When do Division I-AA schools start the football recruiting process?

When starting the recruiting process, some may think that all schools start at the same time when sending prospective athletes mail. That however could not be further from the truth. Some schools like to get in early on younger players and try to show their interest in them early on. Others wait until they are older and see what kind of player that they have become as a senior.

One of the more interesting levels to follow in regards to recruiting is schools at the FCS/Division I-AA level. These programs are at a disadvantage over BCS/Division I-A schools because they do not have the resources that their rivals have. For example, a BCS school has to offer every player a full ride while the FCS school normally extends scholarships that are partials (There are exceptions at times).

Because of this, the Division I-AA schools are normally more hesitant to offer a prospect early in the recruiting process. I don’t follow I-AA schools all that closely but I have not seen them extend an official scholarship to anyone before the summer before their senior season. The reason that they wait is because even if you are the top Division I-AA program in the country, if word gets out that you have extended an offer to a player, the Division I-A coaches that hear are going to start taking a much longer look at this athlete.

While I am not trying to knock Division I-AA schools, it really is tough for them to compete against smaller Division I-A programs. There are always going to be exceptions and there have been some that I have talked about in past years. But for Division I-AA schools, they are always at a major disadvantage when it comes to recruiting.

Right now, I suspect that many Division I-AA programs have been doing what they can to bring prospective athletes on campus. Like the major schools across the country, they are also trying to have these standouts in for Junior Days and other events. In regards to college recruiting, getting a prospect on campus is half the battle and that is why they do these.  They will also be using social media to build relationships with the coach as well. 

But again, as mentioned above, it would be down right shocking to see any of these schools offer a junior currently a scholarship (There are two exceptions here. If the athlete has a relative who played sports at the school or if the school is positioning themselves in case the top prospect eventually transfer from a major school and then doesn’t want to sit out a year because of the transfer). I have actually seen both of the cases I mentioned happen to a prospect in a recent class but it is pretty obvious that the prospect is not considering either program at this time.

These schools will send mail, call, visit schools, contact over social media, and do the normal recruiting process evaluations. Like any other school, they will also be trying to bring the prospect on campus so that they can see them in action. Schools at the I-AA level have started to be more aggressive when offering scholarships to players at their camps. Some schools have been known to extend things that early, but again, they want as few people to know about the scholarship as possible. The more other schools know that a program has offered a player, the more those other schools will focus on the positives of this player and what he can do.

During the fall, these Division I-AA programs will have athletes take visits during the season. In the majority of cases, these will be unofficial visits just to see the campus and to see their team in action.

The time that recruiting at this level really heats up is in December. Their seasons are normally finished and the coaches now fully switch their attention over to the recruiting process. This is when they will start extending scholarships and bringing in athletes on official visits. Another reason that they wait this long to bring the athletes in is because they will know by now if Division I-A schools have offered the prospects. They know that if that is the case, it will be an uphill battle to land the prospect. And while these I-A schools could still offer late, now is the best time to tell the athletes how much the school wants on campus and how important they are to their recruiting class.

The I-A schools at the time will be telling the recruits to be patient and that they are waiting to see what other prospects will say in regards to a scholarship. I can promise you that the I-AA schools will really push that angle. December and January are major months for them in the recruiting process.

From what I have seen at one major I-AA school, they bring in their top prospects early in December for an official visit. The later that you get an official visit in January, the less they want to land you. And if they already have received commitments from players at your position, expect them to call off the official.

Like all levels, the D I-AA level is not easy to figure out in recruiting. But this is a time where you have to be extremely patient and realize that they really do take longer than other schools. They don’t want to show their cards too early because they are worried that other I-A programs will snatch up their recruits.

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One scholarship for a position, three offers out, and multiple commitments. What happens in this scenario?

I recently received a very interesting email regarding the football recruiting process. The parent had a question about a scenario that could easily happen to any college program. The situation is that the school is only wanting to bring in one tight end during this recruiting class. This certain school feels that they are recruiting three tight ends with similar abilities so they decide to offer all three. With only one taken in this recruiting class, the focus is on landing one as soon as possible and pulling the scholarships from the remaining two. 

But what happens if some reason this school ends up sending their current tight end to an NFL team early in the draft? The program becomes known as Tight End U and the three athletes with offers become very serious at the school. They all take visits to the program for a Junior Day and each one decides that they want to end the recruiting process by committing to Tight End U. What does the school do then? 

Obviously this is a perfect storm situation that rarely, if ever happens. What may happen more often is that a school has multiple offers out for one scholarship spot and two athletes want to commit (the chances of all three wanting to commit on the same day are extremely small but two could realistically happen). Here are a few things that may happen if the perfect football recruiting storm were to happen to these coaches. 

Reevaluate the numbers and try to take more than one
This would be rare but if the school is thrilled with both prospects, they may take a look at the recruiting class numbers and try to accept commitments from both. But if it is this early in the recruiting process, chances are small that they would change their overall recruiting plan at this time. Maybe one of the tight ends could move to defensive end but that may be far fetched. 

Take the first commitment
For a situation like this, if the recruits really are even (and the coaches believe that are), it really comes down to first come, first serve. Whichever recruit steps up to the plate and calls the coaches telling them that he wants to go their school, then it is his scholarship. If the second or third recruit calls five minutes later, then they are out of luck. Again, the key is that the recruits are that even in the recruiting process that the coaches would be thrilled with whoever they could get. 

Stall
If they have offered three prospects but consider them to be options A, B, and C, this is where things get interesting. If C is on the line trying to commit but the coaches feel that A may want to end the recruiting process soon with a commitment to them, they will do all that they can to stall option C. I hate to admit it but I know for a fact that this happens. The coaches at the school may not return calls, may talk to the prospects about delaying a decision, and basically doing all that they can to make sure that this recruit does not commit. The reason that they don’t want this to happen because it could affect option A and it may also end up in public backlash because they pulled the scholarship offer from option C. 

There are a number of different reasons above talent that they may end up stalling. The first is grades. If there are questions academically, the school may not be so keen on accepting a commitment from that player (unless of course they are basically their #1 recruit and worth the risk). If the recruit is borderline at their level anyways, the coaches will do what they can to make sure the commitment does not become public. 

Is it right that the college coaches do this? Probably not, but as I have said many times before, the athletic recruiting process is a game. There are so many things that coaches do during the process that make it tough. That is why it is best to have backup options and not put all your eggs into one basket. 

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Hours of practice as a Division I athlete

In previous articles, I have talked about how important it is to love the sport that you want to play at the college level. No matter how much you think you need a scholarship (There are student loans), if you don’t love the sport, getting through four or five years of it will not be easy. It would be similar to an extent to waking up to a job everyday that you hate.

In this article, I will be looking at the time allotted by the NCAA for Division I athletes. This includes the limit of practice time in and out season. If you are a basketball player, trust me in saying that your off-season workouts will not be you coming into the gym along and shooting some jumpers. It will be an intense workout that is directed by an assistant coach.

This first rule applies for all NCAA Division I sports. “A student-athlete’s participation in countable athletically related activities shall be limited to a maximum of four hours per day and 20 hours per week.” (There is an exception regarding golf but unless there is interest, I don’t plan on going into it.) For those curious, countable athletically related activities include any required activity by the direction of one or more of the members of the coaching staff.

So just for practice, you will be spending twenty hours each week. If you season lasts four months (Which it very well could in Division I athletics), you could be spending up to 320 hours in practice time. That does not include rehab if you have a nagging injury, school, or study tables that you may have to go to. While some may not realize it, that is a lot of time. It is half of a 40 hour a week job and that does not even count the academic portion of your college career.

For sports other than football, there is a maximum eight hours per week with no more than two hours per week spent on skill-related workouts. These can only last during the school year and will not happen legally during the summer (Even though I am willing to say that it does happen).

