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!

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For Immediate Release, May 3rd 2010

The National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), a nationwide college athletic recruiting organization, has partnered with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) in an unprecedented move that signifies each organization’s commitment to further education and opportunities for all student athletes.

NCSA has earned the reputation as the most trusted source for college athletic recruiting education, data, and technology for collegiate coaches, student athletes, and their families. Now, the collaboration between the two organizations will allow members of the NFLPA to take an active role in supporting NCSA’s efforts to empower all students who are looking for more opportunities through athletic scholarships.

Through NCSA’s “College Recruiting Simplified” seminar program, an impressive list of current and former professional athletes, coaches and sportscasters work as educational speakers for NCSA. Super Bowl Champion Derrick Mayes, four-time Pro Bowler Blaine Bishop, and 1990 All-Decade team member Levon Kirkland are among the former NFL players currently traveling the country to speak to student athletes about their own experiences with college and professional recruiting.

This mutually supportive relationship with the NFLPA has resulted in NCSA becoming the largest employer of former NFL players worldwide. According to Director of NCSA’s Speakers Bureau and former Dallas Cowboy Izell Reese, “NFL players are the ideal candidates to educate the next generation of student athletes on the importance of the college recruiting process.”

“As an active professional athlete, you are always conscious of life after football,” added Reese, who also serves as Vice President of the NFLPA Retired Players Atlanta Chapter. “Working with NCSA has provided a meaningful career that allows us to interact with kids and educate them on the recruitment process through our personal experiences.”

The NFLPA will also lend its support to NCSA’s National School Lunch Program, which offers extended recruiting services to student athletes who show extraordinary promise but may not have the financial means to support their dreams of playing college sports. The outreach program is available for student athletes who qualify for the organization’s free recruiting services and also receive “reduced or free lunches” at their high schools.

“The partnership for us is simple,” NFLPA Director of Retired Player Andre Collins said. “We see NCSA as a premiere company that not only enhances the college recruitment process, but serves as an essential and advantageous resource for all student athletes.”

As an athlete, you are busy, and even if there is a test prep class in your area it can be tough to find time to drive out there and participate. With Revolution Prep’s Premium Instructor (Online) test prep classes, you can learn from your home, at the library, or even in between practices and workouts. And if you miss a class – don’t worry, you can always watch a recording of the missed session at your convenience. (more…)

Coach Burdette from Kenyon College found time for NCSA to let recruits know a little more about their baseball program and recruiting. Here is what he had to say:

 1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

I would describe myself as a player’s coach because I have walked a mile in their shoes. I went to a selective academic Division III institution, much like Kenyon, and competed at a high level on the baseball field. I understand the trials and tribulations they are going to go through on a day to day basis and throughout the four years.

2. What is unique about the experience at your school?
I truly believe that Kenyon is unique in the fact that it is a national campus, very selective academically and has been a tremendous baseball program. Not many places are able to offer all of that in one package.

3. What do recruits need to know about you?
Recruits need to know that I will ask them to be first-class in the classroom, on the field and in the community. In that same fashion, the baseball program will be run in a first class manner – from the way we run practice, to the schedule, equipment, uniforms and attitude we bring to the park every day.

4. What do you look for in recruits?
Recruiting at Kenyon encompasses the three major pieces that I’m sure all colleges have: academics, finances and ability to play baseball. However, my focus has to begin with the academic side because of the selectivity, and then it’s about how passionate and talented the student-athlete is playing the game.

5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?
Market yourself. I can’t possibly see or know about all the talented student-athletes that are out there but I will track down any lead that comes my way. (Call, Email, Video, On-Line Questionnaire).

6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?
I like recruits that are fearless – guys that are not worried about depth charts or the rigors of the academics. So questions that pertain to how successful they can be and not worried about how difficult the challenge might be.

7. What turns you off when you are recruiting a student athlete?
One turn-off is when a student-athlete remarks how he doesn’t like his coach or that his coach doesn’t know what he’s doing. Another big one is when the student-athlete is disrespectful to his parents.

8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?
Our program is about 100% graduation rates, scoring runs and winning big games. We have had some tremendous victories over some big-time programs and we want to continue our ascent to elite status.

9. Why should a recruit consider your program?
A recruit should consider Kenyon because we care about the entire student-athlete. It’s not all about wins and losses, although we want to win all the games, but more about developing a great player, great student and great person.

