’07 DL Bryon Robinson, 6’3 300 lbs. (KC AFL)
’11 QB Justin SolttiLare 6’3 190 lbs.
’12 RB Brandon Wright 5’9 210 lbs.
’11 WR Ellis Krout 6’4 200 lbs
’11 DB Marcus Wilson 6’3 210 lbs
’13 DE Devin Hardy 6’3 275 lbs
’12 DE Chris Hayes 6’4 255 lbs
’13 QB Chris Cummings 6’4 240 lbs.
’14 DE Rob Schulgen 6’4 270 lbs.
’14 OG Jacob McManus 6’5 310 lbs.
NCSA Recruiting Expert Charlie Adams caught up with high school coach Ron Rushing this week to chat about recruiting, Ron’s views on recruiting, and what Ron has seen from NCSA so far.
Coach T- What is the most effective way to search for colleges?
Great question! Many student athletes have this same problem! Searching for colleges can be overwhelming and difficult at times. However, every athlete and their family can take advantage of NCSA’s College Search Map!
There is nothing else like it! With one click you can evaluate a list of schools in a preferred state or region and link directly to the critical information about each. It allows athletes to filter their search by several preferences and find all the schools that offer their sport based on that criteria. Researching college programs that offer your individual sport has never been this easy!
Everyone can access this free tool. Both free unverified members and NCSA Verified Recruits in our recruiting network can log in to their recruiting management system and access this powerful tool.
If you are in the Network, want to become a part of the network, athlete or parent, LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE and join the Athletic Recruiting Network on Facebook!
Coach T- What is the “Recruiting Funnel”?
The “Recruiting Funnel” is a philosophy my staff and I used during our days at UCLA and Minnesota.
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!
If you are in the Network, want to become a part of the network, athlete or parent, LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE and join the Athletic Recruiting Network on Facebook!
I had the opportunity to speak to parents and athletes at the Schuman NUC Football Combine in Lafayette, Louisiana. I had three conversations that shed valuable perspectives on recruiting and the college athletics/academic experience that you can benefit from. First, former LSU All American Linebacker Trev Faulk was there as a Camp Instructor and Motivational Speaker and had some powerful insights on how to use athletics to build a successful future.
former LSU star Trev Faulk
Faulk was a six foot three inch 241 pound linebacker in the SEC that was twice 1st Team All SEC and 2nd Team All America. He was so good that he earned starting status as a true freshman just a few games into his freshman year. In the rugged SEC, that is saying something! Character-wise, he is the only player in the history of LSU football to carry the honor of permanent Team Captain as a true sophomore. Academically, he went in with a game plan to nail his Educational opportunities and not just be one of the players who barely stays eligible.
“I knew that LSU would get everything they could out of me as a football player, and I knew I was going to give them everything,” Trev told me. “I also knew I had to get things that would benefit me. I went in with a plan to try to graduate in three years. My cousin (NFL player) Kevin Faulk graduated from LSU in 3 ½ years. I talked to some people and got an outline. I went to Summer School. I took “X” amount of Hours in the Fall and “X” amount of Hours in the Spring when it wasn’t in in the season. I took more Hours then. I balanced in Electives with the tougher Business classes so it wouldn’t be too strenuous all at once.”
Faulk graduated in 3 years with Honors and a degree in Business Management. He was thinking long term. Although he was good enough and had the God given body to play in the NFL, he only played there for five years. He was done with football before age 30. “I was fortunate that God allowed me to be able to play as long as I did,” said Trev.
Faulk is a tremendous example of a true college student-athlete.
“Everyone wants to be successful,” Trev told me, “but few are willing to pay the price.” Not every athlete is willing to run that extra 100 in the heat, or get off Facebook or off the phone with their girlfriend and get to studying. You have to do the little things right all the time, and most importantly you have to take care of your business in the classroom. You have to give your best effort. An old coach of mine told me you are either getting better every day or getting worse.”
NCSA Athletic Recruiting is the Recruiting Education Partner of events like Schuman NUC. I spoke to the families about what it takes to have successful recruiting experiences, and asked Trev for his insights on recruiting.
“The biggest thing is to get out there,” he said. “There are so many kids that have the dream and the goal to get to the next level. Realistically, not everyone is a Division One player, but there are other levels that play as well. It is important to be honest with yourself and realistic. Research as many schools as you can and get to Camps and Combines. Ultimately, focus on your business in the classroom to make yourself more attractive to the schools.”
