NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Coach T- Should I go on an out-of-state “unofficial” visit if I’ve received a generic invite?

Great question! It really depends on your interest in the school and your family’s ability to afford the trip.  In most cases, unofficial visits are normally scheduled at the request of the student-athlete. Therefore, the fact that you have received an invitation, even if it was generic, is still a good sign that you are on their recruiting radar.

If you are interested in attending the school, unofficial visits can be a great way to express your enthusiasm to the coaching staff, experience the campus life a bit, and see how you would fit in as a player.

On the other hand, unofficial trips can be expensive especially if they require flying or travelling out of state.  If you would like to get a better idea of the coach’s level of interest before you commit to the visit, don’t be afraid to contact the coach and ask him a few questions! All in all, if you can afford the trip and it is one of your top choices, by all means go and enjoy the visit!

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 have had the opportunity to educate families in the beautiful state of Vermont recently about the recruiting process. Vermont Tech College has been the location of the Talks. While there I had the chance to sit down with their Athletic Director get get insights on recruiting. Jennifer Norton-Magnon is A.D and Head Women’s Soccer Coach at Vermont Tech. She interacts with a lot of quality student-athlete prospects in Vermont and all over that are interested in top education that comes from a Vermont Tech degree and the stunning beauty of the region the campus is located in. Many of them ask the right questions and have developed their athletic skills at a healthy rate. However, some prospects do some things that hurt themselves in the process, so I asked her to share observations that could help families and athletes in recruiting.

“Two mistakes athletes make,” she said, are asking ‘How much can you give me?’ right away in our first conversation or in their first email to me. You’d be surprised how many High School athletes ask about scholarships and such right away. If I get that in an email, I delete it right away. Or, they ask something like ‘Just how good is your program?’

“Another thing I am noticing lately is that more good female athletes simply don’t want to play their sport in College. I think it is a combination of things including that kids have been starting their sport earlier than ever and specializing in that sport. For some it is catching up and I am seeing more burn out. There is a girl here that was the leading scorer on her team and she told me she is done playing soccer.”

A mistake some families are making is that they are starting to do their sport year-round too early, and specializing in just their sport. In some cases that bites them in the rear as some athletes get to 12th grade and go, “I’m done…just want to be a regular student at a big University with football weekends…I’ll do my sport in intramurals.” On the other hand, there are many that have paced themselves the right way over the years, and some that are “unburnable outable” and that could play 24 hours a day and still be ready to play more. It is important those athletes make sure College Coaches know they have the passion, the fire, and really want to play for their College. It really helps to have a “Why” they want to play for that College. It could be the style of play, a specific major, or anything that lets that College coach know the recruit REALLY wants to be a part of them. An Online Profile can be a huge help in letting College Coaches know that you really want to play, and it is the best way to get all of your important information to them all in one location.  To learn about how to develop an effective online profile to let College Coaches know about your athletic and academic resume

I have always been a strong proponent of all of the positives that come from being a true College student-athlete, and being here in Vermont I heard an inspiring story from a young man who reinforced those positives. This young man has been on the Cross Country team at Vermont Tech. He came  here for a challenging major and his father told him there was no way he could be a varsity College athlete and handle the academics. For the first two years this young man listened to that, but being a competitor he went out for the XC team as a junior and had a very positive experience. He told me that his grades were the best during that junior season and that it was because he was more focused and managed his time better than his first two years. He know if he was going to run in practice he had to get everything done and his grades shot up.

Stoke the Fire Within!

Charlie Adams, NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org

To bring Recruiting Education to your School, Club or special Event

How much do you really know about College Sports Recruiting?  Remember, a good recruit can never be too educated on the recruiting process.  Contact an NCSA Recruiting Expert today at (866) 579-6272.

When is the first time a recruit is allowed to call a college coach?

Anytime.

A recruit is allowed to call a college coach as early as the recruit is seriously beginning the recruiting process and has a list of colleges that he/she is interested in.  Building relationships is one of the key pillars in a successful recruiting process.

When should a recruit start putting together a highlight video?

As soon as the recruit has Varsity level experience on film.

Coaches do not want to see film of pre-varsity levels because there is no sure-fire way to evaluate competition.  Until the student athlete is on Varsity, he/she should focus on researching colleges, working hard in the classroom, and working hard at their sport to improve.

Which of the following is NOT allowed during an Evaluation Period?

Home visit from a coach.

How many core high school courses must be completed in order for a recruit to be eligible to play Division I Sports?

16.

