Goal setting throughout the athletic recruiting process and how it will drive you

As my wife can attest to, I enjoy setting goals and writing them down on paper. I think it allows me to focus on a number of different things that I need to do and keeps me on task as well. My lists of goals on a regular basis didn’t start until after I was graduated from college and I was working full time.

But goals can be used everywhere, including throughout the athletic recruiting process. When I talk about these goals, I am going to leave playing ability in your sport of choice out of the question. The reason is because it is obvious that you will have to put in a ton of time to play at any college so that should be a given. But for helping yourself in the recruiting process, goals are crucial.

My recommendation for athletes is to focus more on the short term goals. Yes, you can have long term goals of playing college athletics but it is tough because everyone wants to write down the Division I goal. The problem is if you do that, will that sway you into having Division I eyes and not looking at any other college options? So short term goals it is!

As an athlete who has logged varsity minutes and wants to get started with goals, think about some short term things that you can do. Here are six goals that I feel are vital to help yourself throughout the athletic recruiting process:

1.) Put together a recruiting profile
2.) Research schools in your state/surrounding states
3.) Send introductory emails to the college coaches that have what you are looking for athletically and academically
4.) Keep a list/build a database to track the coaches that you have contacted
5.) Put together a highlight video/hudl video

For the most part, these really are things that I seemingly talk about all the time. The reason is that they are methods that have worked in the past and will continue to work into the future as well. If you haven’t done these, then what are you waiting for?

There are two keys to maintaining the goals that you set for yourself. The first is to write it down. If you think about it internally and that is all, then what will it matter if you never end up doing it? That is why writing it down is so essential throughout the athletic recruiting process.

The second is after you write your goals down, you need to get started on them within 48 hours afterwards. So if you would have written down your goals today at noon, then by Wednesday at noon, you will have needed to do something about them. I am not just talking about looking into how you should make a recruiting profile. I am talking about taking the steps needed to either get the job done or have it nearly finished.

After you finish that goal, then you should take the time to move on to the next goal. For these six, these honestly should be done in order. That will allow you to move on to the next and keep progressing with these steps. Also, if you are unhappy with the lack of responses from the schools (after multiple attempts), then start researching the schools again and find more programs to look into.

Also, try to involve your entire family in this so that there is more than just one person helping you to achieve these goals. Your parents or a sibling may be willing to help you achieve your long term goal of playing college athletics. But first, there will be a lot of short term goals that must be achieved.

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More than one athlete on a team can play at the college level and why the better the team, the better for recruiting overall

A few weeks back I got an email from an athlete talking about a teammate. His teammate has much better college potential because of his size along the offensive line and college coaches have taken notice of that. What this teammate did, in my mind, was very questionable.

He basically just emailed me destroying the teammate and his abilities. He hyped himself up in the process but the overlying theme that I got out of the emails was his lack of respect for his teammate. And for the record, his teammate is getting early Division I attention at this point. I don’t know if there is jealousy involved or what but it didn’t sit well with me.

The last thing an athlete should do is basically throw a teammate under the bus. I don’t care how much you hate him or don’t respect his skills/work ethic in your sport. It just should not happen and it makes me question in a huge way the overall attitude of this athlete.

What this player needs to realize is that just because he has a teammate who is going to be playing in college and is a football recruit, it won’t be stopping him from following the same path if he has the skills. If anything, having a recruited teammate may actually be a benefit to both parties involved.

When the evaluation period starts and say State University comes in to talk about Recruit A, their high school coach may talk about Recruit B and his abilities as well. The coach will likely call both of them down to “bump” into the college coach and just say hello. This gives him a chance to potentially pass the eyeball test.

Chances are that if you have two or more recruits on your team, that you are going to win more games than a school that has zero recruits (this does depend but it normally the case). The more games you win, the better chance you have to play in front of college coaches deep in the playoffs. And the more success you have, the better your chances for potentially being named All Conference and All State. These honors are not needed to get a Division I offer but they certainly help matters.

Two recruits can also help reduce travel expenses. I know that there are some families that have emailed me about saving money during the recruiting process. One great way is to have a teammate or someone in your area who you befriend. When there are Junior Days or unofficial visit, you can bum a ride from them instead of having to fit the travel bill all yourself.

If you don’t know any of the other players at the visit, having a teammate there will certainly make things more comfortable. That is at least until you meet some other people there. So really, it is important to realize that having another teammate being recruited can be a good thing. If a school has enough talent, scholarships will be extended often.

 

 

 

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Being prepared: The importance of April & May for junior football recruits across the country

There is no doubt that before May of your junior year in high school, it is extremely difficult to really gauge how interest college coaches are in you as a prospect.  I receive that very question quite frequently from families throughout the country.  How can I judge what college coaches are serious about me as a recruit?  And as I have said many times before, it is difficult to tell before the month of May.

Before May, these coaches are limited to the amount of contact that they can have with you.  Their could be letters, questionnaires, camp invites (which I obviously love), game day invites, Junior Day invites, and things along those lines.  They can also offer scholarships and in a lot of cases with their top recruits they do.  But unless they have offered you a scholarship, the first time you can tell what programs are serious about you as a football recruit is during the month of May.

The major thing that college coaches can do during May is call junior prospects.  Before this month, they are rather limited to the amount of attention that they can show these recruits overall.  But once the college coaches start making calls, then it is much easier to get a good feel for what schools are actually recruiting you and not just trying to pad their camp numbers.

So why do these calls mean so much?  I know there are exceptions but I am willing to say that 95% of the athletes who end up with Division I-A football scholarships from colleges get a call from the colleges during the month of May.  There are obvious exceptions but they are rare.  If a college is serious enough about you to offer and you are on their radar this early in the process, there is no doubt in my mind that they will call.

I have said many times before as well that you should wait until mid to late May to figure out where you want to attend college football camps.  The reason is because this month gives you a good feel for what schools are serious about you and which ones are not.  You may have been an All State player as a junior who received camp invites from ten schools.  But if only three called during the month, then you should know that there are only three schools that are serious about you as a player.

If your entire intent of the summer football camp circuit is to get a scholarship offer, then there is no need to go to a camp (and especially independent combines that I hate) unless they call during May.  College coaches need these numbers high because it helps supplement their income.  Many athletes consider that camp invite to show that they are seriously recruiting you.  As I have said many times, they are not.

The other vital part of May (and late April as well) is that these college coaches will be making visits to the high schools.  While the head coaches are not longer able to make the trips, assistant football coaches throughout the country will spend a good portion of the month scouring the country for talent.  But let me stress that a high school visit from a college coaches does not mean nearly as much as a call from the coach.

These coaches try to get into the doors of as many high schools as they can.  Many of these college coaches have also established relationships with prep coaches so that they visit them every spring.  That happens all around the country.  A few years back I even heard about UCLA making visits to some of the smaller states in the Midwest.  Do you really think the Bruins were going hard after some Midwest athletes?  They are just making the rounds and possibly opening some doors down the line.

May really is an exciting month for junior football recruits.  For those getting the calls that they want, you will finally get a feel for what schools are serious about you.  For those not hearing from the schools that they want, it is a great time to start looking at lower levels and opening the recruiting process.  I plan to write about this more later but all is not lost if you were hoping for more calls and visits.  It happens and doesn’t mean you won’t get to play college football.  It may mean you won’t play it at the highest level, but that isn’t always a bad thing if you have Division I eyes.

 

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Athletic Recruiting Misconception: I just sent out my highlight tape and expect to hear from all of those coaches soon

Just to let readers know, I will be putting together a series of articles based on common misconceptions with the athletic recruiting process.  This includes why the misconception is a problem and what should be done instead.  In the majority of cases, these misconceptions do not work so it is important to avoid if you want to have success in the athletic recruiting process.

Our first look at an athletic recruiting misconception is something I head often from athletes.  When asking them about the schools that are recruiting them, they usually backtrack and talk about how they just sent tapes out to a number of schools.  The problem is that their highlight video is going to get thrown away without prior contact to the coaches at that school.

