NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Coach Taylor – What can I do now to improve my chances of being recruited? I am not yet meeting with coaches or applying to schools, but I would like to be as prepared as I can be.

Having a proactive mindset and asking these types of questions is a great start.

First thing: it’s never too early to start the process – the earlier the better. Visits to colleges will not generally begin until your junior year, but if you are committed to playing in college, you should start preparing as soon as possible. Many college athletes began in 7th or 8th grade. Some players don’t begin until their Junior year or later, but by then their peers who started early already have a big advantage.

Any safety in football knows to tackle a ball carrier after he makes a catch, but the very best are reading quarterbacks’ eyes, anticipating the throw, and jumping on the route. The recruiting process is no different. The more you can anticipate what’s coming and be proactive, the more successful you will be. While a smart play by a defender on the football field can mean a pick-six and a win, a smart play in the recruiting game can bring you an education and a whole different future. With that much on the line, why wait until the last minute?

The first step to getting a leg up in the recruiting game is learning the rules of college sports recruiting and getting a sense for the best ways to prepare yourself.

Learn about the camps, clubs, and combines that are available for athletes in your sport, and attend as many as you can. These are great places to build both your skills and your relationships in your athletic community – what they are not so good for is getting discovered. While college coaches do sometimes attend camps and combines, even a standout player will be a needle in a haystack of dozens or hundreds of other athletes who are also playing at a high level. Smart players will reach out to prospective schools; although coaches can’t contact you until later in your high school career, you can contact them at any time. Writing letters to coaches ahead of events can be a great way to get some exposure.

Develop your body. Think about where your weak spots are, how you need to develop, and what programs are best for you. You can work on your own, and there are specialized programs available for strength, speed and endurance.

Finally, being prepared academically is crucial. Practice for standardized tests and take college preparatory classes. Athletic ability is a consideration in the admissions process, but even the best athletes have to meet academic standards. Colleges take the “student” in “student-athlete” very seriously.

Get educated, build your skills, relationship and body so you can get at a level where you can compete. Then the real challenge comes: getting noticed.

Click or call (888) 333-6846 to talk to NCSA about more ways to improve your chances of being recruited.

“Have a Plan for Video!”

As a NCSA Speaker on Recruiting, this is a point I continue to hammer home. I continue to be amazed by how many families come up to me after a Talk and say they either don’t have video of their child in action or are waiting for their High School or Club Coach to get it to them. I hear this from parents of 11th AND 12th graders.

A well-done Video can open all kinds of doors in recruiting. A Video doesn’t mean “Presto Instant Scholarship Offer” but it can get the ball rolling, bring awareness to College Coaches, and do all kinds of amazing things. Yet, so many well meaning, loving parents continue to plop into the bleachers or folding chair and watch and support their athletes without making sure they are nailing the Video part of recruiting.

In today’s world of recruiting, it is important to have a well done Highlight Video and then the ability for College Coaches to see half or full game Videos. A Highlight Tape is usually just a few minutes long (a Big Ten Volleyball Coach told me once a kid has 3 minutes on tape to grab her…if that…and a College Football Coach told me he can tell within 60 seconds of a Video if a kid can play at his school). NCSA Recruiting Expert Phil Clarke says a Highlight Video lets a College Coach know “if you can get down or not!”

When NCSA speakers deliver College Recruiting Simpllified, we don’t just say “have a video” but to make sure it is a Winning Video. A Winning Highlight Video has your best stuff right off the bat. Pow! Grab ‘em! A Winning Highlight Video means you are easily identifiable. I know a young man from a tiny High School out in the corn fields that worked with NCSA on his Video. An arrow was put on him at the start of every play. College Coaches knew where he was when the play started, and on Special Teams this football player was unstoppable. Coaches saw his fire and literally jumped off their seats getting excited about his special abilities to find the kick or punt returners. It was because he had his best plays shown first and he was easily identifiable with that arrow. Don’t make a College Coach play Detective in trying to find you on Video, otherwise they may end up recruiting some other kid they spot on there! Unless you know the favorite music of the Coach, don’t put all that bumpity bump music on there. When Bob Chmiel was Recruiting Coordinator at Notre Dame and Michigan, he said he knew the Rocky theme song better than Sylvester Stallone!

When it comes to Video, you have to be educated on what makes a Winning Video in your sport. Baseball and Softball is more Skills tape. Okay, so what do they want on a Skills tape? Most Volleyball Coaches like Video shot from baseline while football and basketball is more from upper half court or 50 yard line.

Have a Plan for Video, especially when your child is a Varsity athlete, playing significant Club minutes or is very big or tall as a 9th grader or younger (College Coaches want to identify those kids as early as possible). Log your video over time. Know where your best stuff is on your Video. What NCSA can do is take this Video, sequence it in a way that grabs College Coaches, put an arrow on the athlete, and make it look good. Remember, you only get one chance for a first impression.

College Coaches are eventually want to look at full or half game video, often several different ones. A Highlight Tape opens doors. As NCSA Recruiting Expert Joe Burns says, a Highlight Video is like going to the Movies and seeing the Previews. A well done Preview, just a few minutes long, will get you coming back to the Movie when it opens in a few months. Same with a Winning Highlight Video.

Athletes always want to give full effort in games because College Coaches will watch everything to see how hard they go, how they bounce back, how quickly they make decisions, do they have a sense of other teammates on the field or court, do they let officials calls get to them, and on and on. How hard does a basketball player work to deny the passing lanes on defense? For part of a possession or all of it?

I was in Television News and Sports for many years. News Directors were College Coaches in the sense they used Video to identify prospects of Reporters and Anchors. A Reporter would put together a Highlight Tape of their best three stories to grab the attention of the News Director right off the bat. It often worked! It grabbed the attention of the News Director (the person that hires in TV Newsrooms). Then, the News Director would ask the Reporter to send many more stories…and even their most recent one. Or, they would pick a day, like Tuesday, and say send me the story you did on the News THAT day. What they were doing was making sure that Reporter did quality work every day. Same with College Coaches in looking at your full game Video. Yes, the Highlight Video perks them up and is important, but for them to dole out Scholarships, they are going to do some thorough digging, and if they see on Video that you don’t always “bring it” they can simply move on to the next quality kid on their recruiting list.

I am touching on just a few things on Video. It is a complex subject and one that families can use guidance on in recruiting. It seems daunting, and it can be, which is why NCSA’s team of Editors and Video Experts are there to help families make sure they nail this very important part of recruiting.

Well done Videos can open the doors to thousands of dollars in scholarships. Poorly done ones or average ones can close doors quickly. I sat in the office of a major college tennis coach and watch him skewer poorly done Videos. “Look at this,” he said. “They have the kid hitting forehands for three straight minutes! Where are the backhands? Return of serves? Serves?”

This was a family that was uneducated in how to put together a Winning Video. Always make Video a top priority in the recruiting process, and don’t wait around until your kid is almost done with High School until you get in gear on it! NCSA can provide valuable help, education, and resources to make a Winning Video.

To Talk with a College Recruiting Expert about How to Put Together a Winning Video click here

Stoke the Fire Within!

Charlie Adams

NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org