There is a set list of core requirements that any student athlete hoping to play in college must complete in order to be eligible.  To see these requirements, click here.

How many meals is a school allowed to pay for when a student-athlete is on an Official Visit?

3 meals per day.

Rules regarding what can/cannot happen on recruiting visits are often easiest to break and hardest for a recruit to remember.  Recruits must be well educated on what they are and are not allowed to do on a visit.

Coach T- What exactly is a “Quiet Period”? Can I still contact coaches during this time?

Though a “quiet period” can often be confused with a “dead period”, they are quite different. In a “quiet period” there can be in-person recruiting contact only on the college campus. While high school student athletes have some time off during the summer months of June and July, the NCAA allows recruits to make in-person contact with a coach only on that coach’s campus. Therefore, the student athlete must visit the school to meet the coaching staff during the “quiet period”. College coaches cannot watch you play or visit your high school at this time. However, keep in mind, a coach may be able to write or call you during the “quiet period”.

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- Can I use my athletic scholarship towards the cost of books?

You always want to get the answers to these questions before you commit to a school and avoid violating any NCAA Rules! If you have received the maximum athletic scholarship it can be used towards the following:

• Cost of tuition
• Fees
• Room and Board
• Books (Up to $600 per semester)

If you have any charges or expenses in excess of the maximum scholarship awarded you will be responsible for paying them. For example, most schools do not allow student athletes to use athletic scholarship funds for off campus housing. Additionally, athletic scholarships cannot be used for health insurance, laptops, or student refunds.

Whether you have a full ride or partial athletic scholarship make sure you know exactly how your scholarship is allocated. Don’t be afraid to get the answers to all your questions before you commit to your school of choice!

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!

When speaking on the College Athletics Recruiting process, I will sometimes have parents come up to me after the presentation and say something along the lines of, “Well, my child may not play their sport in College so that they can focus totally on Academics.” They are concerned that playing a Sport will take too much time and will cost them in the classroom.

NCSA Speaker Charlie Adams

I understand where they are coming from, but in today’s world I ask them to reconsider. In the hundreds of Talks I have delivered on Recruiting, I have had countless Company Owners and Business Leaders come up to me afterwards and say, “I tell my H.R. people to be on the look out for that resume from that College athlete from a respected school that has a solid to strong GPA.”

For almost a quarter of a century, I interviewed thousands of College and High School athletes as a sports anchor across America. I tell people the most impressive was Vanessa Pruzinsky, and they often go, “Who is she?” Vanessa was an All Big East soccer player for the University of Notre Dame. They play at the highest level, with 3 National Championships in the past 15 years. It takes a major commitment of time and energy to play for them, yet during the time she was excelling on the soccer field, she also maintained a 4.0 GPA in Chemical Engineering all 4 years at Notre Dame.

When I say that, audiences often gasp. Many know how viciously hard Chemical Engineering is as a major.

She was the first student at Notre Dame since the 70’s to finish with a 4.0 in that brutal major and the 3^rd in history, and certainly the first to do so while playing a sport. As a result, when she graduated, companies desperately competed to hire her. They knew they had a chance to bring someone in who was bright, incredibly disciplined, and who would help them immensely. She had her pick of all kinds of options.

Companies and organizations want and need the DNA of true College student-athletes in their culture. Notice I didn’t write College athletes but “true College student-athletes.” These young people bring the ability of time management with them. To be a true College student-athlete they HAVE to be able to manage time or they won’t make it. They also are fierce competitors. I was watching a documentary on University of Florida men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan and he recalled that when he graduated from Providence University being told to look into Wall Street “because they really like to hire College student-athletes because of how competitive they are.”

College student-athletes are leaders. They have overcome adversity. They understand team concepts. A football team requires all 11 players on the field to be in total unison to have success, and those 11 often come from totally different communities. At the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, there is a powerful presentation in their Stadium Theater where at the end Archie Manning narrates, “He may be from Brooklyn and I may be from the cotton fields of Mississippi, but there is a bond that brings us together…” Those athletes, when they go in the work force, are able to bond with their new teammates.

Former Notre Dame QB Terry Hanratty, who finished in the Top Ten of the Heisman race twice, once told Blue and Gold Illustrated that his success in the financial world in New York City came primarily because of being a College athlete. At quarterback, he had to make split second decisions, and then put them behind him – good or bad – and move on to the next play. That background helped him excel on the trading floor.