I will repeat this as I do many times throughout the site.  There is no doubt in my mind that cold sending your highlight video is a great way to NOT have it be watched by the coaches.  Think about how many recruits who would love to get a scholarship from State University.  Then imagine that 50% are taking the steps needed to make a highlight tape and will be sending it to the coaches.  That ends up being tens of thousands of athletes who randomly send video to schools.  Do you really think that is the way to go about getting your video watched?

Just a quick story to talk about before mentioning what you should do.  A few years back, there was a college basketball prospect from a school in the Midwest.  This athlete was too small to get a scholarship but that didn’t stop him from sending tape all over the country.  I spoke with a college college on the east coast who told me that this athlete had send them his tape.  If they received, how many colleges do you think total ended up with his highlight video?  Think about the time and money that went into his cold sending of these videos.  In the end, I believe he ended up at the Division I level like I had originally assumed.

Why is this misconception a problem?
College coaches have too much on their plate to be watching videos that have been cold sent by recruits that they likely have never heard of before.  A graduate assistant or a student manager may end up watching your tape if the school has a detailed process of what is done when highlight videos are sent in.  But in order to get the tape in front of an assistant coach, cold sending your highlight video is definitely not the way to go.

What should be done?
First off, save your time and money by not randomly sending out tape.  Chances of this ending up good are very, very, very small.  What you should do is before even sending the tape is to market yourself to the colleges that you are interested (see The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer).  You will want to put together a recruiting profile, find schools that match you, and then market yourself to the schools you are interested in.  I always seem to have to say this but make sure you are not sending your profile just to the Division I schools.  Broaden your search and look into your future major.

After that, track the contact with the coaches.  If they are interested and have shown interest back (which they should in 75% of the emails), ask them if they are interested in evaluating your highlight video.  You can send them a hard copy or make it easier for them by putting the highlights online.  I have heard from a Division I coach that it is much easier to click a link for video of an athlete and then can watch it on their computer with ease.

Getting evaluated and your highlight video watched is not an easy process.  But don’t waste the time in cold sending your video in hopes of a scholarship offer and a massive amount of recruiting attention to suddenly come your way.  It just doesn’t work that way.

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Division II basketball coach talks recruiting, highlight videos, AAU, and scholarships

As an athlete at the high school level, if you are not familiar with the recruiting process, it is not an easy journey. With so many pitfalls and problems that can pop up along the way it is difficult to really know what to do. But that is why a site like this was created. It is supposed to help athletes, parents and coaches through the process.

We were lucky enough to have a Division II assistant coach from one of the premiere programs in the country answer a few questions for us. We spoke with him about recruiting, highlight videos, AAU hoops, and how to help yourself in recruiting. Continue on to see what he said.

Talk about the important of AAU basketball vs. high school basketball? “If a kid can play, he can play. It doesn’t matter if it’s AAU, high school, or on the playground. We want kids with solid fundamentals; you develop those by being coached in practice everyday. One thing that AAU does is give kids exposure.”

How many scholarships would you say you offer in a given class? “We offer about 3 or 4 scholarships per class. Being D II we can split up our scholarships, so a lot of those are partials.”

How do you look into the character of an athlete? “We talk to just about anyone who has ever coached them; you watch how they react to adversity when they play. You also watch how they treat and talk their teammates, the water boy, their parents, their teachers. Coaches watch a lot more than kids think. We will not sacrifice character for talent!”

Talk about the process of offering an athlete? How many coaches have to see him? “It varies. Most of the time you’ve seen a kid 4-5 times at least. Then another coach comes out to verify that he’s good enough. It’s a lot easier to tell who’s not good enough than who is.”

Are highlight tapes important to make in basketball? “They can be beneficial at times. Its fun to watch a kid make a few plays, but a full game tape is a much more valuable recruiting tool. Anyone can clip out the best of their plays, but is that a true barometer of whom or how well you can play?”

How often do you request tape from an athlete? “We request a lot of tape. Almost every kid we sign we’ve watched a few tapes on. If you don’t request tape from an athlete and it is sent, what happens to it? We’re a D II and we easily get 100 tapes a year. If a tape just shows up and we don’t know that kid, there’s no coaches info attached, it rarely gets watched. There are just too many. If a coach calls and we get a tape a GA will watch the kid, if he passes that it goes to the assistant, etc”

How often do you see athletes and their parents realistic about the level they can play at in college? “Not very often. Kids and parents usually don’t realize how hard it is to play in college. Division III is a huge step, let alone D2 or D1. I just looked at the Basketball All-State teams today. 360 kids counting Honorable Mention. Guess what, most of you aren’t playing college basketball, and those are the all state kids.”

What can a recruit do to help himself in your eyes? “Be a student-athlete! We look for kids that are going to be discipline both on and off the floor. Secondly, develop a work ethic, we don’t find as many “hidden gems” anymore, if a kid can play the work will get out, by phone, evaluation or tape. When we go watch a kid I want to see that young man play his tail off.”

 

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Broadcasting your recruiting attention to make sure coaches know what is going on with your recruiting

I recently did an article with a coach about his son. The son is currently a junior on the team and has already started going through the recruiting process. He is a good athlete and was named All State in a smaller school. After finishing the article, the coach requested that I take the names of the schools off of the article that are recruiting him. According to the coach, he said he did not want to broadcast the schools recruiting him online.

Like always, I have no problem doing what a coach asks me to do. I understand he wants privacy regarding this issue. But in terms of looking at it through a recruiting perspective, I think it is a bad move that in the long run could end up hurting his recruiting.

When a player is receiving recruiting interest, it shows that the school got his name either from an All State list, All Conference list, a coach, a camp, or somewhere that shows this player stands out above others in his class. When talking to a player, a college coach will second guess themselves if they are the only school recruiting this athlete. While the school may eventually stay with him and offer a scholarship, they will wonder why other programs are at the very least contacting him.

So when a school does see a player getting recruited by some of the bigger Division I programs in the Midwest, they will likely add him to their recruiting list. The coach that sees the article may be from a Division I-AA, II, or even III school. The fact that the article shows he is receiving early recruiting interest from a major school shows that he likely is a solid prospect. Obviously the mail does not mean he is a sure fire player at the smallest college level but there usually is some skill behind the early interest.

Anyways, the coach reads the article and sees the big time interest. He decides to add him to their recruiting list and start sending him mail. If the player does what I always talk about and that is look at all of your options, another door has opened. This school may send him one letter and move on or they may eventually not recruit him at all. It really just depends on the level of football the school plays and how good the kid is.

If the same coach reads the article and it says nothing about recruiting, chances are smaller that he will add him to the list. It may happen that he does it anyways but without the bigger names on the list, chances are smaller.

I have always mentioned that your first scholarship offer can help you receive more attention because schools really realize than that an athlete can play at that level. I feel that letters show that this kid can play and other colleges will respond off of it. The top programs in the Midwest do help the smaller schools recruit. So if this player is legit, then there should be no reason why the recruiting portion of the article is not included. It may be broadcast to a wide audience, but college coaches are reading the content and that could end up hurting the recruiting in the long run.

Players and parents do this all the time where they decline to name what schools are offering scholarships and who is recruiting them. To me, it really does not make a whole lot of sense. Putting your options on the table in a newspaper article or a story with Rivals.com will allow other coaches to see that. These other coaches will wonder more about why a conference rival is recruiting this kid and look into it.

At the major Division I level, colleges like Texas and other major programs have no problem letting reporters know what players they are offering (Off the record of course). They are the top programs and are not worried if other schools are going to try recruiting this kid. They are the University of Texas and they pour a lot of money into athletics.

Smaller colleges, especially mid major Division I basketball schools, would prefer to have their scholarships they have offered private. Here is a recent example regarding this. A mid major program in a very small state starting doing a very good job on the basketball court and was able to make the NCAA tournament three straight seasons.

Once other coaches figured out they were doing so well, they would recruit the players who had already committed to this school. Instead of competing against conference foes for recruits, they had major programs going after their recruits. In the last few years, there currently have been two decommitments from this team to major programs that are much bigger than this smaller school.

