While most 9th and 10th grade athletes in High School are facing the typical challenges of 14, 15 and 16 year olds, soccer standout Ellis Whitt was dealing with something much more serious. His mother, Angela, was in a battle with Breast Cancer that would take her life during his sophomore year.
“Ellis went through a period of his life after that where he didn’t care about much,” said his grandfather George. “He missed his mother that much.”
NCSA Educational Speaker Charlie Adams
“Ellis was the oldest of her children,” said Becky, his grandmother. “Even though things were rough Angela was always there for him, even in the final two years when she was always in bed or the recliner and worn out. He would come in after school or a soccer game and plop down on the bed next to her and tell her about everything that happened. They were so close. She loved jelly beans and this one time she caught him sneaking out of her room with jelly bellies. Here she was, just 84 pounds at that point, and she was chasing him around the house!”
Becky laughed, and she cried, as she reflected on Angela.
“She was a good Christian woman,” Becky added. “She was always concerned about where he was spiritually, and would ask him not to listen to certain music. She was a concerned, loving parent.”
Soccer player Ellis Whitt of Bremen, IN
His grandparents took physical custody of Ellis and his two younger brothers. All of this happened as he was emerging as a potential top soccer talent. The Bremen (Indiana) High School student was blessed with remarkable speed and had all kinds of potential as a soccer player with the realistic ability to possibly be a College soccer player. He was a successful High School player but for any young person that is serious about becoming a College Soccer player, Club Soccer is critical for many reasons including skill development and caliber of competition. Ellis’ Club Tryouts with the NIFA Premier/Junior Irish U 15 team were just a week after his mother had died.
“I didn’t want to go,” said Ellis. “But my grandmother said I should and that if I wasn’t good enough to make it then I wouldn’t. In the end, I felt my Mom would want me to do it.”
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Roy Roelke, his Club Coach. “They had buried his Mom like three days before. I did not know that at the time. I saw a very quiet, removed kid and recognized he was nervous at that first tryout. He had raw, unrefined talent. He was very fast. I encouraged him to relax and he did well. Two days later, at the final Tryout, a lot of the kids were really nervous because this would determine if they made the team. I took him aside and told him I wasn’t supposed to do this but I told him he had already made the team. He got tears in his eyes and told me his mother had just died and that he really appreciated the way I had handled this.”
“His Coach took him under his wing,” said George, “and we appreciated that. It gave him that male presence that was so important for him at that time.”
“That first year he was very unrefined,” said Roy. “He hadn’t had high level coaching coming from a rural community. One of the things I told him was that if he wanted to play College soccer he would have to work on his weaknesses, and that is what he did.”
Ellis’ academics suffered during that time because he was so low.
“That is something we told College coaches later,” said his Grandfather. “They needed to know why his grades went down. Families have to communicate those kinds of things during recruiting. During this whole time his life didn’t settle down until his senior year.”
“His grandfather,” said Becky, “had been a Middle School Principal in Culver, Indiana. He went in to talk to his teachers, especially in Pre Calc. Sometimes people look at an athlete like Ellis, who is muscular and works out, and think he isn’t motivated as much academically, but George taught him that you have to talk with your teachers and not just assume they will come to you. That will serve him well in College because you have to have relationships with Professors.”
Deep into his junior season, Ellis was not being recruited much. He had played in Club Tournaments (TFA Cup in Cincinnati and the Scott Gallagher Tournament near St Louis) and his team won both, but nothing was coming from the College coaches.
“We were a good Club team,” said his coach, Roy, “but not a national caliber team and unless you play on the national scale you won’t be in front of a lot of College coaches.”
Although Club sports are very important, you cannot assume they lead to scholarships. College coaches go to showcase events and tournaments primarily to evaluate players they already have a relationship with, and not always to discover kids.
Then two things happened that are important in recruiting. Ellis and his grandfather came to hear NCSA’s College Recruiting Simplified in May of his junior year. Junior Irish makes the presentation possible each year at their huge Junior Irish Memorial Day Tournament that draws teams from all over the Midwest. I delivered the Talk in their big white tent. We had a bunch of chairs set up and I poured out the education and the inspiration! I felt like a Tent Revival preacher. Parents walking by the Tent to games came into the tent to listen to the powerful content of the 5 Things You Need to Know and the 5 Things you MUST Do in recruiting. Ellis and his grandfather listened intently. They later talked with NCSA Senior Recruiting Coordinator Doug Vose. Here are the observations Doug made during that talk with his grandmother:
“When I first spoke with Becky Irvin in regard to her grandson Ellis back in June, it was apparent fromthe beginning that Ellis was the sort of athlete that coaches dream of – he eats, sleeps and breathes soccer. Although Ellis is a talented athlete, it was clear that Becky was new to the concept of helping to navigate a student-athlete through the recruiting process. In June, Ellis was receiving mail from some schools due to his solid grade point average, but the family had only seen athletic related contact from one or two schools. The notion that many of Ellis’ peers of similar ability were already being recruiting was a foreign one for Becky.” Doug Vose, Senior Recruiting Coordinator, NCSA
Doug set up an Evaluation Call with NCSA Senior Scout Jenny Goodpaster.
I remember clearly the day I did Ellis’s evaluation after my colleague, Doug Vose, had set up the meeting. In talking with Ellis’s Grandparents, George and Becky, I could tell they really cared about finding the “Right FIt” for Ellis. Becky mentioned, when I asked, ‘what are you looking for in a college for Ellis?, she answered, ‘Jenny, we want the professors to know Ellis and have it be personal.’ I knew right then that it was about him being happy and getting a great education. That is what is important to me as a scout in helping families and changing kids lives. While soccer
is an added bonus, him searching and discovering a perfect environment to be for the next four year whiles he gets his degree is a true blessing. Albion College snagged a good one” Jenny Goodpaster, Senior Scout, NCSA
After that thorough Evaluation they then joined the NCSA family.