Trev Faulk speaks at Schuman NUC Combine with Charlie Adams
Now, onto the second and third perspectives on recruiting. While at the Schuman National Underclassmen Combine, I talked with Natchez (MS) Cathedral Head Football Coach Ron Rushing about some of the Myths of the Recruiting Process. Rushing played College Baseball at Division Two power Delta State. Like many other good players, he thought the Colleges would chase him when he was a High School standout.
“Out of High School,” Coach Rushing told me, “I threw out 21 of 22 baserunners and hit .517 and had to walk on at Co-Lin Community College. One of the biggest fallacies is if you can play you can sit there and they will find you.”
Coach Rushing as observed how some of his families have had success with exposure.
“99 percent of the calls I get from College Coaches is about kids in NCSA or another one of the sources they use,” said Coach Rushing. “It is professional and creates a lot of interest.” To seen an example
While at the Combine, I also talked with Ryan Gregory, who played College Football at Louisiana College. His story was eye opening.
“I was being recruited by a few D1’s,” Ryan told me. “Schools like Southern Miss (where Brett Favre played), Tulane and Louisiana Tech (alma mater of Terry Bradshaw). They led me along in a way. I never looked much at smaller schools. On Signing Day Tulane decided not to offer me. I had heard of a D3 named Louisiana College and it ended up being the perfect fit for me. I got a great education, and they allowed me to help coach my senior year when I was injured. A lot of athletes don’t think D3’s give out scholarships and it is true that they don’t give athletic money. LC was able to give me more academic money than any D2 was able to, so it worked out. I tell kids today to go where they want you, not just where you want to go.”
As I speak on the Recruiting Process, it is always valuable to get perspectives from people like former D1 star Trev Faulk, current High School Coach Ron Rushing, and former D3 player Ryan Gregory. It is my hope that you can learn more about recruiting by the experiences and perspectives of others who have been there, so that you can find the right fit for your athlete.
Charlie Adams
NCSA Educational Speaker
cadams@ncsasports.org
The American football community is close to losing another valued and storied member. Tom Martinez, one of the most successful football coaches and private quarterback coaches in history, is gravely ill. Following a long battle with diabetes, Martinez announced Sunday that he has been given roughly one month to live.
Coaching at College of San Mateo in CA, Martinez was one of the most successful community college coaches in the country’s history, with over 1,400 career victories. He won multiple awards and is a member of both the football and basketball coach’s hall of fame. Bill Walsh, Dick Vermeil, John Madden, Walt Harris, and many others have also coached at CSM.
On top of his amazing coaching career, Martinez is well-known as one of the top private quarterback coaches in the nation. He has coached the likes of Tom Brady, JaMarcus Russell, and John Elway.
News of Martinez’s prognosis brings a veil of sadness over the entire American football community. The sport of football is better for having him and he will be sorely missed.
Coach T-What tips can you give me for writing an initial email to a college coach?
If you are initiating contact with a college coach via email it’s important to make sure you include all the necessary information. You want to let the coach know that you are interested in their school, pass along all your contact information, your athletic resume, and provide the coach with your schedule so he can come see you play.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when constructing an email to a college coach:
1. Most every coach now relies on e-mail to both contact and receive contact from potential recruits. That is the preferred method of communication. To find out the e-mail addresses for the coaches you are looking to contact, simply go to the college’s athletic website and look for a staff listing of names and e-mails or ask your Recruiting Coach.
2. Be brief. Coaches at all levels receive dozens and dozens of e-mails/letters from high school-aged players. All you are trying to do is show you have interest, pass along all of your contact information, your resume, and provide each coach with an upcoming schedule of your matches so he can see you play.
3. NEVER HAVE ONE OF YOUR PARENTS WRITE TO A COACH. You are the one the coach might be recruiting, so he/she wants to hear from you directly. (If the relationship develops and it appears that you might be attending that college, they’ll be plenty of time for your parents to have contact with the coaching staff.)
4. Provide contact information for yourself and your coaches. Nothing is worse for a college coach than to have to track down your coach’s e-mail or phone number. By having both an e-mail address and a phone number listed after his/her name, it allows for the college coach to quickly e-mail or call your private and/or high school coach to follow up.