So the coaching staff of whatever sport you will be playing will get a chance to bring you in eight hours a week, or thirty two hours a month. With a four month season, a three month summer, you could be practicing in the off-season for up to 160 hours while being directed by a coach. And this does not include things like open gym for basketball or 7-on-7 football (There cannot legally be any coaches in attendance).

The rules for Division I football players do depend on if you are playing Division I-A or I-AA (Also known as Championship Series or Bowl Series). Following the end of the regular season and January 1st, players are limited to required lifting, watching game film, and conditioning. After January 1st, there is still a limit of eight hours per week and that is limited to only two hours per week of watching film.

While I am not questioning those numbers, I spoke with a few current Division I football players that I knew and they talked to me about how grueling it is. They have morning conditioning and two hours a lifting a few days per week. With that in mind, they may be pushing the legal limit of eight hours per week.

Again, this is just a quick look at NCAA rules. It just shows that if you think you can slack through a sport you don’t love, I advise you now not to waste your time.

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Recruiting visits explained: Unofficial visits, official visits, and how are they setup?

I think it is important to start with what the difference between what each visit actually is. As unofficial visit is when a recruit visits a school and pays their way to get there. In most situations, a recruit will take an unofficial visit to see a college team in action on the football field or basketball court. Per NCAA rules, the school is allowed to give athletes a maximum of three tickets to each sporting event that is issued through a pass list. These have to be regular season events within a thirty mile radius to the campus. Basically what that means is the school cannot be giving tickets to recruits of their bowl game or NCAA tournament game. Unofficial visits can occur at any time.

The difference between that and an official visit is that the college programs pays for you as an athlete to take that official visit. They can fly you in or reimburse you for your driving expense included in the visit. There are also more rules surrounding the official visit that includes food, lodging, and other specific monetary amounts that are enforced by the NCAA.

In order to set up an unofficial visit, it really just depends. For example, a lot of college football coaches will send out a great deal of invites to their games throughout the fall. With so many juniors on their prospective recruiting list, the college is likely sending out invites. If the recruits receive this mail, they will need to call the coach or the school to tell them that they are coming to visit. Because the three people are allowed in on a pass gate, they will not be able to get extra tickets and sell them. The NCAA probably had issues with that in the past and that is why the pass gate is used. When that happens, the recruits have to bring an ID with them so that they can get into the game. There is no limit on the amount of unofficial visits you can do because you are paying for it yourself.

I know of one recruit recently who considered himself a better prospect then he really was. While he is playing Division I basketball, he was calling places like Kansas, Wisconsin, and other top Midwest programs and requesting to visit. Then he would email the Rivals/247Sports/Scout sites related to school and tell them he took a recent visit. That is a very interesting way to make sure that people knew where you were taking trips to.

Official visits are a much different story. They are regulated by the NCAA so each athlete can only take five official visits throughout the recruiting process and they are restricted by dates (This does vary from sport to sport). Depending on the sport and the level, college programs have a certain number of players that they can bring on campus for official visit. That is why some schools prefer to bring visitors after their high school season so they know who is serious about them. Like I said before, the athletes have their travel paid for and will be reimbursed if they did drive (I believe it depends on mileage but I am not 100% certain).

In the majority of situations, schools that extend an invite for an official visit are likely going to offer you a scholarship. Again, that is in most situations but taking an official visit means the school is serious about you. Since their total number of official visitors is restricted, it does mean you are among their top recruits. What normally happens during the fall open period for football, the coaches talk to the athletes about setting up an official visit. While the recruit can bring it up to the coach, normally it is the coach that brings it up. If they haven’t offered a scholarship or an official visit by December, chances are slim that you will be receiving a scholarship for football.

That is just a quick look at the difference between unofficial and official visits. While some already know this, this is another one of those recruiting things that are not always known when going into the recruiting process. With this being a huge time for football and basketball official visits, I will delve more in depth regarding dates and when these should be happening later on.

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What does a camp invite mean?

One of the things that I have mentioned in articles but not really talked about is the meaning of a football or basketball camp invite. While I don’t want to dash the dreams of an athlete to play Division I sports, I want athletes and parents to know the realistic truths behind how much an invite to a camp means.

A few years back, I profiled an athlete who was a talented all district wide receiver who was able to make some big plays as a junior. I was told that the big school in state personally invited him to attend their camps in hopes that he could receive a scholarship offer. While it is pretty obvious any school with ethics would not promise an offer, my guess would be that those athletic scholarships are not extended very often. Anyways, the athlete attended the camp and guess where he ended up at the college level? The answer is playing junior college baseball.

That example shows that just because you have received a personal invite, it does not mean they are really serious about you in the recruiting process. While coaches at the major Division I level do get paid well, these programs use this money to boast their pay. For example, if there was a graduate assistant working eighty hours a week all year, this might be the time that the head coach pays him back in a way by giving him a few thousand dollars in recognition for the hard work that he has done.

So if you realize that this money is likely going to help the coaching staff, it shows that the more kids they get there, the better chance that they have to increase the pay of their coaching staff. This happens at all levels, from Division III to Division I but the larger schools are the ones that really make the push towards inviting lots of kids. It really doesn’t matter if you are on their radar or not because it is a no lose situation for the school. If you decide to come to the camp and pay the $300 to $500 to get in, they are getting paid regardless. If you are the best camper overall and really shock the coaches, which eventually leads to a scholarship, that helps the coaches in the recruiting process.

These coaches really are usingza lot of the camp to weed out prospective athletes that they are looking at in the recruiting process as well. But with most camps, the amount of athletic scholarship offers extended is very, very small. So keep that in mind when receiving an invite to a camp that costs $400 for a week. Like I said, the more athletes at the camp, the better for the coaching staff.

While I am being somewhat negative about these invites, here is a great story from Rivals.com about an athlete who was not recruited until he decided to travel the country and attended camps:

“This year, Tech’s hoping to have some similar luck with another Metroplex star.  He was barely a blip on most recruiting services’ radars, made huge splashes during camps at places like USC and Florida, which led to offers, which led to him becoming one of the hottest commodities on the recruiting market right now. But he is not just a hot commodity on the recruiting trail, he’s doing well on the field as well.”

He came into the summer without much recruiting interest but left with football scholarship offers from USC, Florida, Penn State, Texas Tech, and some of the top programs in the country. This does show that the number rated team in the country, USC, uses theses camps to extend scholarship offers. So while the odds are against you as an athlete, it does happen when a player like him goes to Southern Cal and shocks the coaching staff while on campus.

I also heard a story this past summer about a player holding a Division I-AA scholarship offer and getting looks by a Division I-A school in-state. The coaches told him that if he went to their camp, he would get a scholarship offer. Things didn’t turn out as well as this player had hoped and he left the camp without an offer. Weeks went by and he has heard very little from this school since. This was after they had told him on the phone that if he came to the camp, they would offer him an athletic scholarship. Keep that in mind before paying that big money up front.

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Are paid recruiting scouting service that have a hefty price worth it in the quest for a scholarship?

Because of the growth of the Internet over the past fifteen years, a variety of businesses have opened that are made easier because of the Internet. One area that has had a lot of growth because of this is paid scouting services. These are the types of scouting services that advertise to get your name out to college coaches and help you earn a scholarship. With a price tag usually in the thousands of dollars, are these really worth that hefty amount?

Here are some of the things that a few of these scouting services offer: “We promote each athlete to every college in the country offering the athlete’s sport. We do not pick and choose colleges in order to cut costs and we do not leave anyone out. Consequently 100% of our prospects get widespread exposure and recognition.” Here is also another one: “For the past 25 years, we have dedicated our efforts toward providing thousands of prospects, parents and college coaches with state – of – the – art products and unparalleled services. And, you will agree that our results speak for themselves.”

These were two random scouting services that I found on the Internet and I have no positive or negative feelings about either. Obviously when promoting a product, they will shoot for the stars and really be positive about their product. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that at all. I do the same at this site and other sites that I run. It is just a way to help stay productive over time in what you do when trying to earn money.