Wham! This unknown talent from tiny Bremen, IN was now in the data base of College soccer coaches.
“I hadn’t even started recruiting,” said Ellis. “I didn’t know where to start. As soon as I heard your message I got going. Being with NCSA made it so much easier. You don’t have to present yourself everywhere. The College coaches come to you. I had a lot of really good schools come after me because I was in the NCSA data base.”
The other thing that was pivotal was the involvement by his Club Coach. As I always say, it is not ‘the job’ of your High School or Club Coach to get you a scholarship, but there are many that do everything they can, like his Coach. Roy did have connections and one of them was Jerry Block, the Head Coach at Albion College in south-central Michigan. Jerry and Roy both had played for DePauw University (at different times) and knew each other from working camps. Roy let Coach Block know about Ellis. In this case it was the NCSA Profile and the Club coach working together that led to the right fit for Ellis.
“Coach Block loved my NCSA profile,” said Ellis. “The video really made a big difference and he liked that he could see exactly what my grades were.”
The video showed the amazing speed Ellis possessed as a Right Midfielder, Left Midfielder or Forward. NCSA’s Video team put an arrow on Ellis at the start of every play on his tape, making it easy for the College coaches to identify him. You can’t make College coaches play Detective trying to find you on a tape. Their time is too valuable.
“He is brutally fast,” said his Club Coach. Ellis was the Most Valuable Freshman Sprinter for Bremen.
“He has got some wheels,” said Jeff Schlicht, NCSA’s Soccer Recruiting Coach and former College Soccer player at Western Michigan University. Schlicht evaluated Ellis and got his information sent out to Colleges that were the right academic and athletic fit.
Ellis Whitt loves soccer and wants to play it at the next level
Ellis and his grandparents took three visits to Albion. “I liked that it was smaller and I felt very comfortable there,” said Ellis. “The guys on the team were all very nice. They’d let me know about the program and other things than soccer. Albion is 2 ½ hours from home so my family can come see me play. At first, I kind of wanted to go far off to College, but now I like the idea of being 2 ½ hours away.”
“I told him to invite us up,” said Becky. “They have really good food in that cafeteria at Albion! I really liked the Coach. He is a nice young man and I could tell he is a man of character. It is a beautiful campus.”
Becoming comfortable at D3 was a process.
“It took him a while to get there,” said his grandfather. “He had some contact with some D 1’s but didn’t get much interest from them. After talking with lots of people he came to realize he probably could land at a D1 or D2 but sit awhile. If he really wanted to play, he needed to look at D3. He really grew up through this process and came to draw his own conclusions.”
“People don’t understand how competitive D3 soccer can be,” said Roy, his Club Coach. “There are loaded teams with all kinds of kids that were All Conference in High School, Player of the Year in their Conference and State. People should go see Ohio Wesleyan play DePauw sometime.”
“I was surprised at how much talent they have at Albion,” Ellis, who was Offensive Player of the Year twice for his Bremen High School team, said. “I thought I would be one of the better players.”
Ellis went to two games and one practice during his three visits to Albion. It is so important that families take those unofficial or official visits. When you hone in on one school, visit again. Make sure it is the right fit.
Ellis is a young man that loves his sport, and couldn’t imagine being in College without being able to play it. Because of his speed, and how his skills have grown from his excellent coaching in Club, his dream is to play professional soccer after College.
“With all that happened to him,” said Roy, his Club Coach, “it would have
been easy for him to turn into a punk or throw in the towel, but he didn’t. He has faced a ton of adversity with the death of his Mom. I think his story should be shared in the newspapers and on the local TV News.”
His grandfather, George, is grateful they went into the big White Tent that day during the Junior Irish Tournament and heard “College Recruiting Simplified.”
“Without the information from that Talk,” said George, “we wouldn’t have known where to go. I had no clue. We are thankful his information was sent out through NCSA and his Club coach was involved. It really helped to have his video sent out. A lot of coaches called. The thing I noticed was since his information was verified it gave coaches something to look at that was concrete. They knew exactly where Ellis stood academically and with soccer skills. He had several options, but Albion College was the one that really, really cared.
Go where they REALLY want you, where there is funding, and where if you blow out your knee you will still love the College. That’s what I always tell audiences at College Recruiting Simplified.
Ellis says he wants to continue to get better to honor the memory of his mother. “I want to be successful so I can give back to my community in Bremen,” he said. “Maybe I can inspire players to go on and do more than I ever do.”
Ellis Whitt, honoring the memory of his Mother
The College Athletics Recruiting process is not just about trying to connect with a scholarship. It is about growing up and maturing. That’s what Ellis has done.
“At the funeral,” said Becky, “his maturity started to show. He and his twin brother had not had the best relationship up to that point. It was adversarial. He was the older brother who was the soccer star. They were in the background. But at the funeral the two younger brothers were crying so much, and Ellis went over to them and put his arms around them and held them. I saw that and I cried and cried. And ever since then he has helped them. He became that big brother.”
“He is respectful to us always around the house. If the driveway needs the snow shoveled, he just goes and does it. He listens to us. He may not agree with everything his grandparents say, but he is respectful when he disagrees. He knows what he wants. He knows it won’t be easy but he is going after it.”
Ellis has completed his freshman season at Albion, playing in nine games. Only 7 percent of High School athletes have what it takes to be a College student-athlete. Ellis is one of them…
To Talk with a College Scout about the Recruiting Process, click here
Charlie Adams, Speaker
NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network
cadams@ncsasports.org