10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?
Contact me via e-mail (burdettem@kenyon.edu), phone (740-427-5810 – office), mail (Baseball Office, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022) and fill out our on-line questionnaire (http://www.kenyon.edu/). Also send video if you have it and a summer showcase/game schedule.

We appreciate Coach Burdette’s time and effort in putting this information together. Feel free to reach out to him to learn more about his program by using the information above.

Patrick Dayton has been nominated our NCSA Baseball Student-Athlete of the Month for September. He is from Archer City, Texas and graduates in 2010. Patrick is a 6’0” 180 pound infielder who was named to the All-State Honorable Mention Team as a junior after hitting .500 in 54 at bats. He was also named to the All-Area 1st Team his first two years of high school hitting .394 his freshman year and .438 his sophomore year.

If you can believe it, Patrick excels more in the classroom. He has a 4.34 GPA on a 4.0 scale, is ranked #1 in his class, and scored a 1460 on the two-part SAT (including a perfect 800 on the math section). On top of baseball and academics, Patrick’s math and science teams have placed in the top 6 in four different math and science competitions. Patrick is looking to study engineering in college and NCSA is very proud to name Patrick Dayton our NCSA Baseball Student-Athlete of the Month for September.

I speak with 30-40 families weekly about college recruiting and I’m amazed at the lack of knowledge of the APR – Academic Progress Rate. Here is a very long article that is a must read for any parent of a 9th grader, or older, who has aspirations to play in college. It details the 4 stages of penalties for athletic programs that the NCAA imposes should their athletes not make progress toward graduation. If you have questions, go here.

In our July 21st newsletter we wanted to know if you had any questions about recruiting. Here’s one:

Q: What are the minimum standardized test scores you need for a D1 school?

A: Individual college admissions vary depending on schools. For example, a highly selective, ivy league type school generally only admits students with scores of:
SAT: 
   Critical Reading: 690+
   Math: 700+
ACT: 31+

Whereas a less selective school would only require scores of:
SAT:
   Critical Reading: 460+
   Math: 450+
ACT: 18+

Admissions also put into account GPA, class rank, extracurricular activities, and writing samples so these numbers are only a generalization.

In regards to NCAA Division I scholarships, in order to be eligible to receive one, the NCAA has a sliding scale of requirements. The higher one’s GPA is, the lower their test score must be and vice versa. For example, a student with a 3.0 GPA needs an SAT Composite score of 620 (Critical Reading + Math) whereas one with a 2.0 GPA has to earn a 1010 to be eligible. The minimum GPA to be eligible for an athletic scholarship is a 2.0 with the minimum SAT score being 400. You can view the full scale here.

With how competitive college recruiting has become, potential student athletes need to be able to siphon through the pitches offered by smooth talking recruiters and be able to pick out legitimate interest. In order to help recruits better understand their chances at actually joining a program that has shown interest in them, University of Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall has suggested that early offers by college coaches should be eliminated reports Jeff Sentell of the Birmingham News.

[Edsall] doesn’t believe [schools] should be able to offer scholarships in any sport until September 1 of a recruit’s senior year. That’s when an academic transcript should be able to point to them being able to tackle college classes first, and college football second.

“You can’t admit a kid to a school without a junior year transcript and a test score,” Edsall said. “Why should football programs be able to commit to a kid in his junior year without an SAT score?”

He wants to deter kids from early commitments.

“What we are teaching kids is their word and our word doesn’t mean a thing,” Edsall said. “A kid commits and de-commits and then a program can go back on a previous offer once they have the players they need at his position. I’ve heard of coaches that offer kids having never seen them on film. They offer because everyone else is and want to get in the game. I’ve heard about coaches who offer a 150-200 kids a year.”

Would it hurt if Mr. Super Recruit committed in September of his senior year? It might help. Does a kid who is verbally bound to a big-name school bang out that extra rep in the weight room when his future is secure?

“Some kids, you tell them they they’ve got a scholarship, they don’t work as hard, and they don’t develop into the player you thought they’d be,” he said. “A lot of these 16- and 17-year-old players are not mature enough to handle all this attention. It is too much attention.”

He believes an early signing period to be a must should things continue to go unchecked. He believes the high school coach is being left out of the recruiting process. He believes secondary violations wouldn’t be so popular if schools lost the right to woo players they didn’t recruit according to the rule book.

