NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

What is the National Letter of Intent?

The NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student athlete and an NLI member institution

• A prospective student athlete agrees to attend the institution full time for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters
• The institution agrees to provide financial aid for one academic year 

Penalty for breaking this contract

• Student athletes have to serve one year in residence at the next NLI member institution

• Sit out for one season of competition in all sports

What is Signing Day?

• Signing day is the day you actually sign the NLI

Does every division 1 and 2 athlete sign an NLI?

• Most people will say that every D1 and D2 athlete will sign an NLI, but this is not the case.
• It is not so much about being in a certain division as it is whether or not the school is a member of the NLI program.
• There are 600 schools who participate in the NLI program
• All D1 schools are involved with NLI except for service academies and Ivy league.
• A majority of D2 programs participate in the program
• No D3, NAIA, Prep schools or 2 year colleges participate
• For a complete list of schools who participate in the NLI, visit the NCAA’s website (more…)

“Jeremiah 29:11 is the scripture I am looking to in all of this,” said college basketball player Aubrey Minix. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Aubrey has transferred from D1 to D2.

“I never thought it would go this way,” she told me, “but it is what it is…”

She was one of the best shooters in basketball mad Indiana. She was all-state at Oregon-Davis High School and helped the Bobcats claim the Indiana Class 1-A state championship in 2007. Aubrey set a state record for three-pointers and was the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,606 points. Incapable of burning out on the sport, she grew up shooting 1000 shots every day, doing High School and AAU, and doing personal training.  When she got an offer from D1 Murray State she accepted a full athletic scholarship. Aubrey red shirted her first year and played in just five games this past season, scoring one basket. She decided to transfer to Division Two University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, IN.

NCSA Recruiting Expert/Speaker Charlie Adams

“I want to play,” Aubrey told me. “The Coach here at Murray State didn’t think I could play with a foot injury (originally suffered in High School) so I got my release and looked at a lot of D2′s. To go D1 I would have had to sit out a year and I didn’t want to do that again. USI plays in a Conference that has many D1 caliber players.”

When an athlete transfers from D1 to a lower level, they can be eligible the next season, so she will have three seasons left.

There are D1 type players at practically every level of College Sports, especially D2 and high NAIA. When I spoke at a big Club Volleyball event, a Grand Valley State (D2) Volleyball coach told me he often gets calls from Club Volleyball Coaches saying “they have a great D2 prospect for him.” He quickly asks if the girl can play D1 because at Grand Valley they recruit against D1′s like Western Michigan and Ball State for recruits. He said 95% of families have never been to D2 Volleyball matches and generally don’t understand how competitive it is.

I spoke at the Goshen (IN) Noon Kiwanis Club to educate their members about scholarship opportunities. Goshen College (NAIA) Athletic Director Tim Demant is a member of the Club and heard my presentation. We talked afterwards.

“Every athlete has these D1 dreams,” said Demant,” and many are good enough to be on a D1 team but a lot get there and not get a lot of playing time. You then see them transfer to a D2, NAIA or D3. Two big reasons are the playing time and also you hear them speak of “being owned” at that level. One athlete talked about having to practice on Thanksgiving Day at the her D1 school and not being able to get home to family.”

“We see it a lot in baseball,” added Demant. “We put offers out and the players think this magical D1 offer is coming. We tell them in a nice way that if they have not received a D1 baseball offer by the start of their senior season they are probably not going to get an offer of their liking at that level. Many families don’t realize that their athletes can get a pretty good package at the NAIA level of a combination of scholarships that will rival D1 scholarships.”

Aubrey had several reasons for transferring after two years at Murray State (which is in Kentucky). “All of the coaches at the University of Southern Indiana went there to USI,” said Aubrey. “They are invested. They are there for a reason. They like it and there is a real family atmosphere there. The team chemistry at Murray didn’t help. There was a lot of animosity and it showed in our records. I never lost that much in my life (they were 9-21 this past season).”

She is giving up a full athletic scholarship at D1 but still doing well. “For me, I am getting a full ride here,” said Aubrey. “At D1 they have up to 15 full scholarships. At D2 in basketball there are 10 total. USI has five returning players and seven coming in prior to me but several of those are on academic money (D2 mixes scholarships). Basically, the scholarship I have here is what I had at D1 Murray State.”

Transferring is never what an athlete sets out to do, but it can often be fairly painless. Her coach at Murray State, Rob Cross, was very complimentary of her in remarks to the Murray Ledger and Times newspaper.

“I’m happy she’s getting to continue her education and play basketball at Southern Indiana,” Cross said. “I wish things had worked out better for her here. I have a lot of respect for her and think she’ll do good things.

“Most of the teams in that league have three or four Division I transfers on their rosters. I think it will be good for her and good for them.”

Absolutely. There are D2 programs that can beat lower level D1′s. There are good players at every level of college sports.

At every High School I speak at, I arrive early to ask the Athletic Directors what are the major challenges they face with families regarding recruiting. In virtually every case, the number one thing they bring up is that many of their families and athletes have unrealistic expectations of where they can play at the college level.