Anyways, I brought this up because schools read about and research who other programs are recruiting. If the are after a player who is keeping their recruiting quiet, then don’t expect other programs to know what is going on unless they have seen you play or they have been recruiting you. There is no reason at all why you shouldn’t broadcast who is recruiting you. If anything, you should be open about it and try to get it in the hands of people who will publish it in front of college coaches.

 

 

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How do college coaches narrow down recruiting databases and eventually figure out which top athletes deserve an offer?

As I have mentioned, some college coaching staffs begin the recruiting process with over 5,000 prospective recruits. With a list like that, it is definitely not an overnight project to narrow it down to the thirty to fifty (that number varies by school) prospects that they will eventually offer athletic scholarships. Schools there are certain schools and coaches who have have been renowned for offering hundreds of prospects but I would guess that most college programs end up offering athletic scholarships to forty or fifty sought after prospects. That will depend on how many players they need to sign and if they are landing any of these athletes.

When the coaches build this list, the first thing they will do is send out questionnaires to the prospective athletes trying to find out more information about them. These sheets are vital to fill out but at this point, the coaches may be looking more to cut down that recruiting database. If the player has lack luster stats or bad grades, chances are that once the form is filled out, they will be taken out of the database or at least downgraded in the level that they are recruited.

So out of that 5,000, lets just say that 1,000 meets the criteria that the college coaches are looking for. That is when the coach will start showing more interest, sending more letters, and requesting video tape. I have always said putting together a quality highlight video is something that is vital in the recruiting process. My guess is that 500 of those athletes will either not be able to get their hands on tape or the highlight video is so bad that the coaches can’t see much. So the list is down to 500.

Now the coaches will go through the highlight videos and judge which players have the ability to play at their level. With so many prospects to evaluate for an athletic scholarship, unless you have other offers, I am willing to bet that the coaching staff just does not have much time to spend on you and will need to be wowed by your highlight tape early. I have seen about five underrated prospects highlight videos that wowed me into thinking that they would get a Division I scholarship. When all was said and done, all of these athletes ended up getting major Division I scholarships. Before seeing these videos, I would say that the prospects were flying under the radar.

So the coaches cut out 300 of the players because they are just not good enough and now are now down to 200. This is when the coaches should be sending hand written letters and showing much more interest. I would assume this should be around the spring or summer. While you are high on their list, if you don’t have an athletic scholarship at this point, you are not among their top tier of athletes. The coaches take this time to judge how serious you are about their school and then rank the recruits accordingly. The coaches need to do this because if option A, B, and C all fall through, they need to quickly respond and look harder at options D, E, and F to see if they are worth offering.

With the top 200, the coaches will try to bring these athletes on campus for their camp so that they can evaluate the prospective recruit in person. This gives the coaches a chance to see you in person, see if you really are 6-foot-3, can handle coaching, and adapt quickly. Let me note that just because you are invited to a camp, that does not mean you are on their top tier of recruits.

After the camp, the coaches cross 100 recruits off who are just not good enough and are down to 100. Lets say that there are 30 scholarships out, back up plans for the other positions, and the possibility that if you are among those players you can walk on. Like I have said before, it is important to know that going in. These coaches need to keep the backup options uncommitted if things fall through with their top recruits. They will feed you many lines about that they need more evaluations but it is because you are on their second tier of athletes. Unless you make drastic improvements, your offer from that school hinges on on what other recruits decide to do.

That is a quick look at how coaches cut down a list of over 5,000 to around 100 prospects they are somewhat serious about. In the end, around fifty get athletic scholarship offers and the class ends up around twenty to twenty five players. It is different in basketball but the coaches do what they can narrow things down and offer as few prospects as they can.

 

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Why waiting to see how things shake out can be a major problem in the athletic recruiting process

I had the chance to speak with an athlete before the basketball season started this winter.  When asking him about the schools recruiting him, he named a few and said that he was waiting for his senior season to get going so that colleges would start noticing him more.  I ended up writing an article about how this is a bad way to go about things simply because you need to market yourself to schools and it is difficult to try and impress scholarship level coaches with little attention beforehand.

So I ended up speaking with the athlete recently following his senior season of basketball.  This athlete, who is very gifted on the basketball court, ended up tearing up his knee.  He played throughout the season but was extremely limited and is now on crutches following surgery.  He struggled and his team struggled.

The point of this story is why have you not followed The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer?  If you have logged varsity playing time in your chosen sport, than there is no reason why you should not be creating a profile, finding schools that meet what you are looking for, and then marketing yourself to college coaches.

For those that have done the first few steps, are you happy with the amount of recruiting interest that you are receiving?  If not, then there is no reason not to go back through the list of schools and try to find five to ten more that may fit you at the college level.  If you don’t do this, then the school that may be perfect for you could end up securing a commitment from a player at your position because they normally don’t recruit your state.

Waiting can be a huge detriment to your overall recruiting process.  You never know what will happen tomorrow.  So if you have time today, there is no reason at all why you shouldn’t look over this site and find something you can do to help yourself in the recruiting process.  Could it be sending out tape?  Contacting Rivals/Scout about getting a profile?  Calling back a college coach to see if you can go to a Junior Day?  Or simply finishing your recruiting profile?

If you want to help yourself get evaluated by more coaches, strive to do something that will help at least once a week.  If you are taking the care of the recruiting process yourself, this is essential for the long haul.

 

 

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The thirty second rule in recruiting highlight videos and how dead time can cost you in the race for a scholarship

Recently when talking to a parent regarding putting together a highlight tape, one of the things that was mentioned was the thirty second rule. While this may or may not be true, it would not surprise me one second if this really does happen. And considering this rule came from an Ivy League school, I can only imagine what SEC coaches do.

What this rule involves is when a coach watches a highlight tape/hudl video of a player. The rule is that within thirty seconds, if the coach is not overly impressed with the highlights, then he moves on. The coach feels that if he is stretching to find a great play that the player made, than chances are solid that they are not going to recruit him. That means the coach can move onto the next tape and give that prospect the same time as well.

With regards to this, I am under the assumption that these schools were sent these tapes randomly and were not ones that they requested. For requested tape, my assumption is that these coaches will give them a bit longer than thirty seconds. But if the players does not have any offers by his name, don’t expect much longer.

This goes back to the point that I made saying that you need to put your very best plays at the start of the video. If you returned a kick and juked five guys on the way to the end zone, make sure to include that as one of your best plays early on. Again, there is no reason to save your top plays for the end of the tape. Unless you are extremely impressive, chances are high that few coaches will actually go through the entire tape.

When putting your top plays together, definitely keep that rule in mind. It can really help you with the recruiting process. I also have seen a few more things that I will nitpick regarding highlight videos that I recommend avoiding if you can.

*Do not show plays that are not impressive. I wish this was a joke but I recently saw a highlight video that some of the first plays were the athlete handing the ball off at quarterback. I realize some tapes decide to split the footage between the position that an athlete plays, but if I were a coach and saw film of him handing the ball off, I would shut the tape off and move on.

*Unless you made a Barry Sanders type move, do not show a replay from a different angle. I have seen a few decent plays recently where they showed a different angle. And the result was that the play was alright but not enough to get a scholarship offer. The funny thing about this was also that they changed the angles plays down the line. I don’t know if they were trying to trick the people watching the tape with a different angle but it was same boring play. Don’t waste your time there.

*If there was an obvious clip or hold on the tape and you can see the ref throwing the flag, do not include it. I just saw a running back pull off a nice run but I guarantee that it would have been much less if there was not a hold on the play. If I am smart enough to see it, than a college coach definitely would be.

*Try to avoid big chunks of down time during the video. By this I mean that once the play is over, move on to the next one. I hate it when the person making the highlight tapes allow for five seconds before the play starts and after the play ends. College coaches would be more impatient than I would when watching film so get rid of it. It wastes their time.
 

 

 

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Is 2019 a Good Time to Buy a New Home in Vancouver?

With the new year underway and year end stats now on hand, we’re able to provide an update on the local housing market.

