NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Division I

Men’s Basketball:

August 1 through September 8, 2009: Quiet Period

September 9 through October 5, 2009: Contact Period

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Women’s Basketball:

August 1 through September 15, 2009: Quiet Period

September 16 through October 6, 2009: Contact Period

October 2-4, 2009: Evaluations permitted at nonscholastic

women’s basketball events.

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Division II

Men’s Basketball:

August 2 through September 6, 2009: Quiet Period

September 7 through October 14, 2009: Contact Period

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Women’s Basketball:

August 2 through September 6, 2009: Quiet Period

September 7 through October 14, 2009: Contact Period

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Michigan football is in either a really opportune spot, or a really tough one depending on who you are. Coach Rich Rodriguez is blessed with the availability of three potential starting quarterbacks according to Rivals.com. However, for these quarterbacks, the presence of the others will ultimately result in them all losing playing time.

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez says he plans to use [Denard] Robinson and two other quarterbacks in the season opener Sept. 5 against Western Michigan.

Rodriguez spent about the first 10 minutes of his news conference Sunday answering questions about freshmen Tate Forcier and Robinson, who are competing for snaps along with junior Nick Sheridan, who started four games last year.
Rodriguez has seen his quarterbacks compete for a couple weeks and yet he isn’t ready to say who is even the front-runner in the race.

Rodriguez insisted the player who takes the first snaps will not necessarily be the No. 1 QB for the rest of the season.

“Maybe we’ll have three starting quarterbacks,” Rodriguez said. “That would be neat.”

While this is obviously a great situation for Coach Rodriguez, having three talented quarterbacks only increases his chances of success, imagine being in the shoes of the players, especially Forcier and Robinson. There are two situations; two or all of them will split time, or one will become the full time starter. Obviously the first situation will result in all of them losing playing time. The second situation will ultimately end in either Sheridan spending his remaining years in Ann Arbor on the bench, or one of the Freshmen spending their entire career behind someone within their class (barring a red shirt or injury). The question rises, did Robinson and Forcier understand the quarterback situation when they signed on at Michigan? If not, would they have signed if they did? Although Robinson was recruited as an athlete this still may have impacted his decision. Recruits need to know not only what a school offers academically, athletically, and socially, they also have the understand their chances for playing time there.

At 6’4” 275 Justin Corrales is a formidable foe for any opposing defensive lineman.   Justin is a captain of the reigning Sectional Champs at Redlands Senior High.  He matches his work ethic on the field in the classroom.  He currently holds a 3.2 GPA, and scored a 1630 (1150 2 Part) on his SAT.   

The rising Senior out of Redlands, CA came into the season with some interest from a few schools.  He has utilized his relationship with his recruiting coach at NCSA, as well as just one match with college coaches to come up with his first offer.   

Justin was matched on July 22^nd with an abundance of schools he qualified for.  Both coach Joel Rodriguez and coach Chris Woods viewed his profile that same day.  They then emailed into the NCSA office expressing their interest.  On August 3^rd Justin, Justin’s mom, and their recruiting coach got on the phone and went over recruiting, including phone calls.  On August 10^th the coach from Bryant called, and Justin reported that he received a full athletic scholarship to play football at Bryant.

Justin is a great example of the kind of work being done here at NCSA, but even more so a testament to Justin’s character.  Justin is a pleasure to work with, and we look forward to seeing even more offers come in.

High School athletes always dream of playing in the big game.  High School Football features two huge All-American games that thousands of players want to be a part of.  At NCSA we constantly field questions from student-athletes wondering how they can position themselves to be a part of this year’s team.

Well, I have some harsh words for any interested athletes, the 2010 games are probably already closed.  The ESPN Under-Armour roster and the US Army All-American roster are both nearly full.  Many might wonder how this is even possible before the high school football season even begins, but its just another sign of the incredible speed of today’s recruiting process.

Top atheltes are identified as early as possible.  Since both games are competing against each other to lure the top players, they are under time pressure to develop relationships and invite players to their game first.

Now imagine this same scenario playing out not among two bowl games looking to fill four rosters but amongst hundreds of football programs vying for the most talent.  It’s no wonder why the best athletes commit quickly.

My advice to any athlete that hopes to play at a major program is to make sure you start early.