I was delivering a sports motivational and recruiting message for an audience at Purdue University Calumet and was standing in the Waiting Room with other speakers. Staff members at the University were also in the room, and several times a leader would come in and ask them to move chairs in a room or do something similar. In each case this young woman would bounce up, roll up her sleeves and be the first down the hall to do the job. When she came back I said to her, ‘You played College sports, didn’t you?” She looked at me in a surprised way and said, yes, she did. I told her that I could tell by how she initiated action and was such a team player. She told me she had played Volleyball at a D3 school in Illinois that, frankly, I had not heard of  but she had all of the important measureables employers look for in someone that will move up the organizational ladder. She was about 23 at the time, which was several years ago. I bet she has moved up to a leadership position by now.

Being able to deal with the stress and pressure situations of 21^st century work life is very important. As Coach Taylor says, College athletes have already been yelled at! That is a funny line but so many new employees that have not been in athletics are over sensitive to criticism or being in pressure situations, and struggle in the professional work field.

This isn’t to say non athletes can’t be successful, but I am basing these insights on all of the Company Leaders that have come up to me and told me there is a growing trend to hire true College student-athletes. If you have the ability to play your sport at any level in College and get a degree, strongly consider it. By doing so you are branded in a positive way for the next 40 years.

Practically gone are the days of the security of working with one company for 40 years and then getting a gold watch and plaque at retirement. In today’s world academic success is still very important, but having the competitive intangibles that come from playing field hockey, soccer, cross country, basketball, or any sport at the College level are in many ways just as important, if not more. The book Athletes Wanted by Chris Krause is a tremendous resource with extensive interviews of Company Leaders on why there is this growing trend to specifically hire College student-athletes. I encourage you to read that book to better understand how to put your child in position to play their sport at the right school and then be in position to be a leader in life.

So as you look forward, I urge you to reconsider going to College simply as a student. In a few years you don’t want to be at a disadvantage to that young person who also did well academically in College AND played a sport.

To Talk with a College Recruiting Expert Now to Learn How to be Recruited Click Here

Charlie Adams

cadams@ncsasports.org

(Editors Note: To bring Charlie Adams to educate your parents and athletes on the recruiting process, contact Alex Horton at ahorton@ncsasports.org)

Each week Coach Randy Taylor, NCSA Recruiting Expert, receives hundreds of recruiting questions from student athletes, parents, and both high school and college coaches.  Just recently, Coach Taylor received an email from both a high school coach and mother of a young prospective student athlete with questions concerning the recruiting process and NCAA rules more specifically. Having seen a number of her student athletes go on to play at the collegiate level, she felt confused and misled by some specific advice: “Start the process early!”.  Take a look at the email exchange below to see why Coach Taylor is convinced the recruiting process starts early!

Hey Coach Taylor -

I think your advice on “When does the recruiting process begin” is a little misleading. I know that prospects in football and basketball are looked at an early age (I have a 15-year old student who’s 6’8″ and 300 lbs., who’s getting a lot of interest from major D-1 football programs, but he knows he can’t talk to them.

But NCAA rules are pretty clear that until an athlete completes his/her junior year, he or she may not have contact with a college coach. This seemed to have been left out.

I’ve had a dozen athletes get D-1, D-2, D-3, NAIA, and D-3 scholarships, and I think it’s important that kids know the rules.

Best,

Mom of Student Athlete

Dear Mom of Student Athlete,

Thanks for writing and I appreciate your comments but am convinced that starting early is very important!

The NCAA has made 7th graders recruitable student athletes in men’s basketball.

We offered an 8th grader a scholarship in my tenure as a recruiting coordinator. It was done through the coach.

Athletes can contact college coaches at anytime, they can take unofficial visits, attend on campus events and camps. Every sport is different as well including college football where a coach can call a prospect between April 15 and May 31st during their junior year.

These are great ways to build relationships which is the key to recruiting. If a coach gets to know an athlete early that athlete has a better chance of getting the spot on the roster or a scholarship or a better financial aid package over another prospect due to that familiarity when most other factors are equal.

College coaches are identifying prospects at a younger age more than ever before because they have the internet, social media, etc. The 3rd party which includes the high school coach has the ability to get information on prospects to college coaches earlier and easier. The 3rd party also includes, NCSA as well as, camps, clubs, showcases, combines, etc.

Every sport has its 3rd party which make it easier for college coaches to find and track prospects. This helps the athlete too. I tell families to make it easy for a coach to recruit them.

