college coaches know that you are considering multiple sports is to let them. Email and/or call them and tell them that you are very serious about both sports and want to see what sport helps open more doors at the college level. Communication in this will be key.

At the Division III level, I know and have heard in the past that college coaches will back off of athletes because they are focused on another sport. But if the athlete lets it be known that he is looking at multiple sports, that at least keeps the door open. Then it depends on what other schools are recruiting him and are after him.

Obviously in order to do this, you need to be really good at both sports with a lot of potential. Don’t tell college coaches that you are considering basketball but was the eleventh man last year on the team.

This is another step to keeping your options open in the recruiting process. It may take more time (Sending out recruiting info) and money (Making multiple sport highlight videos) but if you are serious about both sports, it may be worth it to put the effort into it.

Regarding this topic as well, it always seems that the best athletes are the ones who can play multiple sports in college at a high level. Just look at Terrell Pryor. He is the number one rated football player in the country and rated among the top fifty basketball players. I would trade just about anything to be that good in either sport yet he is that talented in both.

And while I have talked about it before as far as what mail a college coach can send a sophomore, I decided to talk about it a little more in-depth.  This articles takes a look at what college coaches can do in terms of visits, calls, mail, and contact outside of the campus during the football recruiting process.

What kind of football recruiting materials can I receive from Division I coaches?
Throughout your entire sophomore year, the only items that college coaches are legally able to send you are camp brochures and questionnaires.  As I have mentioned before, if they are sending you hand written letters, then it is a direct violation of NCAA rules.  It is also very important to take the time to fill out the questionnaires so that the college coaches will have your contact information.  In many cases, the colleges will send these to your high school.  Once you fill it out, they will likely send future mail to your house.

Can I receive calls from Division I coaches?
The simple and easy answer is no, you cannot.  There is not time during your sophomore year that a Division I football coach should be calling you.  If you have their number and want to speak with them, you are allowed unlimited calls at your own expense.  If a college coaches really likes a prospects, what the college coach may do is call your high school coach (Which is legal) and have the high school coach tell you to call the college coach.  However, they should not be directly calling you this early in the football recruiting process.

Can a college coach make off campus contact?
The college coach legally should not be making any contact with you off campus.  He should not be seeing you at the school or watching you compete during the spring.  But with the coaches wanting to see juniors and visiting many schools, these things do happen.  But if you are going per NCAA rules, they should not be.

Can I make official visits?
No and there is not much else to say.

Can I make unofficial recruiting visits?
You are allowed as many unofficial visits as you would like to take.  The top sophomores are sometimes invited to Junior Days so that you can learn more about the coaches, the facilities, and their program.  When you do make the visit, they are allowed to speak with you about any number of things.  But it is you paying for the trip that allows this to happen.  There are some rules on the amount of tickets and games that prospects can go to but if you are just coming to visit the school, you can come as much as you want.

Note: NCAA rules will be changing in August and will open up the recruiting process a great deal going forward for sophomores.

But like most athletes, you would love to see that offer list grow even more so that you will be given more opportunities as where you would like to attend college. Scholarship offers breed other offers and the fact that you have them this early will help you at camps and combines. The coaches and experts will take a longer look at you because you have a scholarship offer behind your name.

In regards to those camps, you need to make a decision as to which ones you want to go to. Now is a great time to try and figure out where you want to go during the June camp period. The biggest thing that you must figure out is if you want to learn more about the schools that offered you or try to impress other college coaches at schools that are just recruiting you and have yet to offer.

The reason that you go to the schools that have offered is to get to learn more about the coaches. You would get a chance first hand to see how they coach. While some may not be as intense as they normally are, you should be able to get a good feel for how they coach. There will also be down time when you get a chance to learn more about the coach himself and what type of person that they are. The coaches will definitely use this time to build a bond that can help them later on in the recruiting process.

The good news about attending other college camps is that with offers in your back pocket, the school will take a much longer look at you. Without those, they may evaluate for a brief time and then move on. An offer makes them think about why another school wants you that bad. And if you are at their camp, it does show that you are interested enough in their school to drive their and pay for camp. This is a big benefit for both parties involved.

You also may make the decision to save the money and not attend camps. If that is the case, then you should use part of your summer to take college visits. Although you won’t get a chance to see the coaches getting after it on the field, you will be able to build a relationship in person with the coaching staffs. If you have the time and resources, it may be worth going to the schools that have offered and a few that have not. When at the schools that are still evaluating you, ask them what you can improve on and what you need to do to a get a scholarship from their school. Yes, these are not easy questions to ask but definitely worth it in the long run.

If you are unhappy with the current crop of schools that have offered and are recruiting you, it may be time to go back to a few important steps in the recruiting process. As I wrote about in the five steps to a scholarship (CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE), you need to start searching for schools that match you (Step #2) and also market yourself to those schools (Step #3). If you haven’t already done so, you may also want to build a recruiting profile as well (Step #1).

These steps give you an opportunity to be the one contacting the coaches. While a school like USC may not show that much interest, having a Division I offer already does help open some eyes when you contact them. Tell them why you are interested in their school and that should help matters. You may also take the time and contact your dream school that you grew up watching. It may not lead to anything but you just never know.

When looking at your scholarship offers, if you basically know where you want to go to college and that school has extended a scholarship, you might as well verbally commit. Make sure that you are sold on the school as well as your family because you should not be committing and changing your mind later on. You can now spend part of your time helping to recruit for that program.

Again, you are in a great situation where you can pick and choose what you do. Take your time during the process and research all the schools that are recruiting you. That should help you break things down and get closer to that eventual college decision.

First off, why are calls so important?  I will say that at least 95% of athletes who get Division I-A/BCS offers get calls from the colleges during the spring evaluation period.  There are exceptions but again, at least 95% of these eventual offers come from schools that call at this time.  If you think State University is serious and could offer, a call is nearly a must.

If you talk to a junior football recruit in the month of March, they can talk about how great their Junior Day visits were, how they have gotten so many camp invites, and all the hand written mail that they have received from college coaches.  Each of these cannot hold a candle to how much a call means.

First off, some schools invite hundreds of athletes to Junior Days.  While it is a cool experience to see the school, most colleges are covering their bases by mass inviting as many athletes as possible.  You might as well light camp invites on fire because they mean nothing.  They are a money grab from the college coaches.  They know that certain athletes will go to the camp just because you send them an invite.  It doesn’t mean anything.

As for hand written letters, it definitely won’t hurt anything to receive them.  But you really have no idea who exactly wrote them.  And if they are taking this time to write a hand written letter, why wouldn’t they touch base with you over the phone?

Phone calls are vital because it means that a coach at that school is actually taking the time out of their busy days to touch base and show how important you are as a recruit.  It may last five or ten minutes but it shows that you are high enough on their board to show that attention to.

Some colleges will wait until late in the evaluation process to call but I can figure out very quickly what level a college thinks a player is.  All you have to ask a junior football recruit is what colleges have called you since April.  You will often see the athletes shift the question and talk about how he talked to one school and how another visited the school.  What really matters is the call.

I have wrote it many times before but if you are going to major Division I-A/BCS camps this summer and your calls are from Division I-AA/FCS schools, then you are likely wasting your money at the camps.  The reason is because these bigger schools don’t consider you, at least at this point, to be a serious recruit.  They may invite you to campus, send mail, and say you need to come to camp.  But in the end, if a call doesn’t come, you are risking a large sum of money for nothing.