But will sending your information to every single college in the country really help you with the recruiting process? Will these coaches take your name off of a list and consider you a serious recruit? If all of these coaches take you as a serious recruit and really start showing you attention, then it would be worth the thousands of dollars. But in the back of my mind, that is definitely something I have to question.

I really emailed with a family who worked extremely hard to help their son eventually receive a Division II basketball scholarship. They have been the most aggressive parents that I have seen in the past tens years and it really has paid off with their son getting a free ride. Here is what they thought when I asked about if they considered using a recruiting service:

“We were approached by a couple after Ben’s junior year. They were kind of expensive ($1000 and up depending on what services they provided). We found we were already doing the same things they would do—profiles, contact coaches, follow up, game film , etc. It wouldn’t have paid for us to utilize these services, but for parents who really don’t enjoy or have the time to do the legwork, it could be an attractive option.”

I really take that quote to heart because I saw first hand these parents video taping their son at games, AAU events, and anything to help put together a better highlight tape for their son. However, that is not for everyone. It really just depends on what type of situation you are in and also if you have the technical knowledge to put together an extensive profile, cut video, and send it to coaches over the Internet in a timely manner.

Going back to the question at hand, if you are the athlete, there is little change that you can afford a scouting service to help you. So it will probably be up to your parents to fit the bill and that is not an easy feat for the majority of families out there. What I would recommend is research as many of these as you can. I personally think the ones that approach you or your child in person might be a little shady. Yes, that is their job, but I would personally rather find one myself that has been recommended to me. Talk to as many people as you know who have been through the process before and find out as much information as possible. It never hurts to ask, especially if you plan to lay down a few thousand dollars.

As with the quote above, if you don’t have the time or knowledge to do this for one of your children, then look more into the scouting services. Two quick notes that need to be said before I end this article. The first is that if your son or daughter is not a legit player, you are wasting your money. I promise it is a huge waste of time and money if they are not 100% committed to playing college athletics and love the sport that they are looking into. Your son or daughter may also love the game but they also must be good at and good enough to play at the next level. I would have a talk with their high school coach and see what he says about what level your son or daughter can play at. A lot of these scouting services make money off of kids who cannot play.

And the second, and probably most important, is that signing up and paying thousands of dollars does not mean that your child will be getting a scholarship. It means that the program that you signed up for will do what they can, but they are also doing the same for other clients in the same situation. If you are a parent with the ability to promote your child, there is a good chance that he or she is your number one priority in recruiting. Things like work and other family responsibilities may come up but they are your focus. A company does not have that loyalty to you. They will do what they can to help, but like I said, they are doing to however many athletes they have signed up. And for them, the more athletes, the bigger the pay check.

My final advice is if you have the time, skills, and ability to do it yourself, then do it. You can even use this site as a resource to help you through this confusing time. If you are not comfortable doing that, put a lot of time into research, talk to other college athletes, and those in the know that can give you some help as to which direction you may want to go in picking a scouting service. It really depends on the situation.

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What questions should I be asking college football coaches on the phone during the spring evaluation period?

For junior football recruits out there, May really is the most vital time thus far in the recruiting process. This finally gives you a feeling (either good or bad) about the schools that are seriously recruiting you. If a college coach takes the time to call you, then you are at least on their radar and that is a great thing.

But with most teenagers, the coaches will seem to be the ones talking the majority of the time because they are trying to build a bond. If these coaches don’t talk during most of the time, then there will be a lot of dead air and awkwardness. If you want to take control of the athletic recruiting process yourself, you should not let this happen. Instead, what you should be doing is asking questions and trying to find out as much as you can about the school. Here are some of the best questions to ask at this time period to the coaches if they come calling.

When thinking about any potential college, think long and hard about what you want to know. Any questions you throw there way will either be answered or researched and then responded to. The more questions you ask, the more interested you seem in the school. The most you are wasting is the ten or so minutes you are on the phone with the coach so it is worth it to learn more about their program.

Here are some of the most important questions you should think about asking when these calls are arriving. It is easy to think of more but these are some of the most obvious ones that should be brought up:

How vital is going to your summer camp?

What is the best camp that I can go to so that I can be evaluated?

How does the evaluation process work?

How many players do you hope to bring in on scholarship at my position?

How did spring practices go?

What is your overall outlook on the upcoming season?

What workouts are the team doing now? How does that change in the summer?

Where do you see the program in the next four or five years?

How do athletes balance academics and athletics?

Is there help in the classroom if I am struggling in a class?

How would you describe your coaching style?

What are the best features of your school?

Will the facilities be updated any time soon (take what they say with a grain of salt)?

How well does the school/student body support the program?

Does the team go on any unique travel opportunities during the year or the summer?

How would you describe the overall attitude of the team?

Again, there are so many others that you can add to the list. These are just some of the ones that I thought of. All should be considered but it is probably best that you only pick a few because if you have a talkative coach, you may be on the phone with them for hours. That won’t look good on that eventual cell phone bill that your parents will be paying for.

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How many athletes do college football coaches call during the spring evaluation period?

How many athletes do college football coaches call during the spring evaluation period?One of the most interesting and loaded questions that I have received in recent weeks was sent by email recently. The athlete wanted to know more about phone calls from college coaches and what exactly does it mean. As I have said, this is a sure sign that the college coaches at their school are seriously interested in you.

But if they have almost a month and a half to call recruits across the country, how many are they actually calling? The reason that this question is so loaded is because it varies so much. One school may call 100 prospects and another 500. It just depends on the school and their recruiting base. But here is what I think are the normal numbers for an average Division I-A (BCS) program.

Before doing this, I used the Rivals recruiting database to get a feel for the amount of kids that a school has offered thus far. For Nebraska, they have offered somewhere in the ball park of 100 players (my guess is that this is higher but not all are listed). Because Nebraska offers a lot of athletes, I am taking a closer look at Auburn. According to Rivals, they have somewhere around 75 offers out to athletes that are uncommitted.

They may try calling some of the committed prospects but for the sake of the article, they are only calling the prospects that they have offered who have not yet made a college decision. With that in mind, they will be making at least 75 calls. Each one of those will end up being with a player they are hoping to land but have some stuff competition for. Most of these recruits are rated four and five stars so only a small amount will end up picking them.

My guess is that they will be making 50 calls to prospects with offers from other schools but not yet from Auburn. These are the athletes that may be their B recruits and will continue to be evaluated over the spring and the summer. These recruits may need to pass the eyeball test or the coaches want to see them in action at their summer camp.

Then there would be somewhere around 25 fringe athletes who are C recruits. These could be players flying under the radar that the coaches like but they have no offers. This program could be waiting for another school to step up and offer before things get serious.

If they do all this, then there would be somewhere around 150 calls. On each college coaching staff, there are eleven coaches that are able to call so they would be making 13.63 calls per coach. Over a course of forty of so days, that is pretty easy for each of those coaches to make those calls.

Again, there are going to be staffs that do much more and other staffs that do much less. It depends on their recruiting strategy and how they feel about the recruits in the fold. Look at Texas. With twenty commitments already in the bag, how many calls are these coaches going to make? Forty? There is no set number but I would guess the average to be around 150.

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The position you have a desire to continue playing vs. the position that college coaches want you to play

It doesn’t seem to matter much the year but there are always excellent athletes who have the opportunity to continue their career at a college for one position but pick a smaller school because they are willing to play them at the position that they want. A perfect example would be a dual threat quarterback who may have offers at defensive backs but one school promises them that they will at least get a chance to play quarterback in college.

This is always very interesting to see simply because there are some Division I schools renowned for promising athletes that they will get to play quarterback but shortly after they are moved to another position. If you are in that spot, is it better to comply to what the coaches are asking for or taking a different road at a smaller school to play the position that you want?

