NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

There are many factors that go into nailing the College Athletics Recruiting Process and finding the “right fit” as a student-athlete. One of the most important is Playing Time.

How important is Playing Time to you? I was watching ESPN’s coverage of National Signing Day in College Football this past February. Former Florida Coach Urban Meyer was on and stated that playing time has never been more important than it is to the athletes of today. Driving to Indianapolis to deliver NCSA Recruiting  Education at a High School there, I happened to be listening to former College Basketball player and coach Dan Dakich on his radio show. He shared how, during his playing days at Indiana University, he was happy as he could be a season when he was playing a lot but they weren’t winning in a bigtime way. He then said he wasn’t as happy the next season when they were championship contenders yet his playing time had been cut. Not that he wasn’t a team player. He just wanted to be out there.

NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Speaker Charlie Adams

When delivering recruiting education, I often share the example of  Sarah Hall when it comes to the playing time factor. Sarah was a Gatorade Player of the Year candidate in Soccer in Indiana.  She was unanimous First Team All State and Player of the Year in her Conference. All kinds of D1 programs recruited her. Western Illinois got her. She told her local newspaper that one of the major factors was finding a place where she had the chance to compete for significant playing time as a freshman. As she put it, she “had to be out there” as soon as possible.  All athletes want to play but for some playing time is like oxygen. They have to have it!

Regarding playing time, it is important to know there are different levels of all divisions. D1 has the major powers like Florida, North Carolina, Stanford, the mid levels, and the lower levels. All D1, but different levels. At Western Illinois, a fine D1 University that would be more mid D1 level in athletics, Sarah has shot out of the gate right away, assisting on a goal against the University of Iowa and starting 3 of their first 5 games. It’s speculative, but had she signed with a Penn State, Ohio State or Boston College – all Top 25 women’s soccer powers – she most likely would not be seeing near the playing time early as she is as fellow D1 Western Illinois.

Sarah Hall, freshman at Western Illinois

The most important factor for Sarah is being a true student-athlete and majoring in Biology for her education, but she spent a lot of time thinking of how important playing time was for her, and that was a factor that Western Illinois was the right fit for her. Some kids are so bull headed that it would be “Big Ten or major D1 or nothing.” I remember talking to a Dad about his talented soccer son who was adament about playing major D1. A coach at that level reviewed his tape and clearly saw the athlete did not have the lightning quick reaction time required to play at the highest level of D1. He said he might get on the team, but would mainly be on the sidelines. Miffed to a degree, the young man did not even play college soccer and went to a major University to be a student.

Having done thousands of interviews with parents and athletes, and delivered many Talks, the thing that I have come to understand is that every athlete is different in what is important to him or her. You can’t get caught up in comparing your athlete to another on your team, or conference, or state. Some athletes, regarding playing time, are more motivated by being a part of a major program where they realize they may not play as much. For example, an athlete that grows up in Wisconsin and adores the Badgers may be fine with being a walk on in that program. Personally, is that the way I would go or agree with, no, but everyone has an internal fire and if it means the world to them to be a part of a program, then I get it. The thing is, if an athlete overshoots and gets with a bigtime program and doesn’t play much, then they can’t be squawking about lack of playing time. They have to be respectful of team chemistry.

What gets a lot of athletes into playing time hot water is their competitive nature. They are confident that if they go to ol’ State Power U that they will rise to the top and play early and often. It’s their wiring as competitors. For some, the right fit is where they will be challenged the most. They may end up their third best at their position, but they want to know inside that they competed against the very best.  It’s like when they are looking at programs. Do they want to go to an established program and help it get to another level or are they motivated by going to an up and coming program and helping it get to places it has never been. One problem with going to programs that have been losing most of the time is that an optimistic athlete can find themselves in a culture of losing and cynicism and suddenly have their love of a sport snuffed out. Not always, but something to consider when looking…

Many really good athletes today play year round and play a lot. They get into Club or Travel season and they are out there all the time. They play 90% of the time in their High School games, so for them it can be somewhat of a shock to get to big ol’ College U and suddenly find a 22 year old gobbling up their playing time. They may think they were prepared for it going in, but it is still somewhat of a shock to their system. That’s why it is important to spend a lot of time in thought about playing time and to discuss it with your parents and coaches along the way. Along the way they may say something like, “Your head would blow up if you weren’t out there competing,” which is a humorous way of putting it that you may want to look for places where the College Coach will give you a serious chance to compete early.

Closing in on turning 50, I am from a generation where a lot of High School athletes were pretty much fine with signing with a powerhouse program knowing full well they would pay their dues until junior season where they would play a good bit and then start as seniors. There used to be a day where there weren’t the scholarship limits there are today in D1 football, and powers like Alabama would sign every good player they could get, not so much to play for them but to keep rivals in the SEC from getting them. The 7th string running back for them at the time would probably be the first string star at Wake Forest. That 7th string running back was fine with that because, by golly, they were playing for Bear Bryant and the University of Alabama and they were part of a team that would probably play for the National Title twice in their four or five years there.

Regarding playing time, it is always best to connect with the College Coach that doesn’t promise playing time right away, but the one that says you will have every chance to compete for playing time early on. There is a difference.

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As always, I hope these perspectives have been helpful to you in finding the “right fit.” Share your thoughts and experiences below, as we all learn from each other.

Charlie Adams

NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Senior Speaker, cadams@ncsasports.o

Coach T – I am a Junior, QB but I am not getting much playing time at either QB or WR. How does that impact my chances of getting looked at by colleges? I am very frustrated about the whole playing time thing. My coaches say that they will put me in, but they never do. They also say that next year I will start every game…..Will I still be able to attract any D-1 recruiters if I only get one year of Varsity playing time? Do you have any suggestion about what I should do? I don’t want to wait and then find out that I should have either moved to a different school or what?

First, I never advise anyone to change schools. That’s too important for me to get involved in from far away.

As far as playing time goes. Not playing as a junior is tough, coaches are looking at the junior class to see who they’ll recruit as a senior. Is there anyway to get on the field as a starter at any position? You can switch next year to what you think is your position.

Whenever you get on the field you have to be a maniac…make every play, show great effort, etc. If you have to wait until this spring or next fall to be the starter you just have more work than others to get coaches to notice you but it can happen. There are late bloomers and sleepers that get noticed in one year.

However, know that college coaches are going to project you to a position they see you playing that may not be a position you even think of at this time.

Let it rip!

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Coach T – My son has recently received the attached type of letter from several colleges. Is this a pretty standard way for D1 programs to let juniors know that they are on their recruit watch list? Why did all of the letters just start coming in September? Is it appropriate for my son to provide a response, other than by sending his film?

This is almost identical to letters I’ve sent while on college staffs. It is a good thing that they have Randall on their list. Get as many of these letters as possible.

It’s also important to get handwritten letters. That shows that your sons on an upper level list.

Send a letter with the video or can you send it through email? Do what they ask in the letter, send important info to keep your son on their list and hopefully move up.

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!