NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Practice what you Preach….

How many of you have heard that saying before? I imagine most of you have. For those of you that haven’t, it basically means to do what you say. As an athlete, it’s not good enough to just talk a good game. Some have the philosophy that athletes should….

“Let your actions speak for themselves.”

“Let your play do the talking.”

‘Do your talking on the field.”

“Actions speak louder than words.”

Ok, enough clichés. I am here to tell you that in the world of college recruiting, you need to flip that around. That’s right, if you want an athletic scholarship, you need to preach about what you practice. Say what you’ve been doing. Talk about your play. And, let you words tell of your actions. Huh? What I mean is that you need to let college coaches know about you. Tell them about how well you’re doing in the classroom, about your rigorous workouts, about how your season is going, about your commitment and dedication to getting a great education and competing at the next level. Let them know why they should offer you an athletic scholarship or any other kind of scholarship over someone else.

Of course, no one likes a braggart. There are proven ways to present you to a coach. There are techniques for the type of email or letter you should send a coach. And, there are techniques to interviewing with a college coach. As you proceed with the recruiting process, there will come a time that you’ll need to talk with the coach. How many of you have been practicing for that interview? Don’t tell me you haven’t been practicing. I am sure you practice before your competition. And, I am sure you study for a test. But, you’re not practicing for the college interview?

Maybe you’re not going to call your friends and get them together for a pick-up game of public speaking. That might seem a bit odd. But, you should be practicing with someone. Why wouldn’t you practice for what could be the interview of a lifetime? The successful student-athletes know how to present themselves to a college coach. Are you one of them? Get started today!

Twitter has been a fun little social media application that many college coaches have experimented with in the past 6 months.  Most coaches use the service to simply update their “followers” on the happenings of their programs.  Typical messages or tweets would usually fall into the “We had a great practice today variety.”  Others like Pete Carroll used Twitter to show off a more personal side posting things like a song of the day.

But, for the first time coaches are admitting that they are on Twitter for one reason, recruiting.  USA Today asked LSU Coach Les Miles why he uses Twitter:

“Absolutely, it’s for recruiting purposes,” Miles says. “It allows us to communicate, to those people that subscribe, blasts of information. … It’s also an opportunity for those prospects that subscribe to communicate to us.”

The second part of his quote is the most interesting.  LSU is using the service to create a two-way conversation.

Illinois Coach Ron Zook also admits to wanting to use Twitter for recruiting purposes.  Their staff made it a point to inform recruits that Zook had created an account.  He acknowledges the services growing popularity, but knows what is around the corner.

“I would imagine so,” he said, “until the NCAA tries to regulate it.”

Regulation may be around the corner, but until then recruits and coaches should be looking to use the simple service to gain an advantage.

The NCAA is starting up live chats with college baseball coaches and the series is starting tomorrow April 30th at 4 p.m. EST. Go to this NCAA Website to submit a question and join them live tomorrow to see what Scott Brosius from Linfield College is talking about.

One of the first questions families wonder when they begin to contemplate the potential their student-athlete might have to pay at the next level is “when should we start the recruiting process?”

Unfortunately, the reality is that there is no “perfect” time to start navigating the recruiting process.  There is no alarm clock that will go off when its time to start reaching out to college coaches…and if there is an alarm clock, too many families are hitting the snooze button far too many times. 

After speaking with thousands of families about the process, at times, it seems like some are waiting for a sign from above to get started.  This lack of a clear starting line also leads to student-athletes falling into one of two categories in relation to their recruiting competition:

Either you are behind…or…you are ahead.

It’s as simple as that.  No student-athlete is “right on time” when it comes to the recruiting process.  You can’t receive the perfect number of letters or the perfect number of offers.

If you view other student-athletes playing the same sport as your recruiting competition, almost none of them will have received the exact same amount of interest from college coaches.  They will have either received more letters, talked on the phone with more coaches, sent more videos, taken more visits, received more offers…or less of all of those…but almost never the same.  Nine times out of ten, the student-athlete who is on the more desirable end of that scenario is the one who started the process earlier. 

The recruiting process can have a life changing affect on a student athlete and the college decision will be the single most important choice a young person has to make.  Given the impact this process can have, you have to ask your self, do you want to be behind or do you want to be ahead?  All I ask is that you stop hitting the snooze button.

NCSA’s Recruit-Match Database houses thousands of student-athletes hoping to be awarded an athletic scholarship. Each student-athlete has a unique Scouting Report featuring their verified information.  The fact that their academic and athletic information is verified by NCSA Recruiting Coaches and our partner combines makes this information worth its weight in gold to college coaches.