As I have said in many articles, you will not be able to play college athletics if you do not love the sport that you are playing. You need to spend a lot of time to excel in college and if you are not totally sold on the position that they are playing you at, it really may be better to look at a smaller school.

Over the past few years, there have been a few recruits that have received scholarship offers from two in-state schools. The recruits spent their high school careers playing tight end and each wants the opportunity to at least try playing there in college. One school has been honest and said that they will move you to the offensive line. The other school says that this athlete will get a chance to play tight end.

Currently, one athlete has is committed to the school but the other one is a sophomore at the school who moved to the offensive line early in his career. The first coaching staff was completely honest and did not want to tell a kid just what they want to hear. They didn’t feel he was a tight end at their level and said from day one he would be an offensive linemen. The other school may think they are being honest by trying him at tight end for a week but they know deep down the chances that he will play line at their level.

This type of thing happens all the time. There is a Big Ten school that always seems to land great athletes who want to try their hand at quarterback in college. While I can’t say for sure, these coaches may have tried him at quarterback for a week and then sold him on defense. Considering he is already at the school, and would have to sit out to leave, what athletes are really going to change schools because of that?

If you are in a similar situation, can you see yourself happy at the position college coaches want you to play? That is a very important question to answer honestly. Some recruits just love playing football and getting on the field while others may love leading the team at quarterback. If the school promises to get you on campus at your preferred position but they seem to be making a lot of promises, keep that in mind. It may be worth looking into a Division I-AA school that will keep you at the position you want to play.

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West African Peanut Chickpeas

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Should I attend every single Junior Days that I am invited to during the athletic recruiting process? Will it impress college coaches?

There is a junior football prospect who I recently spoke with about what is going on with his recruiting. This athlete has done a marvelous job marketing himself to schools throughout the country. He has impressive testing numbers and looks solid on film. And with that, he has received a lot of information from colleges in a wide variety of places.

And while I think he will receive a Division I-AA (FCS) scholarship at worst, no schools have stepped up to offer him at this point. With all of the attention that he has been getting, this junior has been invited to a lot of Junior Days that he has attended. The family has spent a great deal of money going to somewhere around five to ten Junior Days in a variety of locations. Once you add in travel (gas or airfare), lodging, and eating for every one of these visits, the price tag keeps growing.

The recruiting process is a once in a lifetime thing that is extremely unique compared to anything else an athlete will go through. But is spending all this money really worth it in the long run? My strong opinion about this is no, it is better to hit the in-state/surrounding state Junior Days that can easily be driven to.

One of the things that parents always say in their Q&As after the recruiting process is that they took too many visits, especially to the same places. Maybe in a perfect world, all of these schools will end up offering this athlete a scholarship. I honestly hope so because he is a great kid who I hope gets a lot of opportunities in college.

Showing up at these Junior Days does show that you are interested in the school and what they have to offer. But again, it is something where you can easily get lost in the shuffle. If they send out 200 invites and 80 athletes show up (plus a large amount of family as well), then how much 1-on-1 time are you really expecting with a college coach? The only thing they are promising you if you attend is a good meal and more information about their school.

These coaches do the same mass invites during sophomore and junior years for many athletes to their game day visits. While it is great to get three tickets, the reason that the coaches are doing this is to start a good relationship and make sure they are not missing out on anyone. That is why they throw around the tickets so readily. What is it going to hurt to bring more recruits in?

Many schools are also doing this for Junior Day. What these Junior Days most likely do is give recruits a false impression of how hard the school is recruiting them. If they invited me to their Junior Day, I might as well come to their camp. I will remind you that unless they call you during late April/May, they are not really recruiting you. And I don’t care how many games, Junior Days, spring practices, and spring games they invite you to.

If I was in the shoes of this athlete, be realistic. Is a Big 12 powerhouse really going to offer you if you come to their Junior Day, especially when you currently have zero scholarship offers?

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I’m a sophomore/freshman with no current football recruiting interest/mail/social media contact. What do I do?

First off, let me note that regardless of if you are a top twenty recruit in the country or someone who will play Division III football, colleges are limited in what they can send you. The real mail can begin on September 1st of your junior year. Before that date, colleges are legally only able to send you camp invites and a questionnaire. That is all you can receive.

So the first thing you need to do is not get extremely disappointed that you have not been hearing from schools. It does happen throughout the recruiting process and is another fun part that you need to deal with during this time. But even though you are still young, it would not hurt to get your name on their radar for future reference.

I always have to preface articles like this by saying that having extended varsity experience is a must. I sound like a broken record in saying this but college coaches do not care about what you accomplished at the freshman, sophomore, or junior varsity levels. The competition you will face in college, especially at the Division I level, is going to be so many times better than that.

If you have stats and some ability to back it up, one of the first people I would speak with is your college coaches. Obviously unless you are undersized, they are not going to say your only option is to go play Division III football. Many will not give you a final assessment because you have so much time before you graduate but it is important to speak in regards of what level they may think you can play at.

Once the talk with your high school varsity coach is out of the way, now is the time to start piecing together early on the five steps to getting an athletic scholarships. As a sophomore and a freshman, unless you can do the tape yourself or get it done cheaply, I would not produce one just yet. A lot of development is expected out of you over time so I think it is too early.

What you can do is put together a recruiting profile that includes your contact information, stats, and what you have accomplished. If you have the ability, then go ahead and build a website. At this age, I would actually build the website before putting the highlight tape together. The time to do that highlight tape is following your junior year. Yes, sophomore tape can get you a scholarship but it doesn’t happen all that often. And college coaches are not exactly beating down the door to request sophomore video.

After putting that profile together, now is a great time to talk to your parents and possibly about your coaches about what you want in a future college. Think about location, weather, academics, and anything else that may factor in. If you have an idea what you want to study, make sure it is at the colleges you are looking for. After putting a list together of what you want, now is a good time to get to work on researching these schools online. You can see a big list of schools here. Find the schools that fit what you are looking for and have your parent contact them.

In the email, include your recruiting profile and just introduce your son to the coach. Tell them exactly why you are interested in their school and say something that you hope they will consider him a prospect over the next few years. No, this will not get you an early scholarship but being on the list means you will be more heavily evaluated over time.

After finding out what schools you are interested in, now may be a time to start looking more heavily at their camps. Again, most colleges don’t offer kids that early at camps but you can help your stock in the long run with a recent performance. Most juniors who aren’t just freak athletes get early offers because they attended camps at the school during the previous summer.

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Should I commit to a school even if I am not 100% sure about the decision to ensure that I have a scholarship?

As I have mentioned many times in my recruiting definitions for parents and players, college coaches are prone to deadline an athlete during the recruiting process.  I even spoke with a college coach just yesterday about an athlete.  He said there was an athlete with an offer still waiting to decide but they had another kid ready to pull the trigger who does not have an offer.  If the first kid doesn’t decide soon, they will deadline him and move on.  And just for the sake of mentioning, this is from a Division II school. 

When a college coach deadlines you in the athletic recruiting process, it is a difficult situation no matter how many scholarship offers you have.  But what makes it even harder is if there is only one athletic scholarship on the table and only interest from other schools.  If you are deadlined, is it worth committing to the school even though you are not 100% sure about it?

The answer to that question really depends on a lot of things and varies from a case to case situation.  If a basketball coach deadlines you now, chances are that they will want you signing with the school.  Before there are two different signing periods for basketball, you have to realize that you will likely not be getting out of your Letter of Intent.  So for basketball, I would make 100% sure that want to attend that school because the coaches will want a National Letter of Intent faxed in next month.  If a football program does that now, you actually have some time between now and February to make sure that you are confident with that decision.  But even if there is time between now and Signing Day, it is a tough question to answer. 