5. Always include basic information about yourself such as grad year, high school, athletic history, GPA, SAT/ACT scores. Tell the coach why you are a good fit for their program.
6. Do not send a form email that starts out with “Dear Coach” and does not mention anything specific about his/her program and school. The bulk of your e-mail will be kept the same for correspondence you send out to various coaching staff; however a portion of it should be personalized. Bring in something specific about it that you learned by going through the website. State your interest in the school and specific reasons (like “my Dad went to Madison and I want to carry on the tradition” or whatever fits you personally)
7. Detail is important! Be sure that you use spell check and proper English. This is a reflection of your ability. You may send your letter to NCSA to revise.
If you have any questions or want more tips feel free to contact an NCSA Recruiting Coordinator at 866-579-6272.
If you are in the Network, want to become a part of the network, athlete or parent, LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE and join the Athletic Recruiting Network on Facebook!
Everybody knows there are lots of schools out there, but few people know where to get started. NCSA not only gets you started but gets you all the information on how to contact these schools. I knew my daughter had talent and with NCSA we received many invitations to schools and tryouts, she picked the ones she wanted to attend was offered a scholarship at a school where she was comfortable, liked the coach and liked her chances of getting playing time. She is happy, excited and very much looking forward to her college experience! As her dad I can honestly say I owe that all to NCSA. Thank you very much we could not have done it without you guys!!!!!!!
- Valerie Perez
I think your site is an awesome one, filled with plenty of resources to help with the recruiting process. My son and I really appreciate all the help from the crew at NCSA!
- Daniel Elder
The main reason for such a great score is the fact that the site was very helpful to me and the opportunity to work with previous professional players or great college coaches. I believe in NCSA. I would love the opportunity to come back again and work harder!
- Chandler Register
NCSA is an excellent way to organize the entire recruiting process and guide a person that’s completely new to the process. It was extremely helpful and I told all my friends about it.
- Derrik Starrett
I’ve been a part of NCSA for almost a year now and I’ve helped recruit two of my teammates already. I’ve also told a lot of other people about it. I think that NCSA is a very good way to get my name out there and into the college world to be looked at by college coaches. Overall, NCSA is awesome!
- Nick Davis, 2013
If I did not have the help of NCSA, I would not have the chance to be in contact with coaches I never would think to be interested in me!
- Shelby Barnett
I have been very pleased on the response and help during this process. My parents and I had no idea how to proceed but you have made that very easy for us and taken the stress out of it for me.
- Holland Craise
If you are in the Network, want to become a part of the network, athlete or parent, LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE and join the Athletic Recruiting Network on Facebook!
Think this might turn off a college coach?
I listened as College Coaches from all levels shared their observations about Parents, Recruits and trends they are observing in recruiting. Dan Tudor, nationally known for working with College Coaches to help them with their recruiting strategies, held his annual National Collegiate Recruiting Conference in Nashville.
NCSA Recruiting Expert/Speaker Charlie Adams
Besides speaking, I had the opportunity to listen to the Coaches. The group included Coaches from all levels of College Athletics, from schools such as the University of Missouri, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Belhaven, Emmanuel College, Swarthmore College and many others. During one session the Coaches met as groups and came away with these current trends in recruiting athletes in 2011-12:
A growing Sense of Entitlement among many High School athletes that are being recruited or that are playing College Athletics.
1991 Heisman winner Desmond Howard came out with strong comments about the growing sense of Entitlement among athletes when he spoke at the Black Coaches and Administrators Convention in May: “The way these coaches recruit these kids, they make them feel like they’re the cat’s meow, that the program can’t move forward without them at the school,” Howard said. “When you recruit them that hard, then you gas them up on who they are. You give that guy a sense of entitlement.
“I was told by a giant, Bo Schembechler, that no one man is bigger than the program. Not even (Schembechler). He was larger than life. For me to sit there and this guy tells me nobody’s bigger than Michigan, that’s all he had to say.”
Howard told the St. Petersburg Times that heavy coverage of recruiting has young players in the spotlight before they’ve accomplished anything significant in college.