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How independent football recruiting combines work and their process for finding “invited” athletes

I have talked at different times about my dislike for some recruiting services.  But with recruiting services, there are companies that do an excellent job and can help families in certain situations.  I will freely admit that if time for a family is limited, and they have the money, then it may be worth investing in hopes of getting some college interest.

But one thing that I am completely against is independent football combines that charge substantial amounts of money.  I seem to bad mouth them every chance I get and for good reason.  So why the dislike for these football combines?  Let me count three ways…….

Money
If there are combines that charge over $25, be wary (there are some solid ones worth attending for that low of a sum).  If they charge over $50, they are a rip off.  I always talk about how college camps are expensive but the good thing about these camps is that there are always numerous college coaches at all levels working the camp.  You may not be god enough for State University but Division II State University may end up loving you as a player and offering a full scholarship.  For college coaches, there is something to fall back onto if the host school does not feel you are good enough.

For independent run combines, there is no host school and no fall back schools either.  The people that run the camp are basically taking a good chunk of change out of your pocket (or that of your parent) and running you through some rather mundane tests.  There may also be some 1-on-1 and things like that but what exactly do you think will be the outcome of this?  There are no college coaches in attendance.  The end result is that the person that runs the combine will likely email (to save money on postage) the results to college coaches.  You want to guess how many college coaches take these results seriously?

One camp that I received a question about recently is a very big named event.  Let me say that they do have some excellent coaches that will help you learn as a player.  But the price tag is $549 and the invite list is not all that prestigious.  I have heard players that are not all that good tell me they received an invite.  The ones with the money go and do it, but again, what will that end up leading to?  Outside of some good coaching, $549 is a lot of money.

How they find their “invited” athletes
This one kills me.  I must stress that this realistically is what I was told from a combine director in a bigger state.  He said he hired students to go through all of the high school roster pages on Max Preps and pull the names of every single athlete who is listed and not a senior.  So when you receive that elite invite from this camp, think about that for a second.  They must have done a lot of evaluation, scouting, and and review to be able to invite you.  No, they actually just want to find someone with a credit card or check who is willing to pay them.

The combine director will then send their “invited” athlete a post card (because it is cheaper) saying that they have identified you as a top prospect and they want you at their combine.  If they thought so much of you, then why are they wanting $100 for you to attend?  Some also hold “All Star” combine afterwards, but again, what is this going to lead to?

Misleading information
This one makes me sick.  There is one combine that lists all of the colleges that receive information from the combine and some talk about the ones that have attended in the past.  With NCAA rule changes over the last few years, college coaches can not be in attendance at these combines.  And for the ones that do receive the information at the end, how many Division I schools really sort through it and find a star studded recruit?  Chances are extremely slim.  As with a lot of recruiting information, it ends up in the deleted folder in Microsoft Outlook.

Maybe I am being a little too critical of the camps but the main purpose is for the directors to make a large amount of money.  I may consider it unethical simply because they know they are “inviting” anyone with a pulse and a pay check, but they obviously don’t.  So when you get an invite to a combine that costs money, you might as well throw it away right away.  You are wasting the time you are taking to consider it.

 

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Will unofficial visits help me in the athletic recruiting process?

One question that I surprisingly get asked often about the athletic recruiting process is related to unofficial visits.  Basically many athletes/families want to know if making these unofficial visits will help them throughout the recruiting process in the eyes of college coaches.  That really is not an easy question to answer.

First, athletes making these unofficial visits to college campuses for game day trips, Junior Days, spring practices, and things along those lines do show to the college coach that you are interested in their school.  You are taking time out of your weekend and making the journey to their campus.  But will that really help you overall?

Look at the visits through the perspective of a college coach first.  They are going to be mass inviting a lot of the top prospects that they have on their list.  For the junior class, lets say that a major college program is looking at somewhere between 75 to 125 prospects right now for this current class (they have the database whittled down to those numbers with their top prospects).  These coaches are going to invite all of these athletes to as many visits as they can to the school.  If there are ten visit days and the recruits decides to go to ten, great.  Then he will learn more about the school, the coaches, the program, and just get a better overall feel for the campus.

Through the eyes of the coaches, you have shown that you enjoy their school and apparently want to go there (chances are slim you are making ten visits to other schools as well).  The problem occurs though is that just because you made all those visits, does that mean your highlight tape is going to look better in their eyes?  If you are good enough for a scholarship, making one visit in a lot of cases will be just enough.  What ten visits ends up being is a lot of wasted time for a school that may offer at most a chance to walk-on at their program.

Within the last year, I did a question and answer with a parent who basically went through the story above (with a few less visits to the same school).  This family grew up loving one school and hoped that their son would be good enough to go there.  To show their interest in the school, they made visit after visit (which was around three hours round trip from their home to the college program).  Here is what the mom said when talking about this specific subject:

If you could do it all over again, would there be anything you would change?
“Probably not go to SO many unofficial visits to all the same schools without even knowing if that is where he would end up. One would be plenty until you know there is an offer on the table or that he wants to go there no matter what happens.”

What I liked best about what she said is the “without evening knowing if that is where he would end up.”  Just because a school is sending you invites to host you for a visit doesn’t mean they are promising anything.  I would expect that they would evaluate you during the recruiting process but there is no promise of a scholarship or even a walk-on offer.  You will have to earn that on the field or the court.

So in the end, making more than one unofficial visit to a certain school is probably not going to help you in the eyes of the college coaches.  Making that first trip is a good thing to meet the coaches, see the campus, and become more familiar with the college.  But just because you make three visits doesn’t mean the scholarship paperwork will be in the mail.

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When do I know a college is recruiting me?

I recently had a chance to speak with a parent about how interest colleges are in his son.  This football recruit had received some big time questionnaires and early information from some big time programs throughout the country.  But because the athlete is so young, the amount of attention that he can get is limited.

This parent felt that although they had been sending letters and receiving early interest, these schools were not yet recruiting his son.  But if that is not recruiting, what would actually constitute a college coach recruiting an athlete?  If letters are not to be considered, then what exactly is?

Before going into the story too deep, I must say that it really is tough to tell for an athlete in any sport early in their high school career if they are really being recruited by college coaches.  Unless an offer comes early on, there is no real way to tell.  This is the case for basketball and especially football.  So keep that in mind before reading the rest of this article.

Because a college coach normally follows the rules (in most cases, right?), they are extremely limited on the amount of interest that they can give athletes early in their prep careers.  These high school athletes would love to see scholarship offers on the table but it normally doesn’t work that way.  Most of the scholarships offered for football come between the winter of your junior year and the fall of your senior season (for Division I-A recruits).

So is a questionnaire or a camp invite mean that a school is really interested in an athlete?  No, it doesn’t mean a whole lot if that is all you receive from them.  But if you do receive these letters, it is a good thing overall.  I harp on this often but in order to get a scholarship, the college coaches will need to evaluate you and your ability on the playing field/court.

What a questionnaire means is that they in some way found your name from somewhere.  It may have been from Rivals, Scout, your high school coach, someone that knows the coaches in your area, or any number of different sources.  But receiving a questionnaire from a college, no matter how big time it is, is a good thing.

Is is considered recruiting?  I would say if you are young enough where all the college coaches can send you is that, then yes, they are recruiting you.  That is a great thing but nothing to get a big head about.

Let me stress yet another time that a camp invite is not recruiting.  I know many college football and basketball coaches who mass send out these invites just to boast their numbers and the amount of money that they take home.  Camp invites are a joke and something that is not recruiting.  I hate the fact that coaches even send them out simply because most athletes feel that the school is interested in them and wants to evaluate them.  I can go on forever about this but I will leave it at that.

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Handling heavy athletic recruiting attention

If you are a sought after athlete in any sport, it may be tough to juggle the attention that you are receiving. It is not an easy process to be able to handle that, school, athletics, and just being a kid in high school. But in order to not burn yourself out trying to please everyone, there are some things that you can do in order to avoid that.

