NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

An important new trend is emerging in the world of major college football recruiting.  The top players in the country are starting to flock to elite 7 on 7 passing tournaments with the hope of displaying their talent for college coaches.  Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples on the new events:

Flenory, a former New Hampshire defensive back, readily admits he would love to create an offseason football circuit similar to the one that rules basketball recruiting. On the basketball circuit, Nike’s Peach Jam tournament is the crown jewel. The tournament in Tampa may as well have been called the Guava Gridiron, because it was organized exactly the same way: all-star teams from different regions — in this case, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Mississippi and the larger metropolitan areas in Florida — taking part in pool play followed by a single-elimination tournament.

Flenory, the son of former Duquesne basketball star B.B. Flenory, said his professional idol is Sonny Vaccaro, the godfather of grassroots basketball. “I love what he did,” the younger Flenory said. “I think he’s a genius.” After several conversations during the nascent stages of Flenory’s grassroots football operation, Vaccaro came away impressed with the 25-year-old. What impressed Vaccaro most was Flenory’s desire to help players who weren’t already big-name recruits. “He’s basically an outsider,” Vaccaro said. “He started from scratch, and he did it the right way. And he did it without being a big name and without having a big-name player.”

Of course this could be seen as a bad thing by some.

Illinois coach Ron Zook, who pointed out that most high-school coaches are not allowed to coach seven-on-seven tournaments because of state association rules against extra practices. Zook worries that diminishing the influence of high school coaches combined with the NCAA’s stringent restrictions on contact between prospects and college coaches will make it even more difficult for college coaches to make informed recruiting choices. “Once you begin to take the high school coaches out of the mix, then we’re getting into the same thing as basketball,” Zook said. “The NCAA must feel that what goes on in basketball is OK.”

Of course there are fundamental differences between 7 0n 7 camps and the summer basketball circuit.  For one 7 on 7 isn’t real football.  More importantly, football coaches aren’t even allowed to attend the events while their contemporaries in college basketball have access.   With these important differences in place will the summer circuit ever replace or compete with the camp circuit?  It’s extremely difficult to make a definitive decision.  What is certain is that we have yet to hear the end about AAU football.

However, the emergence of the tournamentts is one more sign of the competitive nature of major college athletics recruiting.  Recruits will continue to always look for an edge.

SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM ACT & SAT STRATEGIES

With many juniors signed up to sit for an ACT and/or SAT test on one of the dates scheduled for April, May, or June, we would like to offer some short-term and longer-term advise to students.  

You may have heard one of your teachers or counselors advise that the best “college test prep” for any standardized exam is to complement one’s hard work at school with test preparation that links clearly back to and reviews the foundational materials and skills you have learned over the years in school. This is sound advice and we encourage you to take it to heart.

Clearly, such an approach requires some advanced planning.  We advise students to target a test date and design an approach that allows for approximately three months of test prep and curriculum review leading up to the chosen test date.  Such an approach assures enough time for a diagnostic test, SAT or ACT assessment of a student’s strengths and weaknesses, the mapping out of an individualized to test preparation, and the completion of the planned course of study. Following such an approach, one could still devise a schedule and work towards the June 6^th SAT and the June 13^th ACT exam dates.

Of course, there is not enough time for such an approach to the  April 4^th ACT or the May 2^nd SAT, so over the next month, we will offer 5 last minute pieces of advice to April/May test takers.

Know your timing.  Many students run out of time because they do not know how to pace themselves.  Time management is a key to success.  Bring a silent stopwatch to the test and pace yourself to spend more time on English and Reading sections and less time on Math and Science.

 A great deal of the information that we provide in our weekly newsletters revolves around steps that families can take to improve their recruiting situation.  While all of this information is extremely valuable, in order for families to fully understand the inner workings of the process, it is imperative to learn the other side of recruiting; the steps college coaches take to discover prospects.

With that in mind, I have asked NCSA Football Recruiting Coordinator Randy Taylor, to take families behind the scenes of how college coaches navigate the recruiting process beginning with the identification stage.

Let me first introduce Randy and you will realize quickly why he is an ideal candidate to walk you through the process from the perspective of the college coaches.  Taylor graduated from the University of Illinois where he was a 3 year letterman and All-Conference Honors recipient. Following his collegiate career, he went on to join the football staff for the Fighting Illini. After that successful stint, which included a Big Ten Championship and a Rose Bowl appearance, he became the recruiting coordinator at UNLV.  

Taylor also served at UCLA, where, after landing several nationally ranked classes (a #1 ranked class included), he was named the nation’s top recruiting coordinator by ESPN.com and high school football recruiting analyst, Tom Lemming. He most recently served as the Director of Football Operations for the University of Minnesota.

Without further ado…Coach Taylor!

