Last week NCSA was lucky enought to attend the NFCA National Fastpitch Coaches Association convention in San Markos, FL and the AVCA American Volleyball Coaching Asscociation convention in Omaha, NE to promote our student athletes to college coaches around the country. Here is an inside look:
A continuation from yesterdays blog about the sad story of Kevin Hart. ESPN sat down with two of their experts to discuss how a situation like this could happen. Two quotes really stood out for me, “Who is doing the evaluating?” and “It is as reputable as the people doing the evaluating.”
It makes me proud to be a member of a scouting team with trained professionals led by Coach Randy Taylor and Coach Bob Chmiel. Their understanding of recruiting doesn’t come from being a member of the media but from living the experience for more than 40 combined years. Every recruiting coach at NCSA has lived the recruiting process, not just read about it on a website. I urge every potential recruit out there to not worry about things they can’t control like a star rating and take the time to get educated about how the process actually works! Make sure you are evaluated by a reputable professional.
Seven of the nation’s top football recruits took some time at the Under Armour all-American game to sit down with ESPN to discuss some of the various aspects of the recruiting process. Two of the topics they touched on were extremely interesting to potential college athletes:
What is the most annoying aspect of the recruiting process?
Brazinski: The reporters were not cognizant of the time change. If they were calling from the West Coast at 8 p.m., it’s 11 in the East. After school and practice, I go to sleep early.
Campanaro: The constant phone calls and e-mails. My father would remind me to get back to the coaches. If I didn’t, the e-mails would stack up.
Jenkins: There really wasn’t one thing. The toughest thing was the pressure when selecting a college. The Internet sites will misquote you, and then a college [coach] calls and asks if it’s true. Most times I never said it.
Martin:Those Internet guys would call 10 minutes after my visit and want to know everything. I committed early to Notre Dame, and suddenly all that stuff went away.
Shepard: The analysts who think they know more than the players and coaches. Most of them never played the game.
Should there be an early signing period in November like college basketball?
Brazinski: No way. A lot of kids need time to make this big decision. What happens if a coach gets another job? He’ll take his coaches, and that leaves 15 kids looking for another school and waiting to see who the college hires.
Campanaro: That’s a good idea, because some kids make their mind up early, but instead of having it in November like basketball, do it in December when the season ends.
Jenkins: I don’t mind waiting until February. I still had 20 schools in mind in November. It’s a long process, but you want to get it right. In November, I’m busy with school.
Martin: Yes, because it would stop players from committing early and then at the last second pull out. Colleges are counting on certain players when they give their word.
Patterson: You don’t need one; you should be true to your word.
Shepard: Why not? Some [players] just want to get it over.
Its very clear that even though these are the very best athletes in the country with dozens of scholarship offers, they still struggled with the daily pressures that go with recruiting and making sound decisions. For these reasons and more many athletes, even top athletes, choose to receive the professional guidance provided by NCSA.
NCSA Recruiting Analyst Randy Taylor spent the past week at the US Army All-American Bowl. Here are his evaluations on the top of NCSA’s class of 2009. Where do you think you stand next to these top prospects?
Aaron Armstrong – A prototypical looking middle backer. Shows good quickness and acceleration to the football and is a tough kid that competes. video
Gregory Arroyos – His instincts and effort show up when he steps on the field. There’s no hesitation in his willingness to take on anyone. video
Chad Bowman – A tough, downhill runner with good speed and a solid body. His effort,leg drive and competitiveness make him a valuable and dependable performer.
Tyler Caveness – A powerful kid with good speed, quickness and explosion. Has the physical tools to shine in a combine event. video
Tommie Lee Clardy III – He shows his passion for the game with his effort and energy on the field. He attacks the football and can finish. video
Clayton Cooper - A good athlete, runs well, adjusts to the ball in the air and has good agility. He makes the tough catch and gets up field. video
Andy Gallik – Comes off the ball well with good knee bend and a flat back. Could be a very good guard at the next level. video
Matt Luetjen - Has the speed and size to play on either side of the ball. A versatile athlete with a good upside. video
Kyle Miller – Showed excellent accuracy with good velocity on his throws. He has solid footwork and gets the ball out quickly. video
Logan Moore – An athletic QB with good awareness and instincts. Could play other positions as well because he runs well and is an athlete. video
Evan Neville – A football player is the best way to describe Evan. He plays all over the defensive line and at linebacker. The common thread is his effort. He can roll his hips and deliver a punch. A good long snapper too. video
Matthew Robinson – An athlete, catches the ball in his hands and adjusts well to the ball. He looks like a possible defensive player too at a couple of positions. A very versatile athlete. video
Duran Snoddy – Has good feet and speed allowing him to cover and will attack the ball to force the run. video
Lee Ward – A load in the middle of the defense. He can fill a gap and pursue inside out. He’s strong and active. video
Adrian White Jr. – Tremendous prospect! Runs very well, has good hips and feet to get in and out of his back pedal. In the top three DBs at the US Army Combine. video
Kyle Prater - One of the top performers at the combine. Athletic, ran good routes and catches ball well. a tough cover for corners, he has quicker feet than most tall receivers giving him better cuts and change of direction. Kyle will be a top national recruit on 2010. video
If you want to see where you stack up against some of the top talent in America be sure to register for your free scouting evaluation from an NCSA Scout.