Most of this article will focus on being a sought after athlete with multiple scholarship offers and attention from a number of schools. And while this is a position that most athletes dream of being in, only a select few actually have the luxury of that many options at the college level.br>
The reason I wrote this article is because I recently spoke with a sophomore basketball player who already holds some major scholarship offers. I spoke with him about his season and how he has been playing. But when the subject of recruiting was brought up, he told me to call his coach. After emailing back and fourth with his mom, I was told that he is only doing it during the season. The reason that he is not talking recruiting is because it allows him to focus on the season and he does not have to worry about telling reporters which schools are recruiting him.

This same athlete is also handling college coaches in a similar fashion. Because he is so busy with school and athletics, he speaks with the coaches one time per month. With so many schools interested, that is a fair request because it takes so much time to focus on speaking with them. At the same time, he is also limiting his interviews with Rivals, 247Sports, and Scout because it gives him more time to focusing on relaxing. Deferring to your high school coach is a smart move in my opinion.

Another technique that was used a while back was a football player a few years ago. He ended up with somewhere around thirty scholarship offers so different sites from the above mentioned recruiting networks would want to call him about it. It could be Michigan, UCLA, Pittsburgh, or any number of places but they all wanted to talk to him about recruiting.

Because this athlete was so bombarded by calls going into his senior year, he decided to tell reporters that he was only doing interviews on a certain day per week. If my memory serves me correctly, he would only speak to reporters on Sunday nights. This allowed him to focus on high school athletics, school, and talking to the other college coaches.

What other prospects will do is if they get a lot of scholarship offers, they will keep whittling the number of schools they are seriously considering down. Even if Alabama offers, if a prospect is not seriously considering them, why waste your time and their time talking to them?

Some people may think that an athlete who picks days to talk or will not talk about recruiting is full or himself. But in the majority of cases, I feel strongly that they are trying to be effective with their time. They cannot spend hours on end talking to recruiting experts, college coaches, and then be able to focus on their season and get their school work done on top of it.

If you are a recruit with a lot of offers, those are just a few things that you can do to limit the amount of time you are spending on things like this. There are many other things that you can do but those are a few that can help you get some time to relax once in a while.
 

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15-Minute Vegan Chili

Vegan Chili is one of my most favorite meals. And the best part about chili is that it is so fast and easy to whip up! This is my 15-Minute Vegan Chili recipe. With optional easy polenta cakes on the side..Read more »

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College Coaches don’t care about you playing at the highest level if you commit to their school

If you have a lot of interest from a variety of college coaches, there is no doubt that one of the lines you may end up hearing is about how their coaching staff really cares for their players and always does what is in their best interest.  There is no doubt that when the coaches say this, there is some truth behind it.

But if you think for a second that they would be okay with you picking a larger school that could be a better fit for you academically, you are crazy.  These coaches want to find the best athletes possible and will do all kinds of things to force you into a commitment (see deadline) and stick to it as well.  /p>

The reason why I came up with this article idea was what I saw shortly before Signing Day.  A major Division I-AA/FCS who always seems to be competing for national titles received a commitment from a talented running back. This athlete had a great deal of potential so they wanted to do everything they could to keep a larger school from swooping in at the last minute with an offer.  For the record, this athlete was a Junior College player.

The coaches from this college requested to his high school and Junior College coaches to not let word leak out.  They wanted to keep this on the down low as much as possible.  Once Signing Day rolled around and he was basically coming to their school, the coaches at the college no longer needed to keep it under wraps.

Like I said before, if State University came in with a full scholarship and a better fit for him academically and athletically, this Division I-AA school wouldn’t care.  They may talk a big game but when it comes down to it and their backs are against the wall, they will do everything they can to land the top talent.  This allows them to win games which helps them keep their job and make money coaching football in the process.

Division I-AA/smaller Division I-A schools/mid major Division I basketball programs also try to do everything they can to keep other coaches from knowing who they are recruiting and who they are offering.  There is a recent example from a mid major basketball program who put together a fantastic string of performances year after year over the last decade.  They were landing diamonds in the rough and winning a lot of games.

Once the major college basketball programs started figuring that out, the coaches from these schools started to pay much more attention to their recruits.  One school was able to snatch one of their verbally committed athletes because they were a bigger program in a better conference.  These coaches started getting paranoid and were doing everything they could to keep their offers and commitments as quiet as possible.  It didn’t matter if the other schools offered a better place for you, the mid-major program wanted your skills and they will do all they can to keep you in the fold.

What sucks about this article is it is all true.  You are likely to hear some fantastic lines from college coaches throughout the recruiting process.  But in the end, know that you and your family are the only ones that really want is best for you.  And even if you have to anger a coach in the process, do it.  You will likely end up happier and not have to wonder if you made the right decision.

 

 

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Ridiculously Creamy Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo

I'm calling this entree recipe a showstopper because it's just that good. My Ridiculously Creamy Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo has a velvety, dairy-free Alfredo sauce drenched over top tender fettuccine pasta. The flavor is cheesy with a hint of lemon and garlic -- yet ironically has zero cheese or even nutritional yeast! And this recipe can be made in about thirty minutes, no prep needed! Get the recipe...Read more »

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What college coaches visiting high schools during the athletic recruiting process really means

There have been some interesting comments on a few of the recent columns related to what it means when a college coach visits the high school of a potential athletic recruit. One reader felt that if a Division I college coach flew to your school, then you had it “in the bag.” Another poster had seen a Division I college coach come to the school to talk to two players and neither ended up with a scholarship offer.

So the question is what is the importance of having a college coach visit you during the athletic recruiting process? First off, when a college coach visits your school, regardless of level, it definitely is not a bad thing. But it doesn’t mean that there will be a certain scholarship offer on the table coming your way either. /p>
There are two main times when the college coaches make visits to talk to the high school coaches and say “hello” to potential prospects (if of course you happen to run into them while they are there, which seems to happen rather frequently). It is normally during the spring of your junior year and the fall of your senior year. Both times of the year, in my opinion, mean something different.

It is normally the bigger schools that are making the visits during the spring of your junior year. It is in late April and May when they can visit as well as call you during that month as well. But let me stress that these coaches travel the country and try to hit as many schools as they can. While I don’t have a number off hand, I know that staffs at most schools visit hundreds of colleges at this time. And even if a school doesn’t have a Division I player in the current class doesn’t mean that they will visit.

Again, while it is nice to show your face to a prospect at a school in the eyes of a college coach, the biggest reason for this visit may be to foster the relationship between the college coach and the high school coach. The college coach may end up recruiting a player years down the road from this school but because he built a relationship early, that could play out well for him. So just because the assistant coach of State University makes an appearance at your high school doesn’t mean you are getting a scholarship offer. It could just be building a relationship with your coach.

A perfect example of this is in a small state in the Midwest that only produces a low number of Division I athletes. But apparently UCLA felt that they needed to make the trip to visit a variety of high school coaches throughout the state. This college coach was flying to the state to build relationships and maybe set up some connections for future years. To my knowledge, UCLA has only offered a scholarship to one player in this state in the last ten or so years. But they are coming to build relationships.

The visits in the fall are a different story. Because these coaches have targeted the majority of their recruits, they will want to show their face and make sure that the athlete knows that they are visiting the school. If there is no offer on the table, they may be getting more film from the coach and doing another eyeball test. These coaches also spend time chatting with one another. So if you are in the doghouse, as much as your high school coach likes you, he will likely be honest with the college coach.

The fall visits are when the coaches have a lot less time because they are in-season. That means they won’t be going to schools where they are building relationships with the coaches. The key is to make sure that the athlete knows they are visiting, catch up with the high school coach, and see what else can help them with his recruiting.

I have to stress this that even if a college coach flies out to see you in the fall, there are no guarantees. Until you get a written offer stating that they have a scholarship for you, then nothing is in the bag. Having college coaches visit your school is a good thing but nothing to get too excited about. Expect them to bring plenty of camp brochures as they “extend invites” to this camp to you. Like the mailed camp invites, don’t expect much unless they are actually recruiting you.

 

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What’s in Store for 2019 in the Vancouver Mortgage Market?