As a 30 year veteran of college recruiting we started identifying athletes as early as possible. We believed in being first at everything. We wanted to be the first to send a questionnaire which is a key to the inside of a college coaches database. Once a coaching staff gets a questionnaire they have to do something with the prospect. Even if it’s to reject them.

Camp brochures are also a great way to contact a freshman, sophomore or junior. Some coaches even will send handwritten notes (staying within the rules) with the camp brochure and questionnaire.

If a staff is good at recruiting they will also get the university to send generic campus information to young athletes which is also legal.

The rules are very important to use too. We make the “Guide for the College Bound Student Athlete” available to everyone we can and promote it’s value to understanding the guidelines. In fact, we give out the NCAA’s information to get one and have a text number, 411247 a family can text the letters “ncsa’ to and download one through our website. This link came from our blog for anyone to get the guide http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/CBSA1.pdf

At the very least we make the athletes aware that 9th grade English and Math, etc. are as important as 12th grade. We want them to understand that the recruiting process is going on around them and that they shouldn’t let it happen to them. Start thinking of themselves as prospects and act like it. Be proactive.

Character is another factor in this process and our message addresses this often when we talk to athletes and their families. Colleges have to live up to the Academic Progress Rating (APR) these days and can’t afford to not get to know prospects as well as they can.

I hope this helps describe mine and NCSA’s belief in this idea. It is important to start early for many reasons.

One last thing, when you get a chance check out the Recruiting Management System (RMS) for high school coaches we just unveiled to assist you with the process. Go to https://recruit-match.ncsasports.org/hsrms/users/sign_in and see how this can help.

If interested I’d be glad to talk more about this with you. My cell number is below.

Thanks for this opportunity to give you our philosophy on starting early.

My best,

Coach Taylor

Thanks for your response, Randy.

It’s still impermissible for an athlete to speak to an NCAA coach until he/she has completed her junior year of high school.

Why in the world would any school offer an 8th grader a college scholarship? That simply makes no sense.

Best,

Mom of Student Athlete

Dear Mom of Student Athlete,

If I’m a 9th or 10th grader (or 7th grade for that matter) and call a college coach I can talk to this coach for as long as the coach will stay on the phone.  Check out the “guide for the college bound student athlete” or NCAA Manual, they both mention that a prospect/student athlete can call a college coach at their own expense.

13.1.3.2.2 Telephone Calls Initiated by Prospective Student-Athlete at His or Her Expense. Institutional

coaching staff members (see Bylaw 13.1.3.4.1) may receive telephone calls placed by a prospective

student-athlete at the prospective student-athlete’s own expense at any time, including before July 1

following the prospective student-athlete’s junior year in high school. (Adopted: 1/10/92, Revised: 1/10/95,

8/14/02, 12/12/06) COPIED FROM NCAA MANUAL

If I go to a college campus on my own dime I can talk with every college coach on the campus all day. In fact, a 9th grader can ask for 3 complimentary tickets to a university’s home game and get them and while at that game they can meet with the college coach. These are called unofficial visits. Also in the “guide” and “manual.”

13.7 UNOFFICIAL (NON PAID) VISIT

13.7.1 Number Permitted. A prospective student-athlete may visit a member institution’s campus at his or

her own expense an unlimited number of times. A prospective student-athlete may make unofficial visits before

his or her senior year in high school. COPIED FROM NCAA MANUAL

What is impermissible is the college coach contacting the athlete prior to the specified date depending on sport and grade.

Offering an 8th grader may be a stretch but it’s happening in basketball, football and other sports. Aren’t the top gymnasts in the world high school age? The young man we offered was drafted in the NFL after a very successful college career.

Hope this helps. If you want to talk more let me know.

Coach Taylor

As always, please feel free to send any and all of your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org.

Coach T- Can I combine my athletic scholarship with an academic or outside scholarship?

Yes! Though college coaches have a limited number of scholarships to offer their recruits, most athletic scholarships are not given as full rides like basketball and football. Recruits are often offered partial scholarships and many coaches will work with the college financial aid office to see if the student athlete qualifies for some other form of financial aid. Then, the student athlete can combine both the academic or outside scholarship with their partial athletic scholarship.

If you have received both a partial athletic scholarship and qualify for an academic scholarship you may combine these funds only if you meet certain NCAA guidelines and maintain the required GPA to get the academic scholarship each year. Many colleges require that the student meet one or more of the following criteria to qualify for an academic scholarship: 3.5 core GPA, 25 ACT or better, 1200 SAT or better, or rank in the top 10% of your class. However, these requirements can vary depending on the school.

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!