It has been a special week here at NCSA. Aside from the annual excitement of New Years Eve and the holiday season, the beginning of each January also signals NCSA’s presence at the U.S. Army Combine. The U.S. Army Combine brings together 500 of the best underclassmen football prospects in the country and NCSA was on hand making in person evaluations on behalf of the college coaching community.
While there were a number of memorable moments at this year’s combine, I would like to focus on one that will linger for years to come and truly demonstrates the “NCSA Difference.”
One of the most rewarding aspects of guiding student athletes through the recruiting process is finding out which schools they have decided to commit to. Already this year, NCSA has had hundreds of our student athletes commit to pursue their sport in college and we expect thousands more in the coming months. While we are extremely proud of all these commitments, The U.S. Army All American Bowl provided a unique platform for one of NCSA’s most recent commits to announce where he will be playing college football next year.
Jonathan Bostic began working with NCSA in early 2007 as a sophomore football player from Florida. Over the last year and a half, NCSA has worked with Jonathan as he navigated the entire recruiting process from helping him prepare his video to introducing him to college coaches, and plenty of guidance throughout. On Saturday, January 3rd, Jonathan announced his intention of playing college football at the University of Florida for Coach Urban Meyer’s staff.
What was so unique about this announcement? It was made on NBC in front of a national audience. Not exactly your typical commitment. Here is a short video including Jonathan’s announcement and what both he and his father had to say about their experience with NCSA and the U.S. Army Bowl:
While Jonathan’s recruiting story has a happy ending, too many recruiting processes result in frustration and confusion. The reason for these recruiting headaches is due mostly to a lack of guidance.
The most common mistake that families make is assuming if their student athlete is “good enough,” college coaches will simply discover them. As mentioned in his interview, Jonathan indicated that NCSA helped him “get on a lot of recruiting boards.” Keep in mind, this is an elite athlete from the football hotbed of Florida and even he needed a jump start with exposure.
However, the next and maybe most alarming error families make is assuming once they have received some initial exposure, the remainder of the process will simply take care of itself. As Jonathan’s father mentioned, they desperately needed a “guide” to get through this overwhelming process. A failure to understand how to successfully navigate the recruiting process may result in the student athlete picking the wrong school which can be a life altering mistake.
As I have talked about for years, athletics should be used as a vehicle for a college education. Whether athletics help you get into a better college, receive some financial assistance, or enrich your overall experience, the focus should remain on earning a college degree at the best possible school for that individual – which is exactly what Jonathan Bostic did when he chose the University of Florida. How perfect was the University of Florida for Jonathan? He actually finished high school early so he could enroll on campus yesterday so he could get acclimated to the Gainsville campus as soon as possible.
In his interview, Jonathan talked about why he ultimately picked Florida and it had nothing to do with the quality of their 
football team (although I am sure their perennial place in the top 25 rankings did not hurt). At the end of his process, Jonathan was picking between some of the best football schools in the country, but he made his final decision because University of Florida had his desired major on campus. How refreshing.
The moral of this story is not that every student athlete has to commit to a nationally ranked DI college in order to consider their recruiting process a success. Rather, make sure to approach the process with the intention of finding the absolute right fit for that student athlete whether that happens to be DIII, Junior College, or NAIA.
Congratulations to Jonathan and all the other student athletes who realize the importance of picking a college for the right reasons. For those student athletes who have yet to commit, make sure to put yourself in a position where you have a number of the right options to choose from and the proper guidance to make the best possible decision for your future. It just might change your life.
NCSA was proud to be on hand to witness the the best football prospects America compete in both the US All-American Bowl and Combine.
Coach Chmiel addressing families on the realities of the recruiting process
Positional Drills
NCSA analysts Izell Reece and Randy Taylor evaluating the top prospects
Izell passing on some the knowledge he learned in the NFL
Interviewing NCSA athlete Jon Bostic after the game
The Final Decision
Future Gator Jon Bostic
Accepting a full scholarship to California in front of your entire school sounds like a high school athlete’s dream. However, the pursuit of this dream turned one high school recruit’s life into a nightmare.
It was almost a year ago when the bizarre “recruitment” of Kevin Hart became a national story. Kevin had a dream of playing division 1 football, but was not being recruited by any schools. He was so caught up with playing division 1 football that instead of pro-actively calling schools he began to lie. Eventually his lies spiraled out of control, to the point where he had his parents, coaches and school all convinced that he accepted a Division 1 scholarship to Cal.
Of course, there was only one problem; he didn’t. Soon Cal contacted his high school coaches and let them know the truth; they had never heard of Kevin Hart. At first Kevin made up a story of being duped by a recruiting service, however after about 24 hours it became clear that the entire process was fabricated.
Outside The Lines caught up with Kevin recently to check on his progress.
You keep hearing about a lack of understanding about the recruiting process. A number of parties were extremely naïve as to how colleges recruit. They never took the time to find the proper education or guidance. Kevin never took any steps to let coaches understand his interest. He never contacted any schools. He was never realistic in looking at options. He didn’t take academics seriously.
His parents and coaches never supplied him with the guidance or realistic evaluation he needed to become a successful recruit. Unfortunately, this doesn’t come as a surprise. The simple truth of the matter is that it is not their responsibility to have an in-depth understanding of recruiting. That is exactly why families turn to us for our expert analysis and recruiting curriculum.
Luckily, Kevin got a second chance to play college football and to receive an education, but all of the distress he caused could have been avoided with proper recruiting education.
Last week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution released a study on the academic credentials of incoming athletes versus regular student. Not surprisingly stereotypes held.
Nationwide, football players average 220 points lower on the SAT than their classmates – and men’s basketball players average seven points less than football players.
Those figures come from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution study of 54 public universities, including the members of the six major Bowl Championship Series conferences and other schools whose teams finished the 2007-08 season ranked among the football or men’s basketball top 25.
While it’s commonly known that admission standards are different for athletes, the AJC study quantifies how wide the gap is between athletes and the general student body at major universities.
NCAA President Myles Brand said the big question isn’t whether athletes are as qualified as other students when they enroll but whether, given help, they can obtain degrees. “What you are really looking for is whether the student-athletes who are being accepted have the capability of graduating from that institution with the academic support they have available,” Brand said.
The real take away for families going through the recruiting process is to remember that athletics can open the door to even the most elite colleges. Athletes and families should contact as many schools as possible regardless of perceived or published reports on the typical grades of incoming freshman. Universities make special exceptions for athletes because they are special people. Their commitment to sport indicates their tremendous potential as people. Athletes should use this fact as an advantage.
When discussing athletic recruiting with families I almost always hear the words Full Scholarship and Division 1 school mentioned in the first 5 sentences. For the majority of athletes a full ride to a major school represents the ultimate level of success in the college recruiting process. I wrote a few months ago about the story of one of the nations top recruits, Elena Delle Donne, who left a full ride scholarship on the UConn Basketball team to pursue a volleyball career at Delaware.
So far her decision appears to be paying off.
Whenever, I get the chance to discuss recruiting with young athletes I always suggest they research schools at every level. Some athletes frown on the possibility that a smaller school could be a better fir, but Elena Delle Donne’s unorthodox decision proves that bigger isn’t always better.
The new year usually means one thing to fans of college sports: Bowl Season. Always at the center of attention is the Bowl Championship Series or BCS. Usually, there is an 
argument about the merits of the system vs. a playoff. However, there is another argument that has equally passionate opponents. Should the BCS Conferences allow more access to teams from Non-BCS conferences?
As always money is at the heart of the equation. Non-BCS schools correctly state that more access to the premier bowl games will boost their bottom lines and greatly enhance their ability to recruit. They also make the argument that including more schools is at the center of the college athletic spirit of competition. Their 2-1 BCS bowl record as fuel to the argument.
Naturally, the BCS conferences aren’t eager to share their slice of pie with their competition.They argue that their status as power schools is the drawing card for the TV networks as well as the hosting venues that generate the massive amounts of revenue.
Currently, Non BCS schools can earn a spot if they meet certain criteria but they would like to that arrangement made into an automatic berth.
Should they be allowed more access? What do you think?