At the start of every New Year, pundits posit the forecast as everyone wonders what the year will bring. While no one has a crystal ball, here are some fundamentals at play this year: Canada’s economy will continue to underperform the U.S.  As growth slows to 1-3/4% in 2019 compared to just over 2% in […]

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Do football scholarships come in February? If so, what type of athletes are receiving them?

For whatever reason, one of the most popular searched phrases on this website earlier this year was if scholarship offers come in January. So with that in mind, we are going to take a look at the type of football scholarship offers would come in February. This includes the age and why these schools may extend them at this time.

While we may be past it already time wise, one situation that occurs in very early February (ie: before Signing Day) is the late scholarship offers to the top senior players. There are basically three reasons why a scholarship offer may come during the football recruiting process during the first few days of February.

The first is if a college loses a recruit. It may be because they went head to head with another program and lost (although these usually occur on Signing Day and make it impossible to bounce back from). The football recruit the college loses also may get an offer from his dream school and decommit from your program. That leaves a void in the recruiting process that the coaches may feel they want to fill.

The second reason is if the school loses a current player. If they find out after the new year that a player on their team is leaving/transferring, then they might feel confident about offering another athlete later in the process. The closer this is to Signing Day, the better a late offer may come. Most coaches will only extend the offer if they feel confident about the athlete they are recruiting.

The third is if it is an in-state school and a bigger college offers. For example, say Ohio State has been recruiting a kid as a potential walk-on and Michigan offers a late scholarship. If the Buckeyes like the recruit enough, the scholarship from the Wolverines may prompt Ohio State to offer. This is the rarest of the three but it definitely can happen.

So for the juniors and sometimes sophomores, do football scholarships come in February? The answer is a huge yes if you have the skills that the college coaches are seeking in a recruit at the next level. The two things that college coaches want to see before offering a junior in most cases is their highlight video and them up close.

The recruiting highlight video will obviously be used to evaluate your skills. If they are overwhelmed with your size, athleticism, or overall skills, then they will put you on their board. Some schools may offer you but they usually will want to see if you can pass the eyeball test first. I will tell you know that the biggest you are, the better your chances are here.

If you have the skills needed and can pass both of those tests (without having an huge red flags), the schools will likely offer you a scholarship. Because they cannot legally call you just yet, the college coach will have to relay the message via email or by calling your high school coach. In most cases, they want to verbally offer you themselves. Afterwards, a written offer should be coming in the mail.

Since these schools cannot evaluate you on the football field at this time, they will pay close attention to their rivals and if they have offered a scholarship. One player I was following recently is very big and athletic. He was offered a scholarship by State University #1. State University #2 thought enough about him to extend an offer a week later.

If State University #1 had not offered, I honestly feel State University #2 would not have offered either. That is why I stress having media connections to make your offers public and the fact that scholarships breed other scholarships.

Overall, the month of February is a rather slow month in terms of offers for juniors and sophomores. Scholarships will be extended but if you have followed the advice of this site, you should have already sent out highlight video and gotten it in the hands of the coaches that are recruiting you.

 

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Vegan Birthday Cake

It's my birthday month! So, cake. Though my birthday isn't until the tail end of the month, I have been craving an epic, funfetti-infused, layer cake lately and so this fluffy-amazing Happy Birthday Funfetti Cake happened. Fluffy chocolate cake pairs with creamy, rainbow-sprinkle filled, vanilla frosting. Gold-sparkly cake topper on top. So if you have a special celebration coming up or just need a happy cake to perch on your kitchen counter, give my recipe a try! Recipe, plus find out my cake-spiration from a cooking show I have been loving lately.. Read more »

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Why is my child not being recruited by college coaches?

One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive from parents is why is their child not being recruited by college coaches.  Their son or daughter may have been lighting up the stats sheet on the sophomore team so they are obviously talented.  And now they are wondering why a flood of Division I schools is not knocking down the door wanting to extend a full scholarship to them.

Unfortunately unless you have elite level athleticism, that is not the case in how the athletic recruiting process works for any sport.  The first thing that I always must talk about when this question gets asked is related to the playing ability of your child.  Are they really good enough?  Seriously?

A big reason why college coaches are not recruiting athletes is because they don’t have enough talent to play at their level.  Just because you rushed for 1,500 yards against small school competition doesn’t mean you have the speed, vision, and strength that Division I college coaches are looking for.

So outside of talent, why is my son or daughter not being recruited?  If they are good enough, the key here is marketing.  You need to do what you can to help push the name of your child out to college coaches.  I always seem to link back to this but go back through The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer.  Start by putting together a recruiting profile and marketing him or her to the coaches.

What happens if that doesn’t work?  Then I would strongly recommend that you really start to focus on helping your child and putting in more time.  Take a weekend and spend hours with your potential college athlete of a child and research these schools.  You can find information at the library about them but can do most of the work by researching them online.

Once you have found twenty to thirty schools at all different levels (let me stress the all different levels so take off your Division I eyes only), then email coaches at each with the recruiting profile.  Make sure to say something unique about their school.  While doing this, track which schools you contacted and make notes about why.

Unless you get really lucky, you will not be receiving 100% feedback from the coaches.  Track which coaches contacted you back and which ones didn’t.  For the ones that didn’t, follow up one more time after a few weeks.  If they don’t get back to you, pick another coach on staff.  You may eventually get fed up but any decent coaching staff will at least say thanks.  But then again, you never know what type of spam blockers that these coaches have so don’t get frustrated.  Persistence is key here.

If you take these steps, it should help.  There is no perfect path to the recruiting process but if your son or daughter has no attention and they are productive at the varsity level over a season, then this should help.  Like I said, all levels need to be looked at.  This includes at least a few thoughts about Division I, II, III, NAIA, as well as Junior College.  Prep school may even be something to think about as well.

There is no doubt that from the eyes of a parent, the lack of recruiting interest that their child is getting is difficult for you and them to go through.  But you have to take control of the process yourself and help put them in the best situation they can to be evaluated.  They may not be good enough in the end but how do you know unless you take the reigns and run with it.

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What does an athletic scholarship cover financially?

Before going into exactly what a scholarship costs, it is important to discuss the different options that college coaches offer you as an athlete.  At the Division I-A level for football and Division I basketball level, the coaches must either offer you a full ride or nothing.  Obviously academics can help out (Which in most cases, I hope happens) but as far as scholarships go, it is all or nothing at the Division I-A level.

At the Division I-AA and II level for football (As well as Division II level for basketball), that is when partials can be offered.  But that is also where things get interesting for a number of different reasons.  If a school offers you $10,000 in a scholarship and that is how much the school costs in your first year, that is outstanding and means you will not have to pay for much.  But with the way that tuition has been rapidly increasing, don’t be surprised if that rises to $12,000 per year before you are graduated.  So if your scholarship stays at that amount, and tuition rises, it is important to know that you will be paying unless that package increases.  br>
As for what a scholarship does cover, here is what is listed in a student athlete handbook from a University that offers scholarships:

• Tuition
• University Fees
• Required Textbooks
• Room and Board

That really does cover a lot of expenses but it is important to note that there will be a lot of other financial burdens that can come up.  Here are some of the areas that athletic scholarships does not cover:

• Parking Permits (This can be a few hundred dollars per semester)
• Student ID card (Probably between $10 to $50) and replacements if lost
• Course fees (For example, art classes charge more for extra equipment)
• Library fines
• Graduation fees

I think anyone, if given the chance, would jump at the chance to pay for a parking permit if they have their tuition, room, and other areas paid for.  As a scholarship athlete, you are also allowed to eat with other athletes at the training table.  From what I have heard, this is much better than the other options of going to Taco Bell in the student union.

As I talked about previously, when getting your information about financial aid package, try to get full tuition covered if possible instead of a set dollar amount.  Tuition costs rise and so do the expensive books (Let me tell you they rip you off there) so more may be coming out of your pocket by the time you are a senior.  Obviously there are a lot of different options to handle these costs or try to avoid them but these are some of the areas that a scholarship does in fact cover.