First of all, I would like to point out that while my background clearly has a strong emphasis on football, there are many ideas and principles that student-athletes from all sports can learn from the information I will be sharing with you all over the next two weeks. 

The first step that all the staffs I was apart of would take in order to begin the recruiting process would be to divide the colleges local and state high schools among the assistant coaches. Then pick the portions of the country that the assistants have ties to as out of state areas, for example, a coach may have recruited an area when he was on another staff or he coached in an area or played in a certain area and those areas would be assigned to him.  It would be the area coach’s duty to know every top prospect in their area and develop relationships with the student-athletes and high school coaches.  These relationships and networks are crucial to the success of that assistant coach and their recruiting efforts.  The area coach uses this knowledge to keep a list of prospects organized for their areas.

At the heart of every college football coaching staff is a Recruiting Coordinator.  While the title may vary from one staff to the next (sometimes they will be called the Director of Football Operations or Director of Player Personnel), the Recruiting Coordinator essentially serves as the air traffic controller for all the recruiting efforts.  The Recruiting Coordinator will assist the area coach by sending out “coaches cards” (typically a post card / electronic card requesting the names, etc of the school’s top players) to every high school coach in their area to get the names of their best players ranging from up coming seniors to freshmen.  The Recruiting Coordinator also researches a list of the all-conference and all-state listings, internet lists, and scouting service lists and makes sure they are received by the proper area coach or position coach.

Every communication and piece of correspondence including phone calls, tape requests, etc. go through the recruiting assistant/secretary who distributes those to the appropriate area coach at the direction of the Recruiting Coordinator.  As you can tell, the Recruiting Coordinator is one of the more aptly named people in the recruiting process because they do in fact coordinate the entire team effort to ensure organization and cohesion.

Randy’s advice:  It is important for every student athlete, regardless of sport, to find out which member of the coaching staff is in charge of recruiting their region because that person is making the majority of the initial identifications and evaluations. In addition, make sure to know the Recruiting Coordinator for each staff!

Once the country has been divided and the areas have been established by the coaches, the prospects outside of the assigned areas are then separated by position.  For example, if the defensive backs coach was responsible for the Northwest region of the country, after he has finished his duties geographically, he is responsible for identifying the top national prospects at his position outside of the assigned areas.  This requires a coordinated effort by all the assistant coaches who have sectioned the country off regionally and a great deal of communication to make sure the position coach has access to all prospects.

Finally, after all the names of prospects have been identified and collected by the appropriate coach, it is time to make more thorough evaluations.  A significant part of this step involves watching film.  Unfortunately, this is much harder than it sounds for the area coach since many student-athletes do not have film prepared, and a large number of high schools do a poor job either filming, archiving, or distributing their players’ film.

In addition to watching the film, the area coach will research the student-athlete’s academic status by reviewing a transcript which, much like film, is often times difficult to retrieve from high schools.  As a final step in this more thorough analysis, the area coach will interview the high school coach, teachers, counselors and principles regarding the prospect’s character.  If a prospect passes all of these tests, the area coach will recommend that the Recruiting Coordinator add the recruit to a computer database used to initially organize and house a master inventory before placing the student-athletes name on the “the list,” the official recruiting board list

Randy’s advice:  Make sure your academic and athletic resume has as much of the information listed above as possible.  The more accessible you make your video (highlight and game video), transcript, and personal contact information, the more diligent the area coach can be with his evaluation and the better chance you have at him recommending your name be added to the prospect database!

Once the electronic database has been filled by the prospects identified and evaluated by the area coaches, they will request that the Recruiting Coordinator put the names of the elite prospects on the official Recruiting Board (“the list”) in the war room.  The Recruiting Board is a sacred part of the process for a coaching staff and is often times kept in a highly secured room with locked cabinets housing “the list” and limited access to outsiders.

Next week, I will discuss what happens once a prospect’s name makes its way on “the list” and what takes place behind the scenes in the war room.

Recently, I shared insights on recruiting from Notre Dame women’s head basketball coach Muffet McGraw, who successfully recruited the nation’s top high school basketball player, Skyler Diggins. Here is more of what McGraw looks for in recruits. This comes from the book “Courting Success” (Tailor Trade Publishing)

“This may surprise some people, but I don’t look at a lot of statistics. When I do, I look at percentages rather than actual numbers. A player can average 27 points in high school, but it could be because she takes 30 shots. I look at free throw percentage a lot. That’s how I determine good shooters. A player who is shooting 50 or 60 percent from the line is not a good shooter. Period.

I observe their overall communication patterns with teammates. I watch free throw huddles. I watch what happens when the team is losing. Who’s positive? I watch their demeanor on the court. When they come out of a game, do they cheer for their teammates, or are they just waiting to get back in the game? I want leaders. These are really character issues more than basketball skills. Then of course, there are the God-given abilities – speed and size.