It’s great to see a college coach (especially on who has rebuilt a program back into a contender) understand that there are more important things in a player than 40 times and bench press maxes. He knows that maturity and an ability to handle the stresses of college life are what can make or break an athlete.

From a recruit’s stand point, Edsall brings up a good point about the legitimacy of offers. Athletes have to keep themselves educated about how interested a school really is. A recruiter can offer the world but you might not be first in line. That’s why it helps to have experienced professionals in your corner to help guide you along the way, to help you set realistic goals and to educate you in the recruiting process.

Last week, April 15th to be exact , marked a significant recruiting ”first down measurement” for football players in the class of 2010.  It was the first day that they could receive phone calls from DI college football coaches.  While the date that a college coach can call a prospect for the first time varies depending on the sport and level of play…that initial phone conversation is a big step in developing a recruiting relationship.  Unfortunately, many prospects have no idea what to expect from that phone call and we figured this was a good time to shed some light on how prospects in ALL sports can prepare for a phone call from a college coach…Before we get into what a recruit can expect from a phone call from a college coach, here are a few important ideas to keep in mind:

- The first day a college coach can call a prospect is not always the first time they have spoken on the phone.

• As we have pointed out many times in the past, prospects are able to call college coaches at any time. The prospects that are farther along in the process might have already made phone calls to college coaches and spoken with them prior to the initial period which makes it permissible for a college coach to call the prospect. In cases like this, the phone call might go a little differently than for the prospects who are speaking with a coach for the first time.

- By the time the first day a college coach can call a prospect rolls around, many student-athletes already have offers!

• This is very important to realize. DI college coaches in just about every sport have already begun to offer scholarships to 2010 (junior) graduates…and some might even be finished recruiting the class of 2010 completely. This has all taken place and coaches haven’t even been able to call them yet in some sports! This should be a strong indicator of how early college recruiting takes place and why freshmen and sophomore year are so important in the process.

- Know the dates for your sport!

• The first thing every recruit should do is to learn when a college coach is able to call them for the first time. Although April 15^th happens to be the first time a DI college football coach can call prospects, we realize many of you do not play football…so find out that date for your sport. If you are unsure when this date occurs, be sure to download the “Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete” Here.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about some of the most common questions prospects can prepare for when speaking with a college coach.  Obviously every staff will ask different questions, but many will have an actual script of questions and topics to assist the coaches in their phone call…It might be a good idea to have a script of your own, or at least some answers prepared in advance.  Here a few of those questions as well as some advice for answering them:

Q:  How are you doing in school?  What is your GPA, test scores, etc?

Advice: Make sure you are always aware of your current academic standing.  Always know your GPA (both core and cumulative), class rank, and test scores.  Even if your GPA or test scores are lower than you would like, be honest with the coach and let them exactly what you are doing to improve.  Tell them you are receiving extra tutoring or taking a SAT / ACT prep class to raise your scores.  The worst thing a student-athlete can do is simply not know their academic information.  If you don’t know your GPA, what do you think a college coach will assume? (Hint…they are not going to assume you are earning straight A’s)

Q:  What are your strengths as a player?

Advice: Do not be modest here!  This is your chance to shine and tell the coach what you do best.  Be informative and honest.  You have been working your whole life to develop these strengths…be proud of them and communicate their value with answers that consist of more than one word.

Q:  What areas of your game are you working to improve?

Advice: While this can be a tricky one, it is important to be honest.  Do not spend too much time discussing your weaknesses, but rather let the coach know how your off season workout is going to address those areas and how you are going to turn them into strengths.

Q:  What are your goals for the upcoming season?

Advice: This is something every student-athlete should think about.  We encourage student-athletes to set measurable goals and write them down to hold themselves more accountable.  Make sure to mention both team and individual goals.

Q:  Do you think you are capable of playing at our level?

Advice: Always Yes!  Explain why you think you can compete at their level or what you are doing to ensure you would be an asset to a team at any level of play.

Q:  What improvements have you made over the past couple of years?

Advice: Focus on things you have done to improve your game over the years.  Do not be afraid to tell the coach how much better you are now than a year or two ago!

Q:  What type of scholarships are you looking for?

Advice: This is your chance to bring up financial issues if they will be a determining factor in your decision making.  Be open to options and always ask about other types of aid besides athletic scholarships.  Never directly ask for a scholarship, but rather let the coach know what sort of impact that need will have on your decision.

