NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Getting Recruited takes a lot of work. Be sure to start taking important recruiting steps right now!

Every athlete needs a game plan for recruiting success.  Unfortunately, most recruits are unsure which steps to take and when to take them.  We have developed a comprehensive Recruiting Checklist for athletes broken down by age to make sure whether you are just starting as a Freshmen or nearing the end as a Senior, you know what to do!

Download the checklist below to make sure you are taking all the right steps!

Freshmen Recruiting Checklist

Sophomore Recruiting Checklist

Junior Recruiting Checklist

Senior Recruiting Checklist

If you feel like you might be falling behind, call the NCSA Recruiting Team at 866-579-6272!

P.S. Be sure to share this with anyone who might find the checklist helpful.

High school students nationwide can all agree with this statement: High school is hard. Maybe it’s because this is the age when awareness of self development kicks into place, bodies change, abilities change, people change, and everything is in flux. In high school, young adults are taught the value of balancing a schedule of school work, studies and are expected to do so while balancing a diverse portfolio of extracurricular activities, especially if they want to go to a good college, or even go to college. I talk to a good deal of high school athletes on a daily basis who aspire to become college students and college athletes. Sure, some are more qualified than others to take their talents to the college level, but one thing that should be highlighted and praised over talents and abilities is the will to overcome obstacles in a path to accomplishing a dream. That is more important than any naturally given skill, because will is what enhances abilities and teaches values.

I recently got off the phone who demonstrates that will. Wait…no, he does more than just demonstrate that will, he should be one of the poster-children for a desire to succeed for oneself. His name was Cristion. Born as the only boy in the family in California to love baseball, it was obvious from the start that he had one love, baseball. On the phone he told me he was about 5’11”, 145 pounds. He started last year for his high school’s varsity team last year as a junior. Throwing the ball in the high 70′s as a top speed fastball, with a curveball and a change-up in his arsenal, I thought Cristion had a shot; sure he was undersized and did not have the best stuff than what is preferred of pitchers at the better college level. But as he kept telling me more about himself I could sense his passion for the game and his desire to play at the next level.

And then came this exchange: “Sir, have you ever heard of Jim Abbott?”

It took me a second to think about it, “Yeah, Jim Abbott, he was a famous pitcher a while back for the Yankees, that Jim Abbott right?” I asked him.

“Yes, do you remember what he was known for?” he asked.

At that moment I could not get a sense at where he was going with this, so I politely responded “no, remind me Cristion”.

“Remember how Jim Abbott was the pitcher with only one hand who switched his glove over to his good hand after the release of his pitches? I have to do that from the mound with my pitches because of the condition I was born with” he explained.

In shock, I instantly wrote down that Cristion is a winner and he deserves to have as many chances as he can create for himself. He was chasing the same dream that one man historically made famous by his will to overcome challenges and follow the one thing that he loved. Cristion clearly knew at this point he had all of my undivided attention at this point and he kept explaining about how much this dream meant to him, to have the opportunity to pitch for a college baseball team. He was living the demonstration of having the will to overcome the seemingly impossible obstacles that stood in his way. No he wasn’t facing the traditional difficulties that an average high school student may face with a class, a peer, or a position battle. He was trying to overcome a physical disability to try and compete with kids who have the luxury of pitching and throwing with one hand, and fielding with the other. A remarkable feat this will be once he gets to that level, but even the attempt is worthy of a standing “O”. Cristion is such a positive example of young athletes advocating for their dreams at an early age. High schools everywhere have these young adults roaming their halls everyday looking to make their dreams come true. But the one thing that needs to be taken away from this story is that the difference between good and remarkable is the will to overcome and persevere on the path to your dream. Now what is your goal? How can you be more like Cristion in your own situation? What are you willing to do and learn to do in order to get your dreams?

As a parent what do you do when your son has a gift? A gift can be given in many ways. Sometimes its wit fused with personality, humor with charisma, charm with good looks (well you get the point). But what if your child has been given the gift of premier athletic ability combined with the ideal figure for sports? What now? Who do you talk to or better yet go to for help and understanding? Who can you trust with your child’s gift? This question is one that I find is asked by parents who believe they have a son or daughter good enough, better yet, better than good enough for college sports. The answer lies in your instinct and your judgments of people. However, one thing always remains true when confronting the next right decision in your young athlete’s career: Those who take the initiative to get help and are proactive from the start always come away with more understanding and are offered a greater opportunity for success.