A lot of times I’ll see reports that I’m “recruiting someone.” Well, it depends on your definition of “recruiting someone.” I’m sending out hundreds of letters, but I’m certainly not “recruiting” hundreds of players. And players are getting letters from everyone. It doesn’t mean they’re getting scholarship offers. A player should also know that a school’s interest is serious and genuine when she begins to receive personal, hand-written notes from the head coach. If the head coach comes to see you play in your junior year, you’re in pretty good shape, though this is not always true. Sometimes I’ll see a prospect’s name on a lot of lists, so I’ll put her on my list, too. Then I see her play, and she’s just not what I’m looking for. But, generally, if the coach is there, it’s a good sign.

Young athletes need to ask better questions during the recruiting process. The one question players don’t ask is the most obvious one: Are you offering me a scholarship? It amazes me that they never ask that!

Players who want to get noticed by Notre Dame should respond to the letters I send out and contact me for an unofficial visit.”

Muffet McGraw, Head Coach, Notre Dame Women’s basketball, from the book

“Courting Success” (Tailor Trade Publishing)

NCSA is always collecting footage from prospective student-athletes across the nation.  To submit your video to NCSA catalogue and get evaluated by an NCSA scout you will need to properly log your footage.

We need you to log when you are making your top plays. Download it here.

Then send your video with your log to NCSA at:

NCSA Attn: Scouting Department
1415 N Dayton St
Suite 4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60642

Note: Your Video will not be returned.

Paul Putnam joins our team to educate student athletes and families across America.

“It’s just like playing a sport, and if recuiting is a game, then you better know the rules.”

Check out this feature on Paul in the Standard Examiner.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Pete Carrol is a great recruiter.  Part of the reason he is so successful has been his ability to stay on top of technology and constantly find new ways to broadcast the image of his USC program.  He was one of the first coaches on Facebook and now he has joined Twitter.  The service is the perfect medium to constantly update recruits and fans with the inner-workings of the USC program.  He is also going the extra mile to draw more attention to his page by filming a video to convince Will Ferrell to join as well.

The lesson that recruits need to understand is that coaches are using technology to recruit. Potential recruits need to harness technology like NCSA’s Scouting Report to make sure they stay on the cutting edge.

A lot of talk this weekend was focused on North Carolina Senior Tyler Hansbrough.  He has been the rare four year superstar in major college basketball and now he has helped guide his team back to the Final Four.  However, many members of the media still focus on his predicted NBA success and debate wether he should have left school earlier when his draft stock was deemed higher to “upside.”

North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough may have cost himself money but not leaving school early enough.  LA Clippers Center DeAndre Jordan probably cost himself money by coming out too early.  The New York Times profile Jordan’s journey to the NBA.

Chad Ford, an ESPN.com analyst, said Jordan could have been a top-five selection had he returned and progressed at Texas A&M. Ford said Jordan could have been picked ahead of the Connecticut junior center Hasheem Thabeet, who is expected to declare for this June’s draft.

“It was a really crowded draft last year, and I think there were several, several players who just made a big mistake,” Ford said. “He lost a ton of money unless he blows up the next year and then hits free agency and then gets a huge contract. Probably, he blew it.”

Jordan showed flashes of eye-popping athleticism at Texas A&M, but he also demonstrated immaturity. He openly displayed his emotions and sometimes covered his face with a towel on the bench. As the 2007-8 season progressed, his playing time dwindled. After Texas A&M’s second-round loss to U.C.L.A. in the N.C.A.A. tournament, teammates openly scolded Jordan when he moped instead of joining a postgame huddle.

Contrasting the two players and their decisions is truly fascinating.  There are obviously socio-economic factors that affected both players decisions, but in hindsight it appears that staying school would have been the right move for Thomas.

Will the so to speak on the job training Jordan is receiving right now ultimately benefit him more?  Was Tyler Hansbrough wrong to turn down money to stay in school?  What do you think?

Spring is here!! Even if it doesn’t feel like it or look like it in your area.  The college softball season has reached the mid-point and there are a lot of great teams emerging.  I’m certain we are in for another great finish come tournament time.   

Of course, it is an extremely busy time for high school softball players.  Your season has started and the school year is winding down.  But if you are serious about playing at the next level, remember you need to stay educated with what is going on in the college game.  There are still plenty of weekends left to go see a college softball game. Or, at least, get on the websites and see where schools are ranked and how their seasons’ are progressing.  The more information you gain, the better educated you will be when it’s time for you to make your college decision.   

A great resource to help you get started is the NFCA website.  The National Fastpitch Coaches Association keeps all of the updated information on every level of college softball.  Just click on the level you are interested in and they will provide you with schedules, scores, rankings and more.Once you click on the level, you will have the option of looking at the conference websites or the individual program websites.  It is quick and easy and will get you up-to-date on all that is happening right now in the world of college softball.