We are thrilled to announce a major improvement in our free college coach searchable database.  For those coaches who are new to NCSA, check out the database here.  For veteran NCSA users, hopefully you are as energized as we are about the most recent addition(s).

To help with your search for prospects, we have added more than 100,000 unverified recruits to our searchable database in addition to the thousands that have been verified by NCSA.

What is the difference between unverified and verified?

Verified:  Athletes’ information has been verified by NCSA Recruiting Coaches to ensure accuracy

Unverified:  Athletes’ information has been self reported

In order for a student-athlete to become verified, an NCSA Recruiting Coach must thoroughly analyze their credentials, watch video (if applicable) and review a copy of the transcript / standardized test scores.  We have also spoken with the student athlete and his or her parents directly.  If we find a student-athlete has entered false data, their scouting report will be immediately removed from the Recruit Match database.

Unverified athletes have expressed their interest in playing college sports, but NCSA has not confirmed their athletic or academic credentials. 

As always, NCSA will continue to deliver verified information as often as possible, but we also want to balance your need for more prospects.  We think this is a great compromise and hope that you agree.

To login and check out the additions, click here.

If you have not already registered for the free database, click here.

In case you need more proof of how difficult the college recruiting process can be, the Charlotte Observer has outlined a story of a recruit’s poor luck in the process.

Want a cautionary tale on the perils of college recruiting? Meet David Chadwick Jr. He is a 6-foot-9, 215-pound basketball player from Charlotte with smooth offensive moves, superb grades – and no scholarship.

It’s not like there has been no interest in Chadwick, who starred at Charlotte Latin and is the son of David Chadwick Sr., the well-known Charlotte pastor and former North Carolina basketball player. Two plastic tubs bulge with recruiting mail in the Chadwick family home.

But Chadwick Jr. saw his original college plan crumble in April. Signed to go to Washington State and play in the Pac-10 under family friend and rising-star coach Tony Bennett, Chadwick’s basketball life unraveled when Bennett suddenly bolted for the head-coaching job at Virginia.

Chadwick still had a scholarship offer from Washington State, but no longer wanted to travel 2,600 miles from Charlotte to play if Bennett wasn’t coaching him. Instead, he drove this week to Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., where he will attend prep school for a year.

Chadwick ultimately had about 30 scholarship offers to Division I schools, he and his father said. But other than Washington State, most were from mid-major schools that didn’t really appeal to him. And, as Chadwick Sr. said: “You shouldn’t marry somebody you don’t love.”

It would have been easier, of course, if Bennett had stayed at Washington State. I sat on the Chadwicks’ couch recently and asked Chadwick Jr. what happened.

“He was sitting right where you are sitting right now [in September 2008],” Chadwick Jr. said of Bennett. “He was saying, ‘I’ve just signed a long contract extension at Washington State.’ But that’s the nature of college basketball. When he called me to tell me about Virginia, I said, ‘Tony, I completely understand what you’re doing.’ Virginia is a better area to recruit from, has more potential, has better academics and he got a big pay increase. You couldn’t blame him.”

Bennett apologized to the Chadwicks, the family said, and has been in touch a couple of times since. But he never offered to take Chadwick with him.

Bennett had signed four players to his 2009 recruiting class at Washington State. The other three stayed. Chadwick left. He had believed in Bennett so thoroughly that he had committed to Washington State sight unseen after Bennett’s home visit and subsequent scholarship offer.

Then came another recruiting whirlwind. Chadwick got his official release from Washington State on a Thursday in April. St. Louis coach Rick Majerus came to his home Friday and stayed 4 1/2 hours. Creighton coach Dana Altman came on Saturday.

But the messages were sometimes mixed in the spring, the Chadwick family said. Butler coach Brad Stevens called one day to gauge Chadwick’s interest in his program, Chadwick Jr. said, then called back a few days later saying he didn’t have a scholarship available.

Sometimes, the pitches were ridiculous.

Chadwick said he was told by one coach he wouldn’t name: “You’ll play 30 minutes a game as a freshman. Then, three weeks later, the same coach called us and said they had a logjam at my position and no scholarship at all.”

Another coach told Chadwick he would be the face of the program for four years, he said, and do for that team what Stephen Curry did for Davidson. That statement was nutty enough, Chadwick said, that he never believed it to begin with.