I recently got off the phone one of the more “gifted” athletes that I had spoken with. Ryan, as his parents called him, was fortunate enough to receive the body of a thoroughbred, quarterback protecting, trench moving, earth-quaking offensive tackle. He is 6’5” and 315 pounds. But the best part is his age. He is going into his freshman year in high school! His varsity coach must be jumping through walls because he’s so excited to have a quarterback protector and defensive line tank to clog up holes for the next four years. But what struck out most about Ryan was his desire to maximize his talents and size for what he was given. Yeah sure he wanted to go to the NFL one day, but at this point he wanted to do so good in high school to where he could play the best college football. On the phone with his mother she kept saying “Roll Tide” after every sentence as if they had raised Ryan to have that phrase be his first words and that that Alabama was the only destination for Ryan to end up at.

Oh great, I thought to myself, Alabama or bust is what this family is thinking? Sure it’s great to have a dream school in mind, but if they weren’t realistic, this might be a difficult task talking to the southern family about the realities of the recruiting process for their son.

Long story short I was wrong. Ryan’s mother told me that they would be open to the best opportunity that Ryan could have to play football and more importantly take his education to a place where he could succeed. Ryan is an example of someone who has succeeded already. Why you ask? Not because he already has multiple scholarship offers because he doesn’t, not because he is going to start next year for the defending national champions of college football because he isn’t, and not because he was ranked in the top 100 of his recruiting class, because at this point he isn’t. Ryan has succeeded because he has already taken control of his future by finding what his future can be by starting the recruiting process for himself with his family. Who knows at this point how tall Ryan will be or how much strength in mass he will have. Or who knows what kind of talent he is on the field considering the fact he hasn’t played a varsity down or doesn’t have any highlight tape. For all we know at this point Ryan can be as great as he wants to be but the key is wanting to be great and he has that. Ryan can very well earn that division one scholarship to his dream school one day, and if Coach Saban comes calling on April 15th of his junior year, for the first time to offer Ryan a full scholarship this will all be complete. But it was only because he cared about his talent and abilities enough to start himself on the right foot and he and his family did it at an early age where he separated himself from the pack of kids who are wondering where their offers are on the start of two-a-days. I guess you should have wondered back then “what you could have been doing back then to get that offer”.

Guest Post by Matt Berkovitz:

It is a well known fact that the landscape of college recruiting is constantly evolving. The age old adage that sports are about the Jimmies and the Janes and not the plays will undoubtedly stand the test of time. The methodologies that coaches now use to drive their programs are light years ahead of where they were even two years ago. Throughout this athletic arms race one thing has remained constant: coaches recruit where the talent is.

There have always been general assumptions as to where the talent is and where it comes from. Ask any casual fan of the sport of football what states produce the best players and the response more often than not is some variation on the theme of the logical choices of California, Florida, and Texas.

Recently, NCSA wanted to get a firm grasp on what states truly did produce the most talent. Given that football generally has the largest roster at a given college it was selected as the sport to form the sample group. The name, home town, home state, and high school of every player on every available Division 1-A, Division 1-AA, Division 2, and Division 3 football team were logged. It should be noted that in several instances player information was missing or unavailable. In all the data for over 600 schools were logged. Given that a true full set of data was not available it should be noted that there will be variance in the statistical analysis of plus or minus a few percentage points.

All that being said the NCSA Football Student Athlete Population Analysis yielded the following results:

Of the roughly 1.1 million high school football players approximately 4.3% go on to play at the college level.

The top 410 high schools- which are comprised of schools that have at least 10 players playing at the next level- that populate football rosters account for approximately 15% of the entire NCAA football talent pool.

Nine States produce 53% of all college football talent:

CA, TX, FL, GA, PA, OH, NC, NJ, IL

Given that these states are ten of the top eleven by population there isn’t a large surprise there.

Three States Produce 27% of Division I Talent:

CA, TX, FL

Confirming the general thought on the regions and the talent level.

The more interesting stuff comes about in the lower level divisions. Due to the fact recruiting budgets are smaller coaches tend to look more locally for their talent. The majority of the lower level division schools tend to be in the largest populated states.

Accordingly-

Four States Produce 36% of D2 Talent:

OH, MI, TX, PA

Three States Produce 44% of D3 Talent:

OH, TX, VA

The time required to compete at the highest level of youth sports can seem staggering.  For years elite athletes around the globe have trained year round for the majority of their young lives.  This was often under the direction of sports specific academies and national programs.  However, the time commitment demanded of athletes just hoping to compete for their high school team and perhaps earn a scholarship has also multiplied.  This has some decrying a “Youth Sports Arm Race.”  The Wall Street Journal reported on why many feel that too much is being asked of young athletes.

Youth sports have big benefits for kids. Research links participation to better grades and self esteem, long-term improvements in education and employment and lower obesity rates.

But the escalating time, travel and financial demands of many competitive youth teams are pushing some parents over the edge. Many are pushing back, dropping teams mid-season, barring year-round competition for their children or refusing to make their kids available for holiday or vacation-time play.

Organized team sports now start in preschool. Soccer, lacrosse, basketball and T-ball programs begin at age 4 or even 3. Playing “seasons” run year-round, pressuring pre-teens to specialize in a single sport. Children as young as 8 are being shuttled hundreds of miles to national basketball and football tournaments. Annual costs to parents for elite sports teams often extend well into four figures.

“Some parents are saying, ‘This is crazy, spending all this money traveling all over creation. I want my kid to play sports, but I don’t want it to consume their lives, and I am not willing as a parent’” to continue investing so much, says Dan Gould, director of Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports.

Some parents willingly join “the youth sports arms race” because they hope their children will earn college scholarships or pro careers, says Douglas Abrams, a University of Missouri law professor and a youth hockey coach for 42 years. In reality, these prospects are “infinitesimal,” he says.

Only about 3% to 6% of high school basketball, football, baseball and soccer players make it to a college team, the National Collegiate Athletic Association says. Only about 2% of high-school athletes are awarded college athletic scholarships. Far more money is available for academic scholarships. And only about 1% to 9% of college athletes make it to the pros, the NCAA says.

I can understand the cynical nature of the article.  When comparing family to sport, family should win 99% of the time.  The only question I would ask, is Sunday Family Dinner the only time to bond?  Couldn’t time spent together driving across state for a tournament contribute to family time?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then I believe that the article sells sports short, especially on the potential dollar return (not to mention the benefits and inner growth).   I would argue that youth sports at a very young age have to be more about love for the game than return, but as an athlete progresses the chances of an actual dollar return increase significantly.  An investment in an elite team that nets a grant at a Division III school worth $200,000 would be a home run.

Athletes and families simply don’t know how many options are out there.  There are over 1,700 universities that offer the chance to play sports in college.  Funding is available at all of them.  The key is finding where those opportunities lie.

Coach Taylor- How many college coaches should I contact if I want to play at the next level?

How many coaches should you contact?

As a former college coach, let me answer that by telling you about our philosophy as a staff during my days at UCLA and Minnesota…and let you make some decisions about how many colleges you should be in touch with.

Picture the recruiting process as a giant funnel. At the start, we wanted to fill that funnel with as many potential prospects as possible with the end goal of narrowing that down and finding the absolute best recruits for our program. With that in mind, we would start the process by contacting THOUSANDS of football players across the country (and this is not just a football mentality – coaches in all sports start the process this way to some degree). Typically, that starting point involved mass form letters to the recruits. Were all the recruits that received those letters perfect fits for our program? Absolutely not. However, in an effort to find the right prospects, we had to cast a wide net and then begin crossing the wrong athletes off our list as we got further into the process.

As we developed relationships with prospects and our interest intensified from form letters into handwritten notes, phone calls and visits, the total number of athletes we were involved with began to dwindle. At the same time, we had a number of prospects – who were not at the top of our list – that we kept in touch with just in case some of our top recruits committed to other programs or let us know that they were not interested.

Eventually we reached the smallest part of the funnel where we aggressively pursued our top recruits and attempted to convince them to sign with our program.

How many recruits did we contact initially to get our top 20-30 targets? Thousands!

Back to the original question…

How many coaches should you contact?

Of course that answer will vary based on sport and preferences, but the number is almost always much higher than most families realize. I encourage you to look at how many programs exist in your sport by visiting our college sports recruiting  pages here. I recommend recruits target at least 10-20% of the total programs in order to have enough options at the end of the funnel. Remember, you only go through this process once and there are tens of thousands of other athletes competing for the same spots. Do you want to risk your future athletic career by dismissing an option early in the process?

To join the most trusted athletic recruiting network and make sure you cast a wide enough net, click here or call 866-579-6272.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

(Editor’s Note: Charlie Adams has a powerful example here of how being a College student-athlete can impact the next 40 years of life, plus the importance of Character, a recruiting example from a place kicker, and more!)

I am a strong believer that true college student-athletes are in position to have amazing futures. As Chris Krause’s book says, Athletes are Wanted!

I have been to the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida over eight times to speak on recruiting to families from around the world. One mother, a former Michigan State swimmer, told me she has a daughter who will be on the Tennis team at Duke University. She said her daughter had been encouraged to look into being a part of the CAPE program at Duke. That is short for Collegiate Athlete Pre-medical Experience.

When I got back I researched it. The DukeMed Alumni News wrote this about it:

“CAPE mines highly focused undergraduate female Duke athletes who have an interest in medicine and gives them unprecedented access and insight into the medical world. The goal is to engage them with mentors, role models, lectures, discussion groups, and clinical experiences so they don’t become discouraged in the still male-dominated world of medicine. It is the only program in the country that gives undergrads such deep exposure to the field of medicine.

Allan Friedman, deputy director of the Tisch Brain Tumor Center, put it this way: “If you want to tap into a pool of motivated, team- and goal-oriented women with great time management skills who are interested in medicine, what better population is there than successful Division I athletes?”

Friedman’s comments reminded me of what Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in March of this year:

“College sports–along with the military–are arguably among the most important and largest developers of future leaders in the country.”

The mother told me the bottom line was they felt that female student-athletes at Duke had the toughness to persevere to make it to the medical world, whereas a lot of non female athletes bail out because they get discouraged in the male dominated field of medicine. Her daughter would be able to apply after her freshman year of varsity tennis and be in CAPE as long as she maintained varsity status.

The mother and I talked about the impact of her experience of being a swimmer at Michigan State. She went on and on about how that prepared her for the world. “There were so many things I took from being a college athlete that led to success in the business world,” she said. She had just recently retired from Motorola after 25 years. Yet another example of how playing college sports is a 40 year decision, not just a 4 year one.

The mother also told me something interesting. She said the Duke Tennis coach was actually happy that her daughter had not been playing year-round tennis in the years leading up to become an athlete at Duke. “I could tell that the coach felt burn-out is a factor with many recruits these days,” she told me.

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At the IMG Camper Orientation, I came across a young man named Brandon Tarpley. He was there to attend the Brandon Kornblue Kicking Camp. We struck up a conversation. He told me he was going to be a kicker at Central Florida University (Division One). Having talking recruiting at Kicker-specific camps, I know that kickers and long snappers face a different animal when it comes to their recruiting process. They get recruited a lot later, and many times have to go in as preferred walk-ons and earn scholarships.

Brandon is an example. He told me ESPN has him ranked as the 5th strongest leg and in other rankings he is 10th in the nation in putting and 10th in field goals and kick offs as far as high school kickers. Basically, he is a stud and one of the best around. He also told me he will start at Central Florida as a preferred walk-on. He said that the coaches told him that if he progressed and showed them what he could do, he would get a full ride, probably very soon. He told me it could be in August of his freshman year, after they had seen enough of him on campus to justify the scholarship. That’s just the way it is with most kickers, punters and long snappers. College football coaches first award scholarships to other positions, and then are often hesitant to award a scholarship to a kicker until he has proven himself.

Brandon, who is from Palmetto, Florida, told me Alabama had offered him to be a preferred walk-on. Schools like Vanderbilt and Tulane had brought him in for Official Visits, but he decided on Central Florida. He told me his Dad had passed away, and that before he died he had promised him he would look after his mother. Central Florida, just 2 ½ hours away, was the best fit.

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One of the saddest sights from the Speaking Trail recently was when I was in Greensboro to speak to top Track and Field athletes at the New Balance Track and Field Nationals. In between Talks, I was at the NCSA booth with former Illinois runner Rachel Hernandez, a Speaker Event coordinator for NCSA. A top athlete from 5-A powerhouse in Indianapolis, IN stopped by. He had to be good to be at Nationals, so we talked about recruiting. He said he didn’t have anything going on.

He had finished 12th grade. It was June.

“I am really getting stressed,” he told me. “My coaches at school told me the college coaches would find me, and nothing has happened.”

The look on his face was so sad. At that point, I didn’t know his whole story. I didn’t know if grades were a factor, but it was a sobering reminder that you have to start the recruiting process early and just because you are good doesn’t guarantee that college coaches will beat your door down. Unless you are John Wall, you need to have ways to let coaches know what you are all about, athletically, academically, the works!

NCSA Senior National Speaker Bob Chmiel passionately talks about the importance of Character for student-athletes. I whole heartedly agree. I spoke several times at the Track and Field Nationals. I can remember one Talk when one of the top sprinters in the country, an 11th grader, sat right up front. He had excellent posture and maintained eye contact with me the whole Talk. Afterwards, he came up, shook my hand, looked me in the eyes, and said, “Thank you for that information, Mr. Adams.”

There’s a kid college coaches will be all over. He had excellent athletic credentials, and was a young man of character.

At a later Talk, a young track star flopped across a chair in the back of the room and texted the whole time I was talking. People kept looking back at the kid wondering if she would stop. Basically, her attitude was, “I have great times in Track. I am only here because my parents made me come to this Talk. I don’t need it, so I will just text my friends.”

On the way back from speaking at the IMG Academies this past weekend, I picked up a copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper before changing planes. There were tremendous recruiting insights in a story by Jay Stone on University of Texas freshman sprinter Chalonda Goodman. She had won State in the 100 and 200 all four years at Newnan High School in Georgia. Those accomplishments earned her a scholarship at the University of Texas.

I am a big fan of all levels of college sports, but one thing young people need to understand is that it is a major commitment to play at the high D1 level like Texas. In the article, it said a normal day her freshman year was 6 a.m. weight training, class from 8 until 1 pm, track practice at 2:30 pm, study hall from 6 to 8 pm, and then back to the dorm for more studying until 11 pm bedtime.

“I learned how to manage my time my senior year in high school,” she told the Journal-Constitution, “but I really got put to the test when I got here.”

For athletes that have the God given ability to play at the highest levels of D1, and the time management skills, and the drive, it is absolutely the place to be. As one D1 coach told me, what is wrong with striving to be the best you can be academically and athletically. You may miss out on some of the other experiences of college life, but this young lady is dead set on reaching the Olympics. She was a long way from home in Georgia, and said she got homesick at first, but being busy and productive helped her overcome homesickness.

Chalonda finished her freshman year with a 3.83 GPA, so the hard work and discipline is paying off. However, multiple injuries kept her from competing in the outdoor 100 and 200. Again, here is an example of how being a college athlete prepares people to excel their entire life. She said she looks at it as something she has grown stronger both mentally and emotionally from, and that she plans to come back even stronger. Athletes have to overcome adversity, and that’s what she is doing.

Charlie Adams

cadams@ncsasports.org

For An Evaluation of where you stand in the Recruiting Process

To Bring Charlie or any of our Recruiting Experts to Your School, Camp, or Event Click Here

New Official NCAA Guide to the College Bound Student Athlete

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY HERE

National Letter of Intent:

The Signing Period ends on August 1st. This is the last day for a student-athlete in the following sports to secure an athletic scholarship to a DI or DII program: Field Hockey, Soccer, Track & Field, Cross Country, Swimming, Baseball, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball, Lacrosse, Wrestling, Ice Hockey, and Water Polo.

Official Visits:

The student-athlete can start taking official visits opening day of class senior year.

Unofficial Visits:

Juniors and Underclassmen should take a visit once the college has started classes, to see what the school is like in full swing.

PHONE CALLS:

2011 Grads (Division I):

1. Men’s Basketball, Men’s Ice Hockey – 2x per week.

2. Football – No calls can be initiated in August by the college coach.

3. All Other Sports – 1x per week.

2011 Grads (Division II):

1. All Sports: 1x per week.

2012 Grads (Division I):

1. Men’s Basketball: DI – 1x per month (includes letters/emails).

2. Men’s Ice Hockey: DI – 1x per month (includes letters/emails).

AUGUST RECRUITING TIPS

Fall Sports – Coaches will be getting ready for their seasons in August. Pre-season conditioning and practice will be starting.

Other Sports – August is the time of the year coach’s head out for vacations and communications may be limited.

Swimming – Meets are common at the beginning of the month.

Golf – Recruits should still be playing in tournaments (State, Local, National).

Softball – ASA Nationals are occurring at the start of August.

Tennis – Scouts it is important to add in the scout notes the recruits experience, such as USTA tournaments and junior team tennis.

Offers – At this time, juniors and top tier sophomores have or will be securing DI offers by the end of the month and throughout the fall months. Top tier DII programs will be extending offers as well.