The first thing that you must think about is what is the worst case scenario that you can go through here?  Lets say you wait out the deadline and they end up getting a commitment from another recruit at your position.  You may now have lost your opportunity to attend that school on a scholarship.  So what other schools are showing you interest?  Do you like these schools more?  Is there a realistic chance of getting a scholarship offer (that is a tough question to answer)?  If it is a Division I school you are being recruited by, do you lose your chances of playing at that level?  Would you be happy playing at a Division II school? 

In the worst case scenario situation, these are some important things to think about.  It may be worth telling the other schools that are recruiting you the situation.  It may entice them to offer a scholarship and help your situation in the recruiting process.  Others will likely tell you that they need to further evaluate you and will know more later.  Being honest with the other coaches is the best way to hopefully help yourself in the recruiting process. 

The second thing is how do you feel about the school itself.  Does this school have what you want to major in?  How do you feel about the location?  How is their football/basketball/other sporting program?  No matter where you pick, there will always be doubts that may creep in.  If these doubts seem to come up each and every time that you think about this school, then it may not be the place for you. 

My personal opinion overall is that unless something changes (ie: coaching change or the coaches recruit another player at your position), if you commit to a school, you should remain committed the entire time.  But it is much more difficult when the coaches say that you have until a certain date.  You might as well ask them if you can have more time because unless you are 100% sure, it may be best to wait and see what happens.  The worse they can say is no and then you will really be restricted by that time table.  My opinion is that there will be a coach that wants you bad enough not to deadline you into a final decision.  What level that is at is a question mark though. 

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What happens at a Junior Day during the football recruiting process from the eyes of those in attendance?

I have written a number of different articles talking about what a Junior Day is and what happens throughout these visits.  These are important events during the football recruiting process that I would recommend if you have the time and money to travel there. 

And while I can only pass along what I know happens during a Junior Day, this time I enlisted the help of a number of athletes who have made these visits.  Each of these quotes are from a number of players who all made a visit to the same Junior Day.  See for yourself what they say about the event and what their overall thoughts are:

“They started off with a tour. They showed the campus and stuff. Then we talked about football with the coaches. We ate in one of their eating places on campus. I had to leave early to go a spring game but I talked to the head coach and tight end coach.”

“First, we had a look at their facilities and the new weight room they are building. Then they had this room that showed you what type of form you had with your running. Then we took a tour of the campus and they showed us all of the different buildings for academics. After that, we went back to (their stadium) and talked to the strength and conditioning coach as well as a couple of other coaches. Then we ate at their restaurant place. After that, we talked to the head coach and then split into different position groups. I went with the running backs and talked to the running back coach. He just said how he coached and what they have done in past years to have success. After that we watched their hit film tape from last year.”

“We did the tour right away and then we went into a big room where the strength coach talked. The academic guy talked about him and we went and ate lunch when that was done. (Their head coach) talked and then we broke into position meetings. I went with the linebackers. They got a new linebackers coach and he was new so he could relate to what we were going through. He seemed pretty cool.  We had a final talk with (their head coach) and then watched the highlight video. It started at 10:30 and was done at 2:30.”

“We got a chance to watch the practice at the beginning. We just watched them go through their drills. They gave us a campus tour and we moved with the coaches to our individual positions. Then we talked to each of the coaches. I liked that a lot. They fed us lunch at one of the dining halls. I thought it was good to get a taste of college and what it will be like there.”

“At first, we got into groups and they showed us their facilities. We took a tour around the campus. After that, we had lunch and talked to the coaches a little bit. Then we split into groups by position and I talked to the position coach.”

“We toured the campus. Then they showed us the academic center. We talked football with them. After lunch, they talked to us about what they expect for recruits and what we need to know to play there.”

“First we got to tour the campus a little bit and see everything. Then we got to eat at cafeteria, which is awesome. Then we went into individual groups so I went with the offensive linemen. We talked and then went into individual sections.”

“We just checked in and watched their practice for 45 minutes. They were split into groups by position so we could watch quarterbacks or linebackers. After 45 minutes, everyone headed into a little room where they broke off into different groups and toured the campus. Then everyone heard the strength and conditioning coach. It sounds like they are really doing some technologically advanced stuff. Then we all went and ate in the cafeteria. We listened to (their head coach) and an admission guy about how to get into school there. Then the position coaches talked to us. We watched a highlight tape and (their head coach) recapped it all.”

“When we went there, we went to the practice and got to go on the field. Then they took us on a campus tour and saw all the facilities. Then we went and ate lunch, met with (their head coach), our position coaches, and then left.”

“We started with the tour first with a student ambassador. Then we ate and met with our position coaches. We talked to them and I got to talk to the recruiter in my area a little bit.”

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The entire family needs to buy into the athletic recruiting process for it to be successful and end how you hope

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with a football recruit.  This player is currently a junior who has limited interest from college coaches.  From speaking with him and his dad, it appears that he has followed some of the information on this site and marketed himself to a variety of schools across the country.  What is interesting is how varied the schools are and that makes me think that they are finding schools that may be a good match for them. 

The marketing part is something I am all for.  The problem with the situation is that when talking to the athlete, he wasn’t exactly sure what schools were showing him interest.  He said that his dad is his “recruiting coordinator” and that he handles it.  It is great for a dad (or a mom for that matter) to play an active role in the recruiting process.  The problem with the situation is that it seemed like the dad was doing it all and his son had little clue what was going on.  In order for the athletic recruiting process in any sport to be a success, everyone has to buy in. 

So why shouldn’t just a parent handle the recruiting process?  That question can be answered simply.  The mom or dad doing it all is not the one that will be going to the school for four or five years.  While the goal is for the family to be on the same page, my guess is that not everyone is looking for exactly the same thing in a school.  For dad, the main concern could be price.  For mom, it may be location and being close to home.  For their son, it could end up being that the school is on the west coast. 

I have talked about early on why it is so important to have a family meeting and talk about what the entire family wants out of a school.  The mom, dad, and son should all have input in what schools they want to market the athlete to.  But when it comes down to a final decision, the input from the son (or child if this is another sport) has to be the most important.  They have to be the one pulling the final trigger and deciding where they go to college. 

In order to give the athlete the best options overall in the recruiting process, their input must be used often in the marketing process.  If a mom or dad is the one doing all of the work, then their recruiting base may be skewed on what they want, not what the athlete wants.  As I said earlier, if dad is doing all the work and price is the biggest concern, do you really think he is not going to cross off schools that may cost more than $25,000?  Dad may end up crossing off all of the Division III private schools because of sticker shock as to how much they cost.  That is a huge problem because there are academic scholarships, grants, aid, and even student loans to help pay the costs involved. 

If mom was running the showing as the recruiting coordinator and location is her biggest priority, then would the athlete get much benefit if the only schools that were marketed to were the ones that were either in-state or in the surrounding states?  If either parent had the biggest say, then the overall amount of schools available would be limited because of their own preferences.  That is why the preference of the athletes comes first.  If he is limiting schools simply because it doesn’t have the major he wants or is too close to home, that is perfectly fine.  You have to remember that he is the one going to the college so they have to be the ones buying in the most to their decision.  In the end, it affects them the most so they should have the biggest say. 

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I am a parent who feels helpless in all aspects of the athletic recruiting process. What should I do?

For most parents reading this, the reason that you were able to find this site is that you want to be able to be proactive throughout the athletic recruiting process for your son or daughter.  Maybe this is your first time and for others you may have done it before but there is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most confusing times in trying to help your child. 

Parents may even feel helpless because they are not exactly sure what they should be doing and if they should be doing stuff to help.  When I went through the Division III recruiting process a while back, my mom had no idea what was going on.  She took me to one visit and just didn’t have a clue regarding letters, calls, or things along that line.  I thought now is as good of a time as any to help parents figure things out in the athletic recruiting process. 

Here are a few different things that I feel will be a major help to parents that have children with aspirations to continue their sporting career in college.  Like the definitions list that I have been updating, this may be a feature that continues to grow over time because I want readers who are parents to be as informed as possible throughout the athletic recruiting process. 

Communication with the athlete is key
College coaches will contact athletes through their high school coach, call their cell phone, and even send letters to the school.  While many coaches know that the parents will be an important part of the recruiting process, their first step is to draw the interest of the kid to their school.  This means that communication about the recruiting process is a must between you and your child.  While I know that most kids don’t seem to open up to their parents during the teenage years unless they need something, parents need to know what goals and dreams their son or daughter has about playing college sports.  Being able to talk to them about the letters that they receive, what level they hope to play at, and things along that line will be great not only for the recruiting process but also learning more about your child. 

Bank roll the recruiting process
Parents will do just about anything to make their kid’s happy.  You can do that by bank rolling the recruiting process.  I am not saying to go on extravagant college visits and going to every camp you are invited to.  I am saying that you will likely have to pay for a highlight video to be made, take care of the for gas to make unofficial visits, and handle the costs involved for camps.  If you take care these things yourself, it is going to be a major money saver in the long run rather than hire it out. 

Do the behind the scenes leg work
I am not talking about you picking out schools that you would have loved to go to in the recruiting process.  I am saying that parents can do the leg work behind camps, highlight videos, and potential videos.  For the highlight videos, you can speak to the high school coach, other recruits, search the Internet, and talk to people you know about possibly getting a quality video made.  While a 17-year old can do it, chances are you will be better at following through during the process.  And since the athlete probably cannot write the check themselves, this has to be something where you can do the work and handle it.  While they may need to ask the high school coach about getting video, you should work on setting things up while putting it in place. 

Don’t try to live through them
You obviously hear about the parents who weren’t successful in sports when they were younger so they try to hone their children to be major recruits.  Don’t do it.  It is going to create a major strain on the bond between you and your son or daughter so just don’t even try.  If they don’t want to play in college, let them decide.  The athlete should also be the one picking the schools that they are interested in.  This is about them and where they will be happy for four to five years.  Keep that in mind and don’t try to live through them. 

Inform yourself
I assume the reason that you are visiting this site is to inform yourself.  As I have mentioned before on this site, feel free to post comments with your questions.  There is nothing bad about asking as many questions as possible.  That can include asking the high school coach question, the guidance counselor questions, and the college coaches questions.  Many parents go into the football recruiting process or the basketball recruiting process with little previous information.  This is a process that you can do yourself if you decide to study up and inform yourself as much as possible about how the recruiting process works. 

Be realistic
As a parent, this may be almost impossible.  It is very difficult to be able to have realistic opinions about your children and their ability in athletics.  You are 100% bias having raised this child that it is going to be hard.  So try to get as much outside opinion as possible.  If your kid wants to play Division I and he is a Division III type player, you are going to waste a lot of time and money if you are not realistic about the situation.  You need to have a good feel what level your kid can play at.  Finding that honest opinion would be up to you and something that needs to be done before really diving into the recruiting process. 

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Qualified to Make Sure You Qualify for a Mortgage

If you need open-heart surgery, you want to be sure the doctor in the operating room knows what they’re doing. You want to know they’ve got the professional education, skills and experience to carry out the life-saving procedure.

You would expect nothing less from the person handling the biggest financial decision of your life - your mortgage broker.

Though a mortgage broker doesn’t need quite the same qualifications as a heart surgeon, there are still rigorous standards each mortgage professional must meet to do their job.

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The ABC’s of Alternative Lending

Most homebuyers, when it comes to their financing, want the best rate possible. And that usually means turning to either the big banks, credit unions, or monoline lenders. In the mortgage business, these lenders a typically called, “A” lenders. If you’ve got good credit, a good job and decent down payment, you’re probably looking at one of these A lenders. But there are some people who don’t fit into conventional lending, and that’s where you might hear the term, Alt A, or alternative lender.

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When will college coaches call and should I be expecting them to come soon?

With now being the open period and college coaches legally being able to call, some wonder if and when these coaches will be calling. Let me mention that these coaches have until the end of May to call but can only call a prospect one time during this spring evaluation period. They can visit your school but only one call can be made.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, a call from a college coach is a pretty high priority (To see the complete article regarding my levels of interest from college coaches, click here now). The ultimate goal is to get a scholarship offer but I can honestly say that I think a phone call is next in line when it comes to importance. It doesn’t mean you will get an offer or a walk on spot but it definitely is a good thing.

From what I have seen, most of the college coaches are using the early part of the evaluation period to go to high schools. During that time period, the coach gets a chance to size up the recruit, check in on their academics, talk to their high school coach, and see tape (If they haven’t already).

During that time, the coach is visiting as many high schools as they possibly can. This is a big benefit to them because it is another step to narrow down their database of athletes. If a player is listed at 6-foot and the coach feels that he is closer to 5-foot-9, chances are strong that the college coach will move on. If grades are an issue and the prospect is borderline for the level that they are at, don’t expect to get much more recruiting interest.

The majority of coaches use that early evaluation to really learn more about the kids, what type of people they are, and see them up close and personal. While many of the athletes may blur together because the coaches are traveling so much, this will eventually help them reduce their list at the end of the month.

Prospects have been telling me that college coaches have been emailing them and saying that they will be calling at the end of the month. The reason that they are waiting is because the coaches want a chance to talk to the prospects about their summer camps.

Let me state for the record that if a college coach actually calls you and talks to you about attending their summer camp, they will at least evaluate if you are good enough at the camp. It doesn’t mean you will be getting anything outside of some coaching and a t-shirt from the camp, but it is much, much better than getting a generic camp invite in the mail.

If you do have college coaches stopping by the school and programs sending mail daily, don’t worry about the calls at this point. I wouldn’t say that they will for sure be calling but my guess is that they are waiting until camp nears so that they can speak to you about it.

Again, this really just depends program to program. Some college coaches want to call prospects early on so that they can make a first impression. Others may want to call late and be the last ones to talk to the recruits. This gives them a chance to talk about camps and a possible visit in the future.

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Is AAU or high school basketball more important in the overall recruiting process?

I recently had a chance to talk to a few coaches. Some were college coaches and others were high school coaches. And one of the most interesting aspects of their opinions is how much emphasis should be put on AAU basketball.

In one corner, you have a high school basketball team that you should be focusing on. They will be the team that you spend the winter playing for and hopefully winning games. The AAU program on the other hand is the team you play with during the off-season. But when events for both occur on the same weekend, what should you do as a player? What should be more important to you?

In the opinion of college coaches, there is no substitute for AAU basketball. This gives them a chance to see an athlete compete first hand with some of the other top basketball players in the country. It is vital to the recruiting process and many coaches will base most of their scholarship offers on the play of an athlete during the summer.

When talking to a college coach, he mentioned that it matters little to him how the player does during the season. Athletes could put up huge numbers but those don’t matter a ton because it could be against bad competition. These coaches want to see them on the AAU circuit or at their camp during the summer. It allows the college coaches to work with them and see them against better competition.

But where is the loyalty to the high school program? Kids always dream of winning a State title but I know that AAU coaches and high school coaches are not exactly best friends. They want their kids at workouts, practices, and events on the weekend. But the problem is that in the majority of cases, the kid has to make a decision as to where he wants to focus more of his time.

Recently I was told a story about a talented younger basketball player in a program. The high school coach spoke with that athlete that he needed to attend his workouts so that they can work together as a team on a variety of different things. The response from the kid and his dad is that he didn’t want to lose his spot on the AAU team.

What is interesting about this story is that although the kid is young, he is limited athletically and it not one that will be boasting multiple scholarship offers when everything is said and done. Their family made it pretty obvious that the AAU workouts were more important than what the high school coach is teaching them.

No offense to AAU coaches but the majority of them are not qualified to coach varsity high school basketball. They may know how to get players into their program but few actually know much about coaching and being able to help these players really develop. These coaches know how to help get their kid recruited and try to get their name out.

