What Does September 1st Mean for Recruiting?
August 26th, 2009 - bySeptember 1st is right around the corner. Do you know the significance of that date in the recruiting world? If not you need to take a step back from the process and educate yourself on the rules and regulations regarding your graduation class and sport. Below are a few simple guidelines for student athletes to review before moving forward in the fall.
Seniors:
September 1st should serve as a significant benchmark recruiting date for seniors. The reality is that for many sports, a majority of Division I scholarship offers have been given out and final evaluations will be completed. Division II and Division III recruiting will start to pick up. Although the actual timelines will vary slightly based on sport, every recruit should evaluate where you stand. Are you happy with your recruiting situation?
As we mentioned last week, official visits will be taken by thousands of senior recruits around the country over the next few months and those are allowed on the first day of classes. Also, September 1st marks the beginning of an Evaluation Period for football players and other sports will soon follow. If you’re not sure what an Evaluation Period is, then you haven’t read “The Guide for College Bound Student Athletes” published by the NCAA and you should consider yourself behind with the recruiting process.
The level of contact between recruits and coaches will soon start to pick back up from the lull in the later summer months. If you are not in close communication with several colleges by the end of September, you should re-evaluate your recruiting strategy. As a smart recruit you should look to match this rise in the level of communication with coaches by reaching out to more and more schools. If you haven’t already started to inquire about applications and visits, now is the time to do so. Be more direct with coaches about where you stand. If a school is going to be an option for you, great! However, if you sense that the school is not interested in you or it is not a good fit, take that school off your list and move on.
It’s important to note that DII, DIII and NAIA coaches often wait until senior year before showing significant interest.
Juniors:
On this date, DI and DII college coaches are allowed to send written recruiting information. (The date is different for men’s basketball and men’s ice hockey) For many athletes this is the first point where a college coach can show serious interest. If you’ve taken the proper steps of researching schools during your freshman and sophomore years you should have a target list of programs put together that you can reach out to. DI and DII coaches are now allowed to respond to your emails so be sure to include questions. For some athletes this will mark the first point where they start receiving written scholarship offers from schools. Remember to be on your toes and respond to any information you receive, regardless of your initial interest in the school. The more options you have on the table the better.
It’s important to note that recruiting does not start on September 1st of your junior year, which leads me to freshmen and sophomores…
Freshmen and Sophomores:
Many experts have pointed out that the majority of recruits separate themselves from their recruiting competition during the freshmen and sophomore years. The recruits who actively put together a serious recruiting game plan ultimately will have more success than those who wait until junior or senior year.
While recruits cannot technically receive official recruiting letters or phone calls for the most part, they can take several important steps:
- Receive an initial third party evaluation to determine what you need to improve to reach your ideal level of play.
- Begin building an online athletic and academic resume.
- Start researching colleges and universities.
- Proactively reach out to college coaches through letters, phone calls and unofficial visits. Warning: Make sure you understand how to do this properly though so you don’t hurt your chances!
- Educate yourself about the recruiting process.
The reality is that in some sports, college coaches begin putting their recruiting lists together in 7th and 8th grade. Even more coaches will compile those lists when prospects are freshmen and sophomores. The work that freshmen and sophomore put into the recruiting process will dictate their position junior and senior year. Remember, this process will affect the rest of a your life…why wait to get started?
August 26th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Hello everyone My name is ibrahima I am a soccer player from kenwood Academy High School Last year I was the MVPI want the college coaches to come check me out our next game September 3rd Vs Phoenix Military Academy
at kenwood park is on 50th and Dorchester
August 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
This is an excellent reminder for any athlete that is wondering what is going on out there! If you have a division I offer and you then go shop for DII offers, you should expect the DI school to be reluctant to keep the offer out there for you. This message is dead on – if you are a senior, start making your solid DII plans – and if you start on them now, you are playing CATCH-UP with those programs – many of whom have organized official visits for their top players already.
So – get working! If you are a 2011, you need to stay on top of this stuff. 9/1 means more to you than the 2010’s who had their chance to get on the stick last August! Get it done!
August 26th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
If you’re 2010, DON’T BE SCARED OFF BY ARTICLES LIKE THIS.
Yes, a lot of seniors have offers already but many, MANY that will end up with scholarships do NOT have offers yet. Take Sept for what it is and use it as a guideline, but not a scare tactic. If you’re not getting many calls in September, just amp up what YOU are doing to contact coaches.
Make sure you’re sending out videos, follow up with calls – or vice versa. Keep in contact and when new things pop up for you (ie: great games this year, being named to pre-season teams, post-season awards, player/week honors) use that as a reason to contact all the coaches again to ‘update’ them. Ask your high school coach/coaches what they’re doing, what they will do and what they think and why. Don’t leave any stone unturned; you only have 1 senior year!
A lot of recruiting sites think every kid/parent is thinking BCS school. The rest of us know we just want to play at as high a level as we can, hopefully get a scholarship to do it and make a decision that will help in part set up the rest of our kids lives.
Gather as much info as you can, use it to your advantage and try to enjoy the process along the way.
August 26th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
How can we order or get a copy of the “The Guide for College Bound Student Atheletes”?
My son is an incomming Sophomre and we need to get moving!
Thanks!
August 26th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Yes, I also would like to get a copy of “The Guide for College Bound Student Athletes”.
Thanks
August 26th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Thanks for the responses, you can download a guide from the link below. If you can not access the link, I would recommend just searching for NCAA Guide for College Bound Student Athletes in google and it should take you right there.
http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/2008-09%20CBSA9c29e699-00f6-48ba-98a9-6456c9b98957.pdf
August 26th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Recruiting Dad – I do not think there was anything “scary” about the article. Everything is realistic and honest. There are cretainly opportunities for a 2010 grad to play in college which was mentioned clearly in the article. However, those who are certain they are DI material but not receiving serious interest should re-evaluate their process. Was there something in the article that you thought was especially inacurrate?
August 26th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Juniors:
“On this date, DI and DII college coaches are allowed to send written recruiting information”.
I’m a bit confused…Does this include Questionnaires too? B/c I thought it said on NCAA.org that I can recieve Questionnaires during sophomore year. No?
August 26th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Great questions Rising Sophomore: Prior to Sept. 1 you can receive questionnaires and camp brochures and although obviously those materials are “written” the NCAA does not classify them as recruiting material. I hope this helps!
August 26th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Okay thank you!
August 26th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
My son is only a freshman but is running a 21:03 in the 200. Is there a such thing as too early getting him starting in programs such as this.
August 27th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Thank yout for the heads up.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:18 am
In recruiting, no one has ever started too early and no one has ever received too much help. Get started today!