One member of the news media who understand the critical importance of verified information is ESPN’s Bruce Feldman.  Feldman spent a year period following the intricracies of athletic recruiting researching his best selling book Meat Market.  He sat down with the Baltimore Sun to discuss the recruiting process.

It was really incredible because so often you read about the recruiting process and you only got to see a fraction of the truth. I mean you look at the online recruiting profiles of these kids and they are touted to be 6-2 and weigh 230 pounds, run a 4.6 forty and have a 2.8 GPA. But in most cases that’s not the reality the staffs deal with. Maybe that kid comes to their camp and measures 5-11 ½ and weighs 215. He gets timed running a 4.98 and then when his transcript shows up he really has a 1.9 GPA. Then you’re not even sure if you can take him even if you think he’s a good enough prospect.

I was really amazed at how much misinformation is out there when it comes to recruiting. Players spin. Parents spin. The coaches spin. I guess that probably feels a little like what you get with agents and front-office types. Ultimately, I do think there are a lot of similarities with recruiting and the draft because it’s all about the evaluation and trying to make something that can be such a crapshoot a science. And, for all of the combines and vertical jumps and 40-times, the truth is if a guy is stiff or soft or not sharp enough to learn your scheme, he’ll get you beat and that’s usually where the busts in recruiting come from because many of these four- and five-star guys are anointed because of how they perform in shorts and t-shirts at some combine, not necessarily in how they do in the games.

The spinning process is exactly why coaches turn to NCSA as a trusted 3rd party source to find the critical information they need to make tough decisions on athletic scholarships.

If you are fortunate enough to have options to choose which travel baseball team you should play for over the summer here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Which team are you going to receive more playing time with?

The only way to get better in baseball is by actually PLAYING the game.

2. Which team is playing better competition?

In addition to making sure you are playing, you have to make sure it is against good competition. The best way to get better is to play against guys who are better than you.

3. Where is the team traveling?

The summer time is an important time that college coaches do their recruiting. One of, if not, the most important factor coaches take in to account is seeing you play in person. Playing for your high school summer team usually doesn’t fit the bill in terms of gaining exposure or playing against good competition.

4. What is your budget?

In these economic times this is a difficult question, but it is a factor you need to consider. Many times the more travel required, the more expensive the team is to play for.

Don’t forget to incorporate attending some college camps and making a few visits over the summer. If you are traveling to a showcase or tournament with your summer team don’t be afraid to stop by some campuses to meet with some coaches. Lastly, be sure to be pro-active in terms of inviting college coaches out to see your games.

When some colleges are making cuts and eliminating sports; Simpson College will be adding men’s swimming and diving for the upcoming school year.  The school feels that the benefit of offering students a chance to compete at the college level can help grow their student population.

Interesting debate on how North Carolina State freshman, Taylor Moseley violated a NCAA rule when he started a group on Facebook to encourage top basketball recruit John Wall to sign at NC State.

NCAA argues that anything which is used to persuade or influence recruits in their college choice is a violation.  They are concerned that such things as postings on Facebook will intrude the student’s life while they are trying to make their decision on college choice.

The other side of the argument would say that ‘freedom of speech’ is a right to voice personal opinion and that the student should not be punished for doing so.

NCSA was proud to see two of our top football players featured in the Chicago Sun Times.  Our pilot partnership with Chicago Public Schools at Lane Tech has let us assist two of the top players in the city.  NCSA Recruiting Coach Rick McDole recalls watching Louis Trinca Pasat receive multiple scholarship offers in the fall.

“We had a chance to meet with the Iowa coaching staff and they were really excited about his potential.  After his first offer came, he blew up nationally.”

The Sun-Times also chronicles his rise to national prominence.

But Trinca-Pasat has come a long way in a short time. He didn’t play football until his freshman year. He attended Junior Day at Iowa and received a scholarship offer before he left the campus. He also has offers from Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois and has attracted interest from Notre Dame, Arizona, Nebraska, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

‘‘I didn’t expect to get so many offers,’’ said Trinca-Pasat, who is being recruited mostly as an outside linebacker but also as a tight end. ‘‘I thought I’d be lucky to play at a lower-level college. Now this is a dream come true.’’

If you want to know what a coach is looking for in a prospect, just listen to him!  Indiana Basketball Coach Tom Crean, updated his Twitter feed today to let everyone know exactly what he is looking for.  His staff sat down to watch hours and hours of tape and values toughness.

Every coach isn’t on Twitter simply ordering players, so players need to be contacting coaches to see what types of players they are looking at!  The best way to get on the list is to contact a scout at NCSA.