Q:  What are your interests or hobbies?  Do you have a  girlfriend, boyfriend, etc?

Advice: This is the coach’s attempt to get to you know you on a personal level.  Remember, in many cases, these coaches are many years older and they are doing their best to relate to the prospect.  Let the coach know more about you!  This will help you connect on a more casual level and also give the coach something to ask you about next time you speak.  Have some fun with this question!

Q:  Who is going to help you make your college decision?

Advice: Let the coach know who will be a part of the decision.  Will your high school coach play an integral role?  Will the decision be made by you and your parents?  Are your parents involved?  This information will greatly help the coach understand who needs to be included and involved.

***This is the million dollar question***

Q:  What other schools are recruiting you?

Advice: Let them know who else is interested…and be honest!  If the coach finds out that many other schools are recruiting you then you will immediately look like a better recruit.  Try to let them know about schools that are similar to the one you are talking to.  For example, if you are speaking with the coach at Yale and you have heard from four other Ivy League schools, make sure you go into detail about their interest.  No coach wants to lose a recruit to a rival school.

This is your chance to show off how wanted you are by other coaches with the hope that it motivates the coach you are speaking with at that time to take action.  If you have offers, let the coach know.  In order to create this type of leverage, you must have a number of options.  If you are concerned about the number of options you currently have, be sure to expand your search and let more coaches know about you.

Q:  What questions do you have for me?

Advice: Be sure to check back next week when we explain what sort of questions prospects should be asking when they have the opportunity to speak with college coaches.  This is your chance to find out valuable information…don’t pass it up!

Last week Coach Randy Taylor took us behind the scenes of how a college coaching staff begins the process of putting together their recruiting boards.  If you were unable to read that article, I encourage you to check it out here.  This week Coach Taylor will take you inside a room that very few people ever get to be a part of, “the war room” and explain how college coaches make the decisions about prospects that will affect the future of their program…

We left off last week at the point in the process when the Recruiting Coordinator officially places a recruit’s name on “the list” in the war room.  As I mentioned, the war room is a highly secure office that contains the official list of recruits that all the coaches have spent months and years gathering and evaluating.  It is in this room that some of the most important decisions coaches ever have to make will be determined.

The centerpiece of every war room is “the list” which is essentially the official recruiting board that will be analyzed and vetted exhaustively by the entire coaching staff until the recruiting class is finalized.

“The list” is typically organized by position first.  Below each position is usually a list of 25-50 names or more depending on need and the number of quality players available.  The position needs are determined by the staff and next to each position will be a number dictating the quantity of prospects desired at each position.  For example:  Quarterback (1), Running Back (2), Full Back (1), Defensive End (4), etc.  This outlines how many commitments they would ultimately like to receive based on position out of the 25-50 total prospects listed.  When the dust settles, most “lists” have between 250-500 total names on them.

Within each position listing is another level of sorting by rank.  For example, the offensive line list will have groupings distinguished by color based on the coaching staff’s evaluation.  If I were coaching at Indiana, the top ranked linemen might be separated with a crimson color nameplate, the second tiered linemen in cream color nameplates, and white nameplates for the lowest ranked linemen of the 25-50 prospects at each position.

Once a list is done growing (which usually happens during a student-athletes junior year), the real battles begin as names are moved up or down the board and in the worst case, completely removed from the list.  Recruiting meetings can be all day marathons and often times can become contentious.

Why would a recruiting meeting with a staff become a source of disagreement? 

There are a number of reasons for this:

• 1) Need. In order to determine how many players will be recruited for each position, some coaches are forced to make concessions. For example, a defensive coach might challenge an offensive coach on the number of wide receivers on the board which will take away from the number of linebackers he can have. The head coach might let these discussions become heated before making the final decision after hearing arguments; the head coach has 51% of the vote.
• 2) Pride. Often times, an area coach will place the name of a prospect on “the list” only to have a position coach criticize the selection. This can elicit a defensive response from the area coach feeling the need to fight for his prospects. It is important to realize that an area coach is responsible for a certain geographic region and the more players that are signed from that location; the more successful that coach is considered.
• 3) Decisions.  In an effort to narrow down list, the head coach will ask the area and position coaches to defend their recruits or risk having the prospects they have spent months recruiting taken off the list…this is when a coach must jump on the table for a recruit.  With that in mind, the area coach better be prepared with transcripts, tape, etc in order to provide evidence of why their prospect should remain on the list.  Some coaches are more prepared than others and the head coach might schedule these meetings last minute which can make for some heated discussions.

