NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Coach Taylor – When can I receive a phone call from a college coach?

The answer to this question depends on the sport, the prospect’s age, and division level.  One thing to keep in mind is that prospects can make calls to college coaches at their own expense at anytime!

Also a few important ideas to remember is that receiving a phone call from a college coach should not be the start or end of the recruiting process.  The prospects who receive phone calls on the first day possible are the ones who have executed a successful recruiting campaign up until that point.  This includes being proactive at a very young age to ensure their name is high on the coach’s recruiting list. 

If you do not receive a phone call on the first day possible, it does not mean you are a viable recruit for that division level; however it does mean that you might not be on the radar for those college coaches.  Or it could mean you need to target a more realistic level of play.  Either way it should be a sign and you might be falling behind.

Here is a list of when a college coach can call a prospect broken down by sport and division level:

Division I

Sophomore Year

College coaches cannot call prospects in any sport

 Junior Year

Men’s Basketball:  College coaches can call once per month beginning June 15th before your junior year through July 15th after your junior year.

Women’s Basketball:  College coaches can call you once per month in April, May and June 1-20th.  They can also call once between June 21st and June 20th after your junior year.   They can call again three times in July after your junior year (maximum of one call per week).

Football:  College coaches can call once from April 15th to May 31st of your junior year

Men’s Hockey: College coaches can call once per month beginning June 15th before your junior year through July 31st after your junior year.

Other Sports:  Once per week starting July 1st after your junior year.

Senior Year

Men’s Basketball:  College coaches can call twice per week beginning August 1st.

Women’s Basketball:  College coaches can call once per week beginning August 1st.

Football:  College coaches can call once per week beginning September 1st.

Men’s Ice Hockey:  College coaches can call once per week beginning August 1st.

Other Sports:  College coaches can call once per week beginning July 1st.

Division II

All Sports:  A college coach may call you once per week beginning June 15th between your junior and senior year. 

Division III

All Sports:  There is no limit on the number of calls or when they can be made by the college coach.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

If you would like to speak with an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator about your personal recruiting situation, call 866-579-6272

I wanted to share a short blog post from the LA Times featuring the director of scouting for the LA Angels, Eddie Bane. Despite the ever growing trend of specialization, he advises young athletes to play a variety of sports.

“One of my first questions to my scouts is, ‘What kind of athlete is this guy?’ I want the player to be able to have a lot of skills, and those skills are not enhanced by getting on a travel team from the time they are 13 years old and playing baseball year round. I believe that really limits an athlete when they specialize that young.”

“It is a great scouting tool to see these guys and how they handle themselves on a big stage like they have in high school football.”

Sometimes all an athletes needs to succeed is a little opportunity.  For some aspiring college football players playing time at the high school level can be hard to come by for a variety of circumstances.  Yet, there have been numerous football players  who have overcome a lack of high school playing time to to not just play in college, but excel.  Holy Cross QB Dominc Randolph is one of those players.

At St Xavier in high school he couldn’t get off the bench, but now he is being targetted by NFL scouts as a potential draft pick.

So how did an NFL prospect, a kid who would ended up being New England’s best college quarterback since BC’s Matt Ryan, wind up at Holy Cross?

Nobody else wanted him.

Kids who don’t start in high school are not usually blue-chip recruits.

There was no Friday night lights glory for Dominic Randolph. He grew up in Amelia, Ohio, just a touch pass from Cincinnati, and attended St. Xavier High, where the crowds were bigger than Holy Cross crowds.

At St. Xavier, Randolph was the career backup for a kid named Rob Schoenhoft, who was ranked one of the top ten high school quarterbacks in the nation. While Randolph sat, the blue-chip kid got all the snaps (Schoenhoft wound up going to Ohio State, transferred to Delaware and eventually was forced to stop playing due to multiple concussions).

Meanwhile, Randolph’s dad seethed. A defensive tackle on Michigan’s 1976 Orange Bowl team, Charlie Randolph knew his son was good enough to play. He knew football. He knew his kid wasn’t getting a chance.

He told Dominic he could transfer. Dominic wanted to stay. After his junior season, Dom went to Cambridge, Mass., for a Harvard football camp.

Charlie Randolph knew a couple of high school teammates who’d played at Holy Cross. They told him to check out Worcester while Dom was at the Harvard camp. So father and son made a day trip to Holy Cross, met coach Gilmore, and it was decided that Dominic would play for the Crusaders.

It didn’t take long for Gilmore to see what he had. Randolph is 6-foot-2, 223 pounds and was born to play Gimore’s no-huddle, spread offense.

He started as a freshman and continued until Saturday in Philadelphia.

Randolph passed for 347 yards (31 of 51) with three touchdowns and no interceptions against the Wildcats, but it wasn’t enough. He finished his college career with 13,455 yards passing and 117 touchdowns, the most decorated quarterback in school history.

He’ll complete studies for his degree in economics and accounting this semester, but plans to stick around Worcester to get ready for the NFL draft. When Boston College invites NFL scouts for Pro Day, Dominic will make the trip to Chestnut Hill. There is no Pro Day at Holy Cross.

Any regrets about playing at a small-time football school?

“Sometimes I wish it was a little bigger, but there’s not much I would change,” Randolph said. “[Holy Cross is] a tough school, but it teaches you more about the real world.”

“Football’s not life,” he said. “Some time, you’re going to have to put the football down. But I’m certainly going to try. I know I don’t have the arm of Donovan McNabb or Tom Brady, but I think I can play.”

“Absolutely,” said Gilmore, when asked about his quarterback’s chances of playing at the next level. “He’s just one of those guys who is really poised and can perform under pressure.”

Athletes like Randolph just needed the opportunity to show the skill they possessed.   Many aspiring college athletes choose NCSA as the vehicle to show off the skill they always knew they had.

There are many times I have worked with a student-athlete that excels in the classroom, but for one-reason or another is a bad test-taker. A student with a 3.3 GPA, but a 18 ACT. If you are one of those students who may be struggling to find a school you academically qualify for the website below may help you out. There is a group of schools out there that do not take your standardized test score into account during admissions. As long as you have a 3.0 GPA, they are blind to your test score. Look at the site below to check out some of the schools:

http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional