NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and is one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

I was driving near Indianapolis this week and heard former Indiana University Basketball Coach Dan Dakich hosting his daily talk show on 1070 the Fan. A caller called in a little ‘bent out of shape’ that IU Basketball Coach Tom Crean had recently received two commitments from players that had yet to play a second of High School basketball. Two highly rated 9th graders had made their decision to attend IU. The caller just could not understand how they could be doing that at such a young age. Dakich, who was an assistant coach at IU for years and knows recruiting inside and out, wasn’t surprised. He said back when he was evaluating talent he could often tell if a 7th grader could play at a major D1 level like Indiana and the Big Ten. In recruiting, basketball is especially accelerated and seasoned evaluators like Tom Crean can project early if a kid can play. Back in the 1980′s, Bob Knight went down to Bedford, IN to watch a legendary 8th grader named Damon Bailey play a game. In the book, “A Season on the Brink” Knight made a comment to the author John Feinstein that “Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. I don’t mean potentially better, I mean better today.” Bailey ended up going to Indiana and was a very good player at that level.

It’s not that way for every basketball player that eventually plays D1, but it is for the special ones. Trey Lyles is one of the two players to commit to IU. He stands 6’9″ as a 9th grader. The other one is James Blackmon, Jr. His Dad was a very good player back in the day at Kentucky. Tom Crean and his staff have no doubt those two project to be winning Big Ten players. As Dakich said on his radio show, the IU coaches know what they are doing because they are seasoned evaluators. They have been watching those kids in the July evaluation events.

Less than 1% of the High School athletes will get this kind of “fawning over.” The rest have to be proactive in recruiting, and understand the process starts early whether you are a 6’9″ ninth grader or not. A 5’9″ 9th grade basketball player that is not even on the varsity team needs to understand how important it is to make his baskets in the classroom so that he can have more options in recruiting when he is a junior or senior. That kid may never get a D1 offer, but if he and his family get educated in recruiting and he works his tail off, by the time he is a junior and senior he will have more options in recruiting.

Charlie Adams

cadams@ncsasports.org

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and is one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

I had a long conversation with a mother and father whose daughter, a soccer player, had just found the right fit for college.

She was found by the college coach when he was looking at another recruit’s video. The other recruit was not clearly identified on the video, and the college coach noticed their daughter making plays on it. This is why you cannot make college coaches play detective in trying to figure out where you are on video, or some other kid will get a scholarship off your tape. I have found the NCSA guidance in this area critical. An arrow pointing at the recruit at the start of a play is very important. One of the points of College Recruiting Simplified is to make a “winning Highlight/Skills video.” The key word there is ‘winning.’ Families often have no idea how much more successful they will be in recruiting if they had a better understanding of how to work the video process. I continue to be amazed at how many families don’t even have a plan for it, and don’t have video of their kid – even as 12th graders sometimes!

The mother, father and daughter made several unofficial visits during her High School days. The young lady evaluated out to be a NAIA or D3 player, so they met with several coaches. One young head coach got all wound up during their meeting and talked about how they would have a “D1 mentality” at the D3 school. He was a little too gung-ho. They appreciated his fever and enthusiasm, but wanted to find someone a little calmer. They continued the process, made more visits, and found a school with a veteran coach who still had the fire for coaching. It wasn’t the reason they picked the school. Their major reason was the school would allow her to grown in her faith, athletics and academics, but they felt this particular coach had the calm, steady approach and decades of experience to better fit her. Now, the next kid might eat up that other coach’s wound-up approach. It’s all part of getting out there and finding the right fit. I spoke at the Mizuno Mid East Regional Volleyball Qualifiers in Indianapolis earlier this year. I talked with one mother whose daughter had already been on three unofficial visits in the Fall of her junior year, and was close to firming up the right fit. It was because she was “out there.”

For an Evaluation of your College Recruiting potential

Charlie Adams

NCSA Senior Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org

Looking back at any past decisions you’ve made would you say that there have been a few where you wish you could have that decision back to do it differently? For you parents out there maybe it was the decision to take a new job that looked promising, or placed your kids on a team that took you down a couple of levels. For you high schoolers, maybe it was not doing so great on a test you didn’t study for, or didn’t make that team that you didn’t work hard enough to make. Point is, looking back on any of those past decisions, would you have done anything different now to change what happened in the past?

Here’s a tip for you athletes and parents of athletes…don’t make it that way with recruiting!

Just recently I got off the line with a great family with a daughter that has a ton of talent on the pitch playing midfield for her varsity soccer team. Her body of work: Four years of varsity experience, four years of participation on a competitive club team, 3.6 GPA and a 25 on her ACT. She was in cookie cutter form of a soccer player that has some potential to play in the college level. Will you find this girl in the World Cup, probably not, but you could very will find her playing for her college somewhere. Problem though is the chances of you knowing about her and her skills are pretty low because of the way the family is handling the recruiting process. Sure she has good talent but this family truly believes the recruiting process is like the movies. Being a senior, she has received no phone calls from any college coaches (allowed), no official visits on the calendars (also allowed), no scholarship offers verbally given (allowed3) and only a few e-mails from some D3 assistant coaches a few months ago but no contact recently with these coaches. They had a YouTube video posted on her skills but not on any verified source for coaches to see and they haven’t been reaching out to college coaches. Yet the mother of Rachel refused to open her ears up to listen to anyone trying to offer her advice to get on the right path. She believes that this year her daughter will get discovered during the season by scouts that are coming to her games and she refused to listen to anyone but her husband, daughter, and her daughter’s coach.

For all you parents out there, here are two of the top myths of collegiate recruiting: 1) your high school coach will take care of the recruiting process for you 2) College scouts just discover talent at the games they go to. Remember these scouts and coaches are people too. Let’s take a step back and remind ourselves that their time is valuable and their connections are limited. Scouts go to games to evaluate talent that they have been watching for quite some time; rarely do they look at anyone else. Coaches have limited college contacts, usually five at most, a curriculum to teach, papers to grade and a family to take care of, how much time during their day are they going to have to recruit your son or daughter? I’m not trying to preach, but the importance of getting your facts straight can be the difference in D1 or D3, or how much money your family will receive in scholarship money or financial aid.

Don’t you owe it to your family and your talents to make sure that you are sure with the hands you are putting your future in? Like anything in life, the college decision is ultimately a big leap of faith to hopefully land in the right place. The place to transform you into that adult that you want to become, to learn to grow, to play your sport, and have pride in your new home. Be smart in these next four years, trust the people that you trust, but remember to always take advice with an open mind and go to trusted sources to help you reach your goals. Sometimes this process requires help to get there! Good luck!

We’ve always said that choosing where you go to school isn’t a 4 year decision, it’s a 40 year decision. Being such a big decision, high school kids should be able to take their time in making such a hard choice, right? Minooka DE Zach Colvin unfortunately learned the hard way that you don’t have all the time in the world to make your decision.

College athletics is a very serious business, and universities cannot afford to sit around and wait for an offer to be taken. Sometimes, the college coach may offer a scholarship to more than one student athlete, and the one who responds the fastest gets the spot. This is an aspect of college athletics that the high school student athlete might not think about or have trouble understanding the concept.

Zach Colvin, 6’4” 225lbs, had a rude awakening when he found out in July that a Big Ten BCS school was withdrawing their offer that he received the offer 4 months earlier. Currently, Colvin has offers from Northern Illinois, Air Force, Bowling Green, Ball State, Memphis, Central Michigan and Wyoming but continues to hold out for that Big Ten perfect offer that he feels comfortable with. Minooka Coach Bert Kooi was quoted in the Chicago Sun Times, “We’ve all learned a lot about the recruiting process. He wants to play at the highest level. We believe he can. [Mid-American Conference] schools have recruited him as hard as anyone. But he is looking for a Big Ten offer.”

For players like Zach, who has many full scholarship offers, doesn’t have to worry too much about not getting any money, but he was humbled by realizing that the coaches list of prospects is a lot longer than he might think, and that coaches just can’t afford to wait around on one player for 4+ months. As important as the decision on whether to take the offer or not, it is the coach’s job to put together a winning team, and who knows if they wait for you and you end up saying no, they could be missing out on someone else on the same level. Time is something that needs to be thought about a lot in athletic recruiting and if taken lightly, may cost you a scholarship offer.

A former Indiana Wesleyan University baseball player, Brandon Beachy, made his first start on the mound this past week for the Atlanta Braves. This marks the first baseball player from IWU to play at the Big League level. To learn more about him and Indiana Wesleyan please click here.

Beachy threw four and a third innings and allowed only one earned run. Prior to starting for the Braves, he was named the Atlanta Braves Double – A Pitcher of the Year. Brandon graduated from Indiana Wesleyan in 2008 and he marks just one of many who have gone on to play professionally after playing at the NAIA level.

As the competition for scholarships continues to increase, it’s more important than ever that a student-athlete’s recruiting information be made available to as many people as possible.  What good are impressive athletic and academic credentials if they don’t end up in right hands?  Thanks to some recent improvements to the Network, it’s easier and safer than ever before to share your NCSA Recruiting Profile with friends, recruiters, coaches and anyone else who might be able to help with your recruiting process.  An NCSA Profile is available to anyone, and is FREE to create, so why not take advantage of such a terrific recruiting tool?

Don’t have a Profile?  Click Here

Need to update your Profile?  Click Here

By following these three suggestions, you can maximize the likelihood that your recruiting information will end up in the hands of someone with the ability to offer you a scholarship.

Take Advantage of Social Networks!

Social networks have quickly become one of the hottest ways for coaches to discover and/or evaluate potential recruits. Thanks to a feature recently added to your NCSA Recruiting Profile, you can now make your Profile readily accessible via Facebook.  All you need to do is hit the “Like” button located on your recruiting profile, and your recruiting information will be instantly available in your Facebook feed. 

Hint:  To Find the Like Button, just look on the bottom left of the Recruiting Profile.  Take a look at this example Here.  If you are logged in to Facebook, all you have to do is push the button once.

If you’re already on a coach’s recruiting radar, there’s a good chance he is already doing research by looking at your Facebook profile.  Why not show him you are a serious student-athlete by posting your Recruiting Profile on your page?

If a coach hasn’t yet discovered you, Facebook provides just another way to expose potential coaches to your information.    Finally, it’s a great way to show off your skills to your friends and family.

Start an Email Campaign!

There’s no easier or more efficient way to distribute information these days than by targeted email campaigns. Email your NCSA Recruiting Profile to anyone and everyone you think might be able to help spread the word about you, and encourage them to forward it along to anyone who they think might be able to help with your recruiting.  Family and friends (and family-friends) can be your best allies during the recruiting process, and these people are often the most anxious to share your Profile.  Be sure to email your Profile to both your high school and club coaches, to ensure that they remain updated on and active with your recruiting process.  Lastly, of course, be sure to email your NCSA Recruiting Profile to college coaches. There is nothing to be gained by narrowly focusing your email campaign, so take advantage of both NCSA’s Recruiting Network and your personal network to maximize exposure to your Profile.

Hint:  To Easily Email the Profile you can click the Share Button in the bottom left corner.

Share the Old-Fashioned Way!

Although the internet is probably the way that you prefer to send and receive information, many athletes attend events where physical copies are needed to distribute.  Print copies of your NCSA Recruiting Profile, bring them to every camp, combine and other recruiting event that you attend, and distribute them to every coach you possibly can.  Coaches realize that hand-delivering a copy of your Profile requires more effort and interest than it takes to simply post your Profile online, and this can often help a coach connect a recruit’s face with his or her information.    

Hint:  Click the Print Button in the upper right hand corner of the Recruiting Profile.  The next screen will display cleanly laid out, one page profile that you can print for event distribution!

Are you waiting around to be discovered?  If so, you are bound to get passed up by other recruits who want that scholarship more.  I encourage ALL our readers to try at least one of the above suggestions immediately and stay ahead of the competition.

Coach Taylor,

My son is a junior in the middle of the recruiting process. He’s had contact from schools, but hasn’t received as much interest as we’d hoped for. My son’s high school coach has relationships with some colleges in the area, but hasn’t done much to market my son to these schools. Shouldn’t a high school coach be a bigger part of the recruiting process?

Thanks,

D. Folan

You should never rely too much on a high school coach to help your son or daughter during the recruiting process. Although high school coaches would love to see their student-athletes receive scholarships, these coaches typically lack the time and resources to help you maximize your recruiting potential. Your coach has a job and a family to worry about, leaving him with little time to help.  Plus, the average high school coach has personal contacts with fewer than five colleges, and most of these tend be local. Remember that your son’s coach is likely being asked to help nearly every player on his team land a scholarship, including all sophomores, juniors and seniors, so helping any individual player will rarely consist of more than a phone call or an email.

The reality is that success in the recruiting process is about casting a wide net and exploring all potential options. There are more than two thousand schools in the country that can offer your son a scholarship, and your high school coach likely has connections with only a tiny fraction of these. Why limit your options by relying on your coach’s small, local network? If you want the help of an interested and well-connected person to help market your son, expert recruiters at NCSA will dedicate their time and use their extensive network to ensure that every scholarship opportunity is explored.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

You can also get your questions answered directly by contacting an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.

Coach Taylor,

My daughter is a very good soccer player, and has been asked by a Division I school to be on the roster for 2011. The new coach claims to have no money to offer for athletic scholarships in 2011, but says my daughter might earn one next year. Is this common, or should we hold-out for a scholarship offer from another school? By when do we need to make a decision?

Thanks.

K. McRorey

Your situation is a very common one.    If a coach can convince a student-athlete to attend his school without a scholarship, he retains the ability to offer a scholarship to another star player who might come along, and so many athletes like your daughter are recruited without a firm scholarship commitment.   It might also be the case, however, that the coach has already offered all available scholarship money to other athletes, in which case the coach’s hands are basically tied  . As I’ve said before, situations like this one are when negotiation is such an important part of the scholarship game.

The more choices you have, the more leverage you have.   Continue to contact any schools from whom you’ve received interest, and gauge the probability that you’ll receive a scholarship offer.   If Coach X is willing to extend an offer, use this to convince Coach Y to offer a similar or better scholarship offer  . Once you’ve made use of any and all leverage, evaluate your options.    If you can afford to pay tuition for a year in hopes of landing a scholarship, choose your initial option.    If you are dependent on the scholarship immediately, evaluate which offering schools are your best bet.

Although there’s no perfect date to make this decision, delaying too long can cause you to lose a scholarship.    Schools want to receive commitments from the best scholarship athletes they can as quickly as they can, so you can lose an offer by waiting too long.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org

You can also get your questions answered directly by contacting an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.

Hi Coach Taylor,

I’m concerned because my son hasn’t received any recruiting letters or calls. He is a senior and has participated in three summer camps. If he doesn’t receive any letters, will he be able to try out for a college team? He received some attention at camps this summer, but now I’m afraid he’s being overlooked. What should we do?

Thanks,

R. Phillips

Great question. There are a number of different ways to approach this problem. If your son hasn’t received any recruiting letters or calls by this point, he is very behind in the game.  The good news is that if he is athletically and academically qualified he has time to find the right fit, if he works hard.

First, you need to determine if your son is a realistic candidate to play at the college level. While this lack of interest from coaches could mean your son lacks the talent necessary to play beyond high school, this isn’t always the case. I would suggest you immediately fill out a Recruiting Profile with NCSA, and work with their experts to determine if you’re qualified for a scholarship offer.

It’s also possible, however, that coaches simply haven’t had access to your son’s recruiting information. I would recommend your family immediately begins work on a professional highlight video to showcase your son’s talents. Next, you should aggressively distribute this video and any other recruiting information to every possible coach you can contact. Although most student-athletes have developed relationships with coaches and recruiters by their senior seasons, it’s not necessarily too late.  Joining a Recruiting Network like NCSA, could help him make up for the lost time.

Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org