So when AAU coaches and high school basketball coaches butt heads, the question is who wins? Which one should be more important? On the high school basketball side of things, you should have loyalty to your team and do what is in the best interest of your team. The better you do for your team, the better chance you will have to play AAU basketball.

As for AAU, it is important not to over do it and focus too much on this. Regardless of what level you think you can play, it is important to find a balance between both programs. Talk to the coaches about it and see what they say. It is not going to be something that is easy one way or another.

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More negatives on football camp invites and why they mean very little

As I have written many times in the past regarding camp invites and how the majority of them are to boast numbers and the salaries of coaches (Read the article here), I continue to hear more and more athletes tell me that they are going to these camps because they were sent an invite. Obviously is it not my place to tell them what to do when speaking with them but for those savvy enough readers to visit this site, you will get to hear even more on this.

What really has set me off recently is that there are non college camps. Lets just call this an area camp that sends out invites to players. Because the people that run these camps are making money off of each and every athlete there, they could careless if you run a 6.0 40-yard dash. And just to let users know, they mass mail these to as many athletes as they can throughout their area. The more athletes they get coming, the more money they make over the course of the spring.

The reason I felt it was necessary that I bring this up is because I spoke with an athlete saying that he wanted to attend. Maybe the camp does a nice job making it feel like you are a special athlete but my best guess is that it is no more than a mail merge in Microsoft Word. And after looking and seeing that the cost of the camp was $135, I was shocked (Note: There is also a package that only costs $100 as well).

Some of the selling points of camps like this is that there have been so many Division I coaches in attendance in the past and that they will send all of this information out to college coaches. First off, just because a Division I coach has made an appearance before does not mean they are coming back. The chances of you earning a scholarship based off of an independent camp is slim to none.

As for the information sheets that have been sent out, not many colleges do look at them. Camps like the Nike Camp and other big name camps that are free forward on the information and college coaches will respect it because of the name behind them. The Nike Camp has been doing it for many years and may be the premiere camp in the country. Yes, they try to sell you stuff while there but they don’t charge you money up front.

With the shadier camps that charge money, the majority of college coaches may flip through it but my best guess is that it ends up in the trash. The good news is that you will probably be leaving the camp with at least a t-shirt so things could be worse.

I look at this type of camp similar to a door to door salesman. If you really want to help yourself in the recruiting process, there are steps that you can take to get it done. Some of them include having your high school coach help you, putting together a recruiting profile, attending a free camp like the Nike Camp, and contacting coaches yourself. The camps are like a door to door salesman trying to personalize everything for you so that they make it seem like they really want you there. In reality, if your check cashes, then come on down.

Obviously everyone wants to help their stock in the recruiting process. It is not an easy thing to do but I don’t think going to camps where you pay money are a good idea. If you are going to pay for a camp, why not attend a college camp of the school you followed since you were younger. Yes, it is a little more expensive but at least you will get a chance to work with some prestigious coaches. You likely won’t be leaving with a scholarship but it will probably be something that you will remember for the rest of your life.

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College Camp Advice during the Athletic Recruiting

As an athlete at the high school level, it is always great to receive mail from college coaches. Even if it is a form letter or just a camp invite, it really just make you feel special to open the letter from a big school. And while I am not here to rain on your parade, I think it important for athletes to realize what a camp invite means and how you should handle them.

Let me start out by saying that a number of college programs send out tape invites to hundreds and probably thousands of athletes. Unless you have been hearing from the school before receiving this invite, then really, it means nothing. Unless you really blow up at their camp (And the chances are slim), than they are not going to recruit you. And if you have spent the money to attend the week long camp, hopefully you got something out of it more than a hope that you can improve your recruiting stock.

As I have said many times before, college coaches supplement a big part of their paycheck with summer camps. If they bring in 1,000 kids at $50 per kid, that equals out to $50,000 that they have added to their revenue. Also remember that the price I just listed is extremely small and the big schools are able to bring in well over 1,000 kids in the summer.

If you really feel that you have what it takes to play at the Division I level, then you need to be looking for camps that are more individual for the top athletes. For example, one camp in the state I live in has a one day senior elite camp. These coaches charge less for this camp because they want to bring in as many top flight prospects as possible. These prospect will then go head to head and that allows the coaches to get a better feel for the athletes there.

College basketball coaches will do the same thing. These coaches will hold elite basketball camps and slash the costs of the camp as much as possible. If both of these camps break even for the coaching staff, it is well worth it. First off, it helps their evaluations by getting a chance to work with the players. It also helps in recruiting because the players are on campus and some feel that is half the battle in the recruiting process.

If a college does not hold an elite one day camp or it is something that you have not been invited to, speak with them about attending one or two days of their week long camp. I just took a quick look at how much it would cost a high school athlete to attend the LSU week long camp. Obviously the Tigers are a hot team coming off of a National title but they currently charge $300 per athlete from Sunday night until Wednesday.

I only recommend talking to the coaching staff about attending one day if you are being recruited by them. If they have requested tape, sent hand written mail, and tried to get you on campus for a visit. If my son was going through the recruiting process, unless this camp was the best fundamental camp in the country, I would not take him to a camp just because they sent me an invite and have shown no other attention. You might as well chalk with up with the other form letters you have been getting.

If a college coach cannot figure out if you can play or not in one day, then maybe they should not be at that position. That is why speaking with them about attending one day will save you money and the hassle of attending weeks and weeks of college football camps. This will also allow you to get to more camps and give you more overall flexibility.

For college basketball, the college coaches put a smaller emphasis of trying to recruit kids at their non-elite summer camps. I recently had an athlete tell me that he wanted to go to the big in-state school to play basketball and was named MVP of the summer week long camp. The problem is that the majority of all good basketball players, especially to play at the Division I level, are likely on AAU teams traveling the country or playing with their high school team. Most of the camps that I have seen, the head coach is in attendance on the first day and the last day. They know that they players that will keep them in their job are on the AAU circuit. Could they find a walk on? Maybe, but you are better off not attending these camps if you are looking at it in financial terms.

At times, it really is hard to figure out what schools want to evaluate you at camp or want to get your money for the camp. But use your best judgment and go to camps at places you would actually want to go to school. There is no reason to try and get an offer from a school that you wouldn’t want to attend.

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Misconceptions that are commonly associated with the athletic recruiting process and what you should really expect

Over the next few weeks, I plan on putting together a string of articles that breaks down some of the misconceptions of the athletic recruiting process.  These are different statements that I heard from families quite often.  In this series of articles, I will be talking about why the misconception exists, if there is any truth to it (which there probably is not), and what you really should be doing instead of following this myth.

But before I jump right into these articles, I wanted to talk quickly about some of the topics that I will be touching on.  This piece will discuss some of the misconceptions that you should be avoiding during the athletic recruiting process.  If you doing any of these, there is little doubt that cleaning up that area and following our advice should be a great help in the recruiting process.

I just sent out some tape/video links and should be hearing back from coaches soon
When talking to athletes, I unfortunately hear this one quote frequently.  As I have said many times and try to stress time and time again, sending out your tape cold to college coaches means that it will likely end up in the garbage.  College coaches don’t have the time to sort through tape that an athlete randomly sent.  If it has not been requested, chances are slim that it will be watched.

I am waiting for my season to come and then the recruiting will start
The only reason to wait and not start marketing yourself today is because you have not logged varsity playing time.  That is the only exception here.  If you have logged extensive varsity time, then you should be following The Five Steps to a Scholarship Offer.

If I am good enough on the field/court/diamond, college coaches will find me
The coaches that will find you are likely going to be at the Division III/NAIA level.  Marketing yourself should give you a chance to be evaluated by college coaches at higher levels.

If I outplay a scholarship athlete, then I am sure to get interest from that school and others
Outplaying a scholarship athlete means very little.  This could be the same athlete who has dominated on the camp circuit and runs a legit 4.45 40-yard dash.  There is much more to the recruiting process than just one game.

Early letters and camp invites mean a school is serious about me
These coaches have you in their database, which is a good thing.  The bad news is that you are likely one of a few thousand athletes, especially for football.

My high school coach is handling my recruiting
There are about 1% of high school coaches who do handle the recruiting and are excellent about it.  But these coaches are obviously few and far between so handling it yourself lets you control it.

 

 

 

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The five things that you really should think about regarding a future college before pulling the final trigger

Most athletes state that the biggest factors in a college decision are location, playing time, and money.  While all of these should play a role into your final college decision, I personally don’t believe that these should be among the very top things that you are looking for on your college search.

So I have come up with what I think should be the five biggest things in your search for a home over the next four or five years.  While you may not agree with these, athletes need to take a look at this list and at least be aware of what I am talking about.  Seeing these may give you a different perspective on the overall athletic recruiting process.

Note: Let me say that all 16-18 year olds are prone to changing their mind.  But if they are savvy enough to find this site and use it during the recruiting process, then they should know what they are interested in and have a good feel on their line of thinking.

1.) That they offer the major that you are interested in
What you want to do for your career should trump everything in terms of a college search.  It will be what you are doing the next forty years of your life so it is probably worth it to pick a school that has a major you are interested in.

2.) If you can/cannot stand being far away from your family
Location is crucial.  Some athletes can go across the country and have no problem while others may think two hours away is too far.  It is hard to figure out but something to strongly consider.

3.) The overall costs involved with going to the school each year
The money that either your parents are paying for (if you are lucky) or you will be repaying in student loans adds up very quickly over four years.  Make sure you know exactly what your tuition costs as well as room and board.

4.) Your chances of seeing playing time early
For those athletes who are always on the court, could you really go to a program and be happy while sitting for three years?  This is definitely a tough thing to think about.

5.) The overall success of the team
The more wins a team gets, the happier most athletes are.  Playing for a losing program is difficult and something that is tough to swallow at times.

These are just five things to at least look at.  There are many others but these should certainly be considered before making a final call on your college decision.

 

 

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If Money is a huge issue during the athletic recruiting process, what should I do to help get the process going?

I have talked about this frequently over the last few months so there is little doubt that the economy has put families in a pinch over the last year.  This may include family members being laid off or having to find new jobs.  So when money is tight within a family, there is no doubt that it will also factor into the recruiting process of the children if they are at that stage.

So what should you do if the economy has negatively affected your family and you must find a way to help yourself in the eyes of college coaches but do it on a tight budget?  Here are some thoughts about this and it includes travel, making a recruiting highlight video, and more.  For this situation, I am going to go with a worse case scenario where money is a major factor in all walks of life at this point.

Putting together a recruiting profile
I would say there are two different options here to save money.  The two free things that come to mind are Google Docs or Open Office.  When you finish the project, make sure that you have it in a format that is easily readable.  My preference would be for you to make it into a PDF file to send out to college coaches.

The second option is to use the school/library and build it on a computer there.  These computers should be loaded with Microsoft programs or something that can help you put together this profile.  Make sure to save it to a flashdrive or burn it to a CD so you can have it later for sending it out.

Sending out your recruiting profile
Even if your budget is so tight that your family may no longer have Internet in home, you can use the library to send out the profile.  Make sure to look ahead if reservations are needed so that you can reserve a block of time to send out the profiles and research the schools.  The last thing you want to feel is a time crunch when researching schools and sending these out.

Putting together a highlight video
If you have the abilities and skills needed to do it, then go ahead and get going on.  The second option would be a coach at the high school.  This will save you a good chunk of change if they have the ability to put together the highlight video for you.  If you go to a bigger school, speak with the media specialist at the school and see what options are available.  Make sure to explain to them the situation and see if they can help.

Make sure to accept money/gifts/cars offered by the coaches recruiting you
This is a joke and an obvious NCAA violation.  I would never condone this or approve it at all.  Coaches wouldn’t do this either, right?

Posting your video highlights online
There are a number of free sites that allow you to post video without being charged.  Look into Youtube and a variety of others.  Getting this video online free is a great way to be able to send links to college coaches quickly.  This is definitely worth doing no matter how much money you can spend on the athletic recruiting process.  Posting these highlights and video online makes it cheaper to send to college coaches.  Instead of having to go through the postal service, you can just send a link to your profile.

Visiting colleges
This one may be a little big harder.  The first thing that you need to look into is carpooling.  Are there any other athletes in your area that are being recruited by the same schools?  Try to hitch a ride with them if possible.  If the answer is no, see if there are any relatives that can drive you to visits.  In return, offer them one of your three tickets to the sporting event that day.  Many will jump at that chance because a drive to the college is usually much cheaper than buying a ticket.  If you are a senior and receiving serious scholarship interest, take up schools and use their official visits.  These are paid for so it makes it easy.

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Should you inflate your height and weight during the athletic recruiting process to draw attention from prospective colleges?

I just received a question recently asking me if most players inflate their height and weight on recruiting services like Rivals.com, 247Sports.com, and other sites. Because I know that this unfortunately happens, I thought it would be important to talk about and reasons why I think you you should not do this. The first thing to mention about this is that if you overrate your height and weight, it is likely that college coaches will eventually find out about this.

One quick example I heard a few years back is that at a Junior Day held at the University of Nebraska, the Cornhusker coaching staff weighed and measured the recruits while there. So if you had impressed the coaching staff by filling out a form and saying you were a 6-foot-3, 225 pound linebacker and got measured at 6-foot, 205 pounds, the coaches will definitely think differently of you as a recruit. While these coaches likely know that this happens, it is not the first impression that you want to show the coaching staff at a school that you hope to impress.

During the spring evaluation period for football, this is a huge time for the college coaches to put recruits up to the “eye ball” test. What I mean by this is that the coaches that stop by the school want to see the recruit in person and say hello. While they are restricted by rules of how in depth they can get with the conversations, the most important part about this meeting is seeing the recruit in person and sizing them up. I assume that if the coaches are in the game long, they know if a kid is the height/weight he says he is or if the recruit is way off. Plus your high school coach will likely say something as well to the coach. Few coaches at any level want their players inflating their height by inches.

Two good stories that I have to tell about this include a lineman and as an athlete as well. One I saw first hand myself in covering the lineman and the other I heard stories about.

Starting with the athlete, there has been a story going around about this prep who sent a highlight video to Penn State and Joe Paterno. They were serious about this recruit so Paterno was watching part of the tape himself. Included was a portion where the athlete runs the 40 yard dash. After he finished running, you could hear someone yelling 4.4 seconds. Paterno decided to rewind the tape and time it himself. When he timed it with a stop watch while following the video, it ended up being 4.7 seconds. Again, this is not a perception that you want to leave with college coaches.

The second was about a small school lineman who really wanted to get recruited and go to a Division I school. This happens all the time but this story was one that stands out to me. In the first update on him, he told a reporter that he was 6-foot-1 and named all of these schools recruiting him. This recruit took visits to junior days at Missouri, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, and other programs in the Midwest. The summer before his senior year, he decided to attend a Nike Camp and a number of other camps. This is where his real ability finally shined through. He got measured at 5-foot-10 (And I heard he was closer to 5-foot-8 as well) and then performed very badly at college camps. While I heard that at worst, he might be able to walk on, those camps completely showed that he didn’t have Division I ability. To this day, I am unsure if he is playing in college.

The point of this article is to not inflate your stats. It is one thing to include your height with shoes on (which I did), but if your shoes are three inches tall, then there is a problem. Also keep your weight realistic as well. Like I said, if you inflate these stats too much, it will be something that college coaches eventually figure out. And in the recruiting process, I think it is important to be as honest as you can with college coaches. They will figure you out if you can’t play so being honest will help figure out what level you really are at.

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