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Small School Parent Talks Football Recruiting – Part 2

As we have done in the past before, Recruiting-101 has had a chance to ask parents questions about the recruiting process who just went through it. These parents were in the same exact stages as those reading early on so they are here to help you.

In this article, we had a chance to get answers about being a small school athlete trying to earn a scholarship. He is from the Midwest and ended up signing his National Letter of Intent to a very good Division II program. In this second portion of the article, this parent talked about how they tracked recruiting process, why he didn’t try going Division I, highlight tapes, and more.

Q? How did your family keep track of the recruiting process and what schools were in contact? A. I put together a database of 28 colleges ranging from DII to major DI colleges within a 12 hour radius. Information such as coaches names, position coaches, addresses, and phone numbers. I kept this information on a laptop so I could update any contact information. I also was able to keep track of who had been sent film and who needed film. We kept mail if it was hand signed by a coach with whom we had a relationship with that had information about upcoming games or recruiting. If it wasn’t hand signed, after awhile we just threw those away…junk mail! After the initial junior film had been sent out and reviewed, we followed up with phone calls to find out which schools were genuinely interested. In the beginning, there was Iowa St., Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas St., Nebraska, Northern Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Dakota St., Nebraska Omaha, Missouri Western St., Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, and a host of smaller DII schools. The key was to have as many options as possible, because we knew by fall this list would narrow down quite a bit, and were hoping 6-10 would still be in the mix.

Q? Did your son go to many camps? How many did he get invited to? A. He did not get invited to any camps. Most camps do not require any invitation, just an application accompanied by the required fees. I’ve estimated we spent or maybe I should say invested over $1000.00 during the summer. We did go to 8 schools during the summer, 5 were camps and 3 were unofficial visits. This is a very important thing to do! It gives you the opportunity to meet the coaches in person, while getting some excellent instruction at the same time! It gives coaches a chance to get a first hand look at your son to get a true idea of how they move, how fast or quick they are. Things that are harder to measure from just film, an in person evaluation can be a make or break situation. In my son’s case, UNO had coaches working at the Iowa State camp, and that is where they first had a chance to see him in person. Many Division II coaching staffs work at the large state school camps to look for prospects!

Q? Your son decided to go the Division II route. Did he have thoughts of trying to play Division I football? A. Of course most if not all kids want to play at the highest level possible, Division I. It appears glamorous to be on television and be in the spotlight. My son wanted to play at a Division I level, especially since he had early interest from Iowa St., Wyoming, and Nebraska. He entertained the idea of talking about walking on, however, as a parent, I tried to keep the focus on playing at the highest level possible, but on scholarship. In today’s age, if a student can graduate owing $10,000 or less after 4-5 years, they are way ahead of the curve. I know of a couple of kids that have walked on at major Division I programs and have worked their butt off, however, they still haven’t seen the field after 3 years of hard work. Plus they are getting a very minimal scholarship or none at all. My son figured he would have a better college experience going to a DII program in a very competitive conference and have a realistic chance of playing for a national championship and getting a chance to PLAY and pay little out of pocket.

Q? How many highlight tapes did you send? A. In the spring during my son’s junior year we sent out 28 tapes to schools. You need to call to make sure the right person gets them. Coaches look at hundreds of kids each year, you want to make sure your film gets looked at. By calling and following up, you greatly increase your chance of getting your film evaluated, which is what you want. The film will speak for itself, different coaches will see the same film differently.

Q? How important were the highlight tapes during the recruiting process? A. Having a highlight tape is probably THE most important thing a prospective recruit can do for themselves. It is good to have a highlight tape, usually 7-10 minutes in length, along with 2 COMPLETE game films for in depth evaluation. I look at the highlight tape as the cover letter and introduction, and the complete game tape as the resume. Most schools rely solely on junior/senior game film as the means for their evaluation process, and in determining who will get a scholarship and who will not.

Q? Talk a little bit about official visits and what you did there as a parent? A. As a parent, you want to talk to as many coaches, players, student ambassadors, and anyone else you can get information from. While your son is soaking everything in, they are obviously the focal point of the Official Visit, and a lot of information goes by and they don’t even realize it. My job as a parent was to be more of an interested observer, and really listen to anyone I could talk to and ask questions. It helped in discussing the various visits with my son and evaluating each one to help in determining if a particular school was the best overall fit.

Q? Did any coaches lie to you during the recruiting process? A. While some things told to us may have been overstated or embellished to sound the best at times, I believe the coaches we dealt with were very professional, straight forward, and honest.

Q? If you had to do the recruiting process all over again, would you change anything? A. I believe everything we did was the best way for us. We worked extremely hard, and were very diligent about everything we did. You have to be realistic about your expectations, because most kids will not play at a major Division I program on a scholarship. The sooner you can establish whether that is the case or not will allow you to focus your time, money, and energy into the most probable college programs that your son can have a chance to be successful at. If I would have done anything differently, I might have started the process on our end during my son’s sophomore year, instead of his junior year.

Q? Do you have any advice for parents that will be reading this? A. Yes. First of all be REALISTIC about the abilities of your son. In high school, a player can play linebacker at 5’10” 175 lbs. However, to play linebacker at that size at a scholarship level, is not a realistic expectation. College coaches really stress speed and explosiveness when evaluating players. They are less impressed with a 350 lb bench press than a kid who can run a 4.5 40 yard dash and has a 36” vertical jump. College coaches can help gain strength and help kids gain weight, but it is more difficult to coach speed and explosiveness.

Make sure you encourage your student athlete to take care of business in the classroom. Take the ACT test 3-4 times to try to get the highest scores possible. This can trigger discounted tuition rates or scholarships! Usually one of the first questions a coach would ask me after “what position does he play?”, is “what kind of grades does your son have?”

Strong academics and character are two extremely important factors coaches are looking for; it can make the difference whether they choose your son or someone else for the same scholarship!

If you can keep and open mind and not have any preconceived ideas about where you want your son to play, the chances of playing at a scholarship level will be better if you don’t limit yourself by favoritism, geography, or other personal preferences. We started out with 28 schools ranging from small DII to major DI schools. The highlight film and game film will not lie. Your son can only do what he can do. Recruiting is not an exact science by any means, but if you believe your son truly has the ability to play DII or higher, whatever his position, do yourself and your son a favor. Roll up your sleeves and get to work on making your son a known player to as many coaches and schools as possible. It can be a really educational experience and you can have a lot of fun along the way. If nothing else, this experience can help make your relationship with your son that much stronger. Good luck and happy hunting!

 

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College Coaches will deadline athletic scholarship offers

As a college coach in the game of recruiting, it is important to have back up options the entire time. While in some ways this is unfair to recruits, it is the best way that these college coaches keep their high paying jobs. If they fail to bring in athletes at any level, chances are that they will eventually need to move on. You can only get lucky so many times with backup options.br>
If School A intends to brings in one quarterback in their next recruiting class, it is important that they bring in the one that is highest rated on their list of prospects. Lets say that you are a quarterback prospect looking at schools. School A, as mentioned before, has offered you a scholarship. You are still waiting to see what other schools offer you a full ride. Because School A needs to know as soon as possible, they do what is called deadlining your scholarship offer.

What deadlining a scholarship means is that you have until a certain date before they extend the scholarship to the next prospect on their list. The coaches do this for a few reasons. The first is because you are their top target who currently holds an offer and they want you to commit. They don’t want you to wait until just before Signing Day to pick another school. If they don’t deadline you, it may give another school more than enough time to extend an offer and end up getting you.

As a recruit, this puts you in a very difficult spot. Say for example that School A is your only scholarship offer. State University has been talking to you during the entire recruiting process and continues to tell you to be patient. State University won’t know if there is an offer for you until February 1st. School A has said that they will offer their second prospect in line on January 20th. What do you do?

The first option is to commit to School A before January 20th so that you make sure you get your scholarship offer. Because so many prospects are worried about losing out on a scholarship offer, many commit. What makes it worse is if the prospect only has one offer on the table. Being deadlined with only one scholarship is very difficult to turn down.