Recruiting is a large portion of the livelihood of a college coach and when you are behind the closed doors in a war room; you are sometimes fighting for your career, so you can imagine how passionate those meetings can be.

“The list” is narrowed down as a prospect’s magnetic nameplate is removed from the board.  For a recruit, this is the worst possible thing that can happen.  There are a number of different reasons why a recruit would be removed from “the list,” but it usually happens quickly and unceremoniously.  After the decision is made, the nameplate is tossed into a box that the Recruiting Coordinator possesses and for the most part, the recruit is removed from all mailing lists and the game invite list, etc. by the recruiting secretary.  Essentially, the recruit is no longer discussed as a prospect. 

Randy’s advice:  Pay attention to communication patterns from the college coaches who have been recruiting you.  Recruits are rarely notified when they have been removed from “the list” and if mail and phone call patterns change, it means something!

Many of you are probably wondering, “What are some of the factors that coaches consider when moving names up, down, and off “the list?”

Great question!  Some of the topics are more obvious than others, but let’s run through a few:

• Academics. A thorough academic history is very helpful in determining the staying power a recruit’s name has on the list. The more prepared academically in regards to fulfilling core course requirements and core GPA, the better chance the prospect has to remain on the list. Even if a recruit has struggled in some of the core classes, it does not mean they will be immediately removed. However, if the coach is unable to gain access to proper documentation or notification that a recruit has intentions of improving their academic standing by taking summer school, etc. the student-athlete will not be given the benefit of the doubt. Do not ever hide or hold back the transcript. It is a red flag and can earn your nameplate a spot in the dreaded box of discarded recruits. Even if you are struggling, show the coach you are aware of the problem and have a plan to fix it. Make your academic information easily accessible. This will also give a college coach time to work with a recruit to put a plan together to stay on “the list.”

• Evaluation. Of course a significant portion of the decision to keep or remove a prospects name from the list hinges on the recruits athletic ability. With that in mind, make sure to have a quality highlight tape and at least one full game tape available for all coaches. Note – college coaches watch highlight tapes to decide if they want to watch a game tape! This film provides the area coach ammunition to defend an athlete’s place on the list. Without the film, a recruit is far more likely to be removed.

• 3^rd Party Evaluations. An evaluation by a trusted third party can go a long way towards keeping a prospect’s name on the board because it serves as a reference. Again, as an area coach puts his initial list together to bring before the rest of the staff, he is basically gathering evidence to state his case. This third party evaluation can add to the support and help the area coach defend the prospect.

• Parents! Believe it or not, a parent can be a main reason for a prospect getting dropped from the list. I recall one year that we were recruiting a top QB when we received a comment from the high school coach that the father might be a problem. Apparently the father was questioning play calling, challenging the conditioning, complaining to other parents, etc. We watched the father (almost as closely as the athlete) and ended up removing the recruit from the list because of the father’s actions.

These are just a few of the issues that can cause movement on “the list.”  While families do not often times agree with the decisions made by a coaching staff (especially when their son or daughter is taken off the list), I can assure you the process is not taken lightly and countless hours are spent debating and discussing prospects. 

While having the magnet with your name removed from the recruiting board is never an optimistic sign that you will receive a scholarship from that school, there will be a deliberation at some point about which dropped players could be valuable in a walk on capacity for the team.

One of the most difficult situations a head coach can put an area coach in is when he asks that they “keep the player alive.”  This happens when a recruit is placed at the bottom of the board and might be needed if other commits go elsewhere.  The area coach is forced to maintain contact with the prospect despite losing the help of the head coach or assistant coaches in the recruitment of that athlete.  The prospect will likely start receiving fewer letters and almost zero handwritten letters or phone calls from a college coach, but the area coach cannot lose the prospect in the off chance they are needed.  Much like the reason that recruits should cast a wide net of college programs, college coaching staffs need to keep a number of viable options available throughout the process. 

The reality is that every staff has a unique approach to the process of narrowing down their board, although most are relatively similar.  The key for every recruit is to put themselves in the best position by having everything a coach will need (transcript, video, measureables, etc) readily accessible and connecting with as many of the right schools as possible in an effort to ensure a place on an ample number of final recruiting boards.