“I’ll give you a perfect example: Michigan fires coach Rich Rodriguez,” said Howard, who starred at Michigan from 1989-91. “All the noise in Ann Arbor is, ‘Is Denard Robinson going to stay or leave?’ I’m like, ‘Hey, if the kid wants to go, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. You looked fantastic for five games against nobody. That’s what you did.’ I’m not going to deny his talents, but, ‘You ain’t won nothing in Ann Arbor, son! Not so much we need to worry about if you’re going to be here next year or not.’ ”
NCSA Educational Speaker Derrick Mayes, who was a standout receiver for Notre Dame and who jokes that his fingers are still bent from catching passes from Brett Favre in the N.F.L., travels the world to speak about the recruiting process. He shared these observations: “My in response to the growing sense of entitlement among some young athletes: It’s so ironic that as I ponder this very idea, I’m over in Europe spending some unbelievable quality time with the DoDDS High School student athletes, whose parents serve our country in the Military abroad. I see just the opposite of entitlement issues over here - humble, respectful, hardworking. It’s no wonder that the military’s children have so much “pre packaged” virtue & discipline. Perhaps our pampered “stateside” student athletes should take a look at their counterparts across the pond, who have a fraction of luxuries, resources, or – sense of entitlement.” Derrick Mayes, NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Educational Speaker
Continuing on with what the College Coaches say are developing trends in Recruiting that they have observed recently:
The athletes keep getting younger that the College Coaches are looking at or that are contacting the College Coaches.
Many athletes’ parents have been spending a lot of money on Club, Travel Ball, AAU, Strength and Speed Training, and things of that nature and they expect a return on their investment in terms of significant scholarships.
NCSA Senior Recruiting Coach Joyce Wellhoefer, a former D1 Softball Coach, had these insights:
“When I was coaching six years ago all that was the same as far as “entitlement” and parents over the kids hand holding. They would go on the Visits and not go with parent groups but stay with the kid on everything (pretty soon they will be staying the night with the kid on site 
in the dorm! The only thing that I have seen as a bit of a change is that signings for Softball have been earlier than six years ago. Now almost all D1 & top D2 schools have commitments of junior year or younger.
But that is so true with parents spending so much money on clubs, travel, private lessons and many expect the ‘full rides’ I also had a hard time getting the Junior College athletes as they were getting full rides and then to come play D1 where I was at I could only give them 1/2 or less as I was not a fully funded program.” Joyce Wellhoefer, NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Senior Recruiting Coach
The Official Visit is now the Unofficial Visit as many athletes are committing early before they can even take Official Visits in their senior year of High School.
Official Visits vs Unofficial Visits
Parents are more involved than ever before in Recruiting and many are saying things to College Coaches such as “We are taking the SAT’s” or “We made it to State this past season.”
For more on the Parents Role in Recruiting
Many athletes know all about texting their friends but their phone communication skills are weak, which hurts them in recruiting
NCSA Recruiting Expert and Speaker Othello Henderson, who played football at UCLA and in the NFL, says: “Student-athletes need to realize good communication skills, whether in person or over the phone, are an essential part of obtaining athletic scholarships. The recruiting process is not the time to act shy or stand-offish, especially when it comes to coaches and scouts. Being respectfully articulate is key. Unless a coach or scout initiates, using the same colloquial rhetoric they do with friends may not be the smartest form of conversation.” – Othello Henderson, NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Educational Speaker
“I see the weak phone skills with our kids. That is one reason I am not a big advocate of the facebook. When I work with NCSA kids I treat them like I am recruiting . I call their cell phones (sometimes Mom or Dad to get some things) but I try to get more time with them alone because that is what College Coaches want and expect when they are recruiting them.”
Joyce Wellhoefer
NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Senior Recruiting Coach
At the Conference one of the top Softball Coaches in the country was talking to me about things she looked for regarding character in athletes. In that sport, at certain times, all of the athletes are in the dugout together when the team is at bat. She said one thing that would turn her off is the talented athlete that comes into the dugout, sits down, and yells, “Mom!! Red Gatorade! NOW!!” She says that happens more than you would think. Scratch that kid off the Recruiting List…
It was funny how she said it, but she had a point. On the other hand, she said the kind of player that really jumps out at her is that center fielder that goes out the outfield calmly but firmly giving instructions to her fellow outfielders, and saying something along the lines of, “Nothing gets past us to the fence!” College Coaches want that kind of determined, respectful young person that has a fire within. That kind of young person is competitive, sets high standards, and is a leader.
There is a great need for athletes and families to be educated on what leads to a successful recruiting experience.
Charlie Adams
NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Educational Speaker
cadams@ncsasports.org