The second option is to let the school offer the second prospect, hope he doesn’t commit, and see what State University has to say. This is a very risky proposition because there is a chance that State University only ends up asking you to walk on to their program. If that happens, you will be paying your own to go to school and have thoughts of regret for not taking the scholarship.

The third, and less ethical option is to accept the offer from School A while telling State University that you are still serious about them. Recently there was a prospect I talked to who did this. Basically he accepted the offer from School A and ended up going on an offer to State University. While on that official, State University told him that they didn’t have any scholarship money for him. It was not a surprise when he remained committed to School A and ended up signing there.

But if State University had offered him a scholarship, would he have changed his mind? While I don’t know for sure, I would say yes. State University was closer to home, had more tradition, and continues to make it to the playoffs at their level. While he sounded happy with School A, State University may have been the place he wanted to go if given the opportunity.

I however don’t recommend the third option. If State University does end up offering you, then that leaves School A in a huge bind for their recruiting class. If you take the bigger offer from State University, that means School A has to scramble in order to find a recruit that is suitable for their needs. At such a late moment, it makes it very tough.

What you should do is look long and hard at School A. Do you feel you could fit there? Do they have what you want to study? How are their athletics? If you are confident with how you feel at the school, then you may want to just end the recruiting process. Even if you grew up dreaming of playing for State University, do you really want to be considered a back up option who got an offer at the last minute?

If you are going to wait, you have to realize that there is a solid chance that the scholarship from School A will no longer be there. If you are happy with your options, and the possibility to walk on, then you should take your chances. What you need to worry about is the worst case scenario. If you can live with that, then you will be happy that you took your chances by waiting. However, passing up a scholarship is not an easy thing to do at any level.

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Small School Parent Talks Football Recruiting – Part 1

As we have done in the past before, Recruiting-101 has had a chance to ask parents questions about the recruiting process who just went through it. These parents were in the same exact stages as those reading early on so they are here to help you.

In this article, we had a chance to get answers about being a small school athlete trying to earn a scholarship. He is from the Midwest and ended up signing his National Letter of Intent to a very good Division II program. In this first portion of the article, this parent talked about how the recruiting process was, his experience prior, the stress, and being at a smaller school.

Q? Describe the recruiting process that your son went through? A. Parents and student-athletes have to understand that regardless of the sport involved, receiving recruiting interest from colleges can take as much effort behind the scenes than it does from the playing field, court, or other sports arenas. I’ll touch base in more depth on this subject in a later question. The process usually starts during the student-athlete’s junior year, sometimes as early as their freshman year, depending on the sport involved and at what level your son/daughter could be expected to play at. In our case, letters from the major in-state schools started coming in during the fall during his sophomore year, maybe one every month.

As the junior year progressed, it started out as a letter once every 2 weeks, and then by spring it was a letter a week. I’m not saying one letter total, I’m saying one letter per school, so some days we would receive anywhere from 2-6 letters per day 3-4 times a week. Let me say one thing about receiving letters, that’s all that they are, just because you are getting mail, doesn’t mean you are getting recruited! To say an athlete is being actively recruited means there should be personal contacts initiated by coaches in person or by phone. During the spring of my son’s junior year, we put together a highlight video that was sent out to schools during March, followed up by many phone calls to the coaches they were sent to. We did not send film unless they asked for it.

During the month of May is when an athlete will know what schools are really RECRUITING them. For football, the month of May is the first opportunity for colleges to make personal contact with student -athletes at school. If you don’t have any schools stopping by, you need to step up your efforts to get noticed. In our case, after the spring film was sent out, 4-5 schools, Division I through Division II level had stopped at the school. Now we had a better idea where things stood as far as what level to target with our recruiting efforts. During the spring my son was invited to 3 colleges’ Junior Days, a recruiting event held in the spring traditionally, and can be used somewhat as a measuring tool to know again what schools are really looking at you. During the summer we attended as many camps as possible, we also took a couple of unofficial visits, to continue meeting as many coaches as possible.

The fall came extremely quick, and went by even quicker, and during the fall, coaches would start calling when NCAA rules would permit. Depending on what kind of season you’re having, the schools that stopped by in the spring will continue to stay in touch and you might even pick up a couple of new schools. The end of the season brings the busiest time, as the mailings drop off, but the phone calls pick up. Some nights one coach called, others 3-4 coaches called. Most calls were to stay in touch, keeping us in the loop with respect to sending in senior film, and keeping us informed of good things to come from their respective programs. After sending out senior film, again, only to the schools that want it, it came down to the nuts and bolts of this whole “process”. Which schools would call and bring my son in for an official visit.

These are visits where the host college can within NCAA rules, pay for lodging and meals, and if necessary transportation. We were invited for 5 official visits, opting to go on 4 visits. Luckily, my son was able to get a scholarship offer at every visit. This doesn’t always occur, you won’t know if you are going to be offered a scholarship until the end of the visit, when the athlete and parent(s) meet with the head coach. After the dust settles on the official visits, then it is time to evaluate those visits and decide which school is the best OVERALL fit. This can be very stressful, as the schools under consideration will call often, and a decision has to be made within a few weeks. This is not a 4-5 year decision, but a 40-50 year decision! Once a decision was figured out completely, my son gave a verbal commitment to sign a National Letter of Intent with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, a highly respected Division II program.

Q? Did you have any experience prior to this with recruiting? A. Although I am not a teacher, I do have a Coaching Certificate to coach interscholastic sports. I coached basketball for a couple of years, and had a 6’9” center that received quite a bit of interest from mid major DI programs and DII schools. He signed with a Division II school. My older son was also looked at by smaller schools for basketball, but I learned from his experience, it takes a lot of hard work and effort to get noticed, unless you are in the top 10% of athletes in your respective sport.

Q? What would you say was the hardest part of the recruiting process? A. Three things come to mind. First, being told by a coach that your student-athlete is not being considered any longer as a prospect, especially when it is a school they really were hoping to get an offer from. The second was the deciding on which school to choose after receiving multiple offers. One day you could be leaning towards school A, the next day it would be school B. The third was telling the coaches you were not going to commit to their school, pretty much ending a relationship that had lasted for 6-12 months.

Q? As a parent going through it, how stressful was it? A. The entire process for the most part was fun, exciting, and enjoyable. I guess it is what you make of it. If you approach the recruiting process as a short term “hobby”, you are more likely to have a great experience. If you would look at recruiting as a nuisance, it probably will be negative. There really wasn’t much stress until probably mid January when you are right in the middle of the Official Visit time. The stress comes from hoping as a parent, you will be able to help your son make the best decision that will have a lasting positive impact on his life.

Q? Was it harder to get recruited at a smaller school? A. I would have to say being recruited at a smaller school would be more difficult by larger Division I colleges, because there has to be a greater degree of separation between the prospect and the rest of his peers on the field. For example, a running back better average about 10 yards/carry and run for 250+ yards a game in Class A. A running back can get attention for less yardage per carry and per game playing for a larger school due to the higher level of competition say Class 3A or 4A. Realistically, playing for a smaller school doesn’t mean you cannot be recruited, it is just you are looking more at Division I-AA at best and probably Division II. There is nothing wrong with being recruited at any scholarship level from Divison I thru Division II. Consider that about 1 in 130 high school football players get scholarship offers from major Division I schools, while about 75% of scholarship offers come from Division II and NAIA schools, and Junior Colleges.

Q? Did colleges first recruit your son, or did you help to recruit your son to the colleges? A. The major in state schools, started sending letters during his sophomore year, however, probably 1/3 of the players in the state get the same form letters. As I said before, receiving generic form letters with a preprinted signature means you are getting more junk mail…PERIOD! It doesn’t mean your son is being recruited. So through our efforts of making highlight tapes, making phone calls, going to combines, camps and taking unofficial visits, we were successful by pushing our way through the masses and recruiting our son to the colleges! You have to promote yourself to colleges. The average recruiting budget for a football coach is $500.00. They cannot possibly find every prospect possible, so you have to help them find you!

Look for part two soon!

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