“Each school had its own little story,” Chadwick Jr. said.

This is an example of how quickly the recruiting process can turn. One moment you can have a sure thing, and the next it can be pulled out from under you. Chadwick is fortunate to have the ability to go to prep school in order to maintain his eligibility; however, not everyone has this chance. This is why you need to take full advantage of your opportunity to play college sports right away. Chadwick’s story also shows how many pitches college coaches can give in hopes of landing a recruit. A student-athlete has to be able to sift through the rubble in order to find legitimate interest and promises.

Fans matter in college sports.  They create the atmosphere at events, and more importantly they pay the bills.  But should they be involved in recruiting?  The NCAA prohibits fans from most interaction with potential recruits, but that line continues to be blurred by the internet.  One major source of confusion is the increasing number of fans that have been issued media credentials.  The Washington Post examined the emergence of fans directly affecting the recruiting process.

NCAA officials and prominent figures on the summer basketball circuit are alarmed at an increasing number of fans who are creating Web sites, obtaining media credentials and becoming amateur recruiters. Rachel Newman-Baker, the NCAA’s agent, gambling and amateurism director, said one of the organization’s biggest concerns this summer was who was obtaining media credentials and for what purpose.

The prominence of Rivals and Scout — and by extension, the team sites run by each company — has flourished over the past decade, as fans have clamored for information on their respective programs. Writers for these sites commonly are credentialed for team and national events.

Whereas those who run independent sites usually work other full-time jobs and then spend hours per day on what they consider an expensive hobby, those who run Rivals or Scout sites often do not work elsewhere and in many cases also work on a print publication.

Many of those who work for Scout and Rivals sites say they follow a code of ethics and understand the potential recruiting issues that could arise. Several said they should never promote one school, disparage another or display a fan allegiance to any. Some also said they identify themselves only as a representative from Rivals or Scout and do not say they cover a specific school.

The blur becomes a huge problem when members of the media actively recruit players for a particular school.  At NCSA we have chosen to avoid the blur all together.  Our recruiting coaches analyze players for college coaches, not for fans of a particular team.  The distinction allows us to avoid any gray areas that media companies have fallen into.

Coaches help shape athletes.  They help refine their athletic skills, but more importantly they help shape the lives of young people.  They greatly influence the people we will become later in life.

Behind Every Athlete is a Great Coach.  Has a Coach Made a Difference in Your Life?  Now is Your Chance to Give Back!

Nominate Your Coach and Play it Forward.

Venderbilts Men’s Basketball coach Kevin Stallings was featured on ESPN for going above and beyond his coaching responsibilities.

Kevin Stallings made the commitment to his Vanderbilt team that it would take a trip this summer to Australia — and man, did he mean it.

The timing was perfect. Teams are allowed to go overseas for an offseason trip once every four years. Coaches always make sure the trips are done when it makes the most sense. Incoming freshmen can’t go since the trips are supposed to occur when school is out of session, so having a veteran team coming back can maximize the experience.

The Commodores return 14 of 15 players from last season’s roster, including a likely first-round draft pick in Australian center A.J. Ogilvy. Vandy, which finished 19-12 last season (8-8 in the SEC), is primed for a breakout season that will lead it to the NCAA tournament for the third time in four seasons.

Then a few months ago, reality hit. David Williams, Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor for student affairs and athletics, met with Stallings in early spring and told him the money wasn’t available for the trip.

The majority of coaches would have likely just left the decision alone. But not Stallings, not with this team, not at a school that he has been so committed to the past decade — a school that has as sterling a reputation for its ethical behavior as Stallings has within the college basketball community.

“I was convinced it was the right time for the program; it was a hard thing to let die,” Stallings said. “So I went back to him and proposed the idea of me paying for it, and he agreed to that.”

Nevertheless, Stallings still had to convince his wife, Lisa. Foregoing $100,000 that the university would otherwise owe him as part of his salary is no joke. But this was the ultimate investment in his team, his program, and his future at Vanderbilt. If the trip is a success, it could ultimately be the impetus to catapult the Dores toward a banner season.

Here is an example of how committed coaches are to their programs. It is also a reason why recruits need to research their coaches. Having a caring coach like Stallings would help not only athletically, but it will also help prepare student-athletes for the rest of their lives.