LaPorte High A.D. Ed Gilliland told me that he often see’s cases where an athlete may be “LaPorte good” but that doesn’t mean it will transfer to “D1 good” at the next level. Families and athletes often fall into the trip of being a big fish at a little pond and not realizing there are a lot of other really good fish out there.

As NCSA Recruiting Experts and Educational Speakers, we go all over the country and see the talent out there. I spoke at a Schuman NUC Football Combine in the Norfolk, VA area. There were some REALLY good players there. A few weeks later I spoke at the Schuman NUC in Indianapolis. I told the families about those good players in Virginia and in many cases they are competing against them for scholarships, not just the kids in their conference or state.

Shelbie Jones was a standout pitcher for Mishawaka High School. As a junior she threw five no hitters and three one hitters at the 4A level of High School sports, winning a school record twenty two games at Mishawaka High. She  signed to play at the high NAIA level with Marian University in Indianapolis. She is a tremendous pitcher, and it just goes to show that there is talent at all levels of college sports.

Ben Davis is a massive High School in Indianapolis that produces many college athletes every year. A good chunk go D1 but also to other levels. Courtney Clark, a pitcher and third baseman, is playing for Ancilla College, a Junior College. Clark hit .427 as an eleventh grader.

It wasn’t unrealistic for Aubrey Minix to shoot for mid level D1 coming out of tiny Oregon-Davis High. She had the credentials. Her opinion of how much she should play and her Murray State coaches decision of playing time were different, and she made the decision to move on. She has invested so much in developing her remarkable basketball skills that she wants to be out there on the court. She has three precious years remaining so she wants to make the most of it while finishing her degree in Education. In her research on D2 she learned that it is very competitive. I would say that more than 80% of the High School athletes I speak to at High School Talks are not capable of playing at the D2 level in College. It is probably closer to 90% that wouldn’t be able to play D2, but a lot of them think they are D1.

It is CRITICAL families get a realistic evaluation of where they will fit best as a college student-athlete. This evaluation should be done early. It can change as the athlete physically matures, but a properly done evaluation can lead to a fulfilling college career where the athlete does not have to interrupt their college experience by transferring.

Send me an email with a description of your athletic and academic accomplishments and I will make sure you get an Evaluation with a Senior College Scout at NCSA.  cadams@ncsasports.org is the email.

To bring a NCSA Educational Speaker to your School, Club or Event to educate families and athletes on the recruiting process

Here is a good story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper about why athletes transfer

Charlie Adams, NCSA Recruiting Expert/Senior Educational Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org

Here is Aubrey’s Player Bio at Southern Indiana

UPDATE: Just before Christmas 2011, the Detroit Lions signed former Benton Harbor High School Tiger Joique Bell to a 2 year contract. As I write down below, Joique made it to the NFL via Division 2 in College Sports. That story plus powerful recruiting wisdom from a High School coach that played at the D1 level.

NCSA provides recruiting education and motivation at Benton Harbor (MI) High School. Head Football Coach Larry Jackson and I spoke about recruiting before speaking there. Jackson played at Fullerton Junior College, where he was an All-American running back.  Following two years at Fullerton, he transferred to Michigan State University, where he became a two-year letter winner football and track and field. Jackson holds a Bachelor of Science degree from MSU. Jackson and his wife, Rhonda Jackson, have two sons. He cares deeply that High School athletes maximize their opportunities to use their athletic ability to get a college degree.

NCSA Recruiting Expert Charlie Adams with some of the athletes at Benton Harbor HS

“Charlie, it is important that young people know they need to start the recruiting process early especially regarding academics,” he said. “They need to know about Core GPA and to research Colleges and know their entrance information.” In the halls of Benton Harbor High School there are signs that tell the minimum ACT scores needed to enter various Universities, which I thought was helpful information to students.

“Athletes today think the recruiting process just happens,” said Coach Jackson. “Many of them also don’t understand how disciplined they have to be in academics. They have to be on top of things because they are competing against thousands of athletes for scholarships.  Families also have to know the FAFSA and fill that out. A lot of parents don’t even get into that.”

Coach Jackson helped to set up the event for athletes of all sports and their families. He made sure coaches from school were there so they could learn more about recruiting. Even though he had played major D1 football, he was there to learn more about how recruiting is today, and he left with copies of “Athletes Wanted” so that coaches could use it as a resource.

In College Recruiting Simplified, NCSA Speakers thoroughly go over everythings families need to know and that they must do to maximize scholarship opportunities. At the April 19th Benton Harbor Talk I mentioned that 11th grade football players that were truly on the D1 radar should have received a phone call starting in a April 15th window. Sure enough, Coach Jackson said a couple of his D1-projected players had received a phone call earlier that week. That’s a strong sign that they can realistically play at that level. A school like Benton Harbor, which has produced the likes of Wilson Chandler of the NBA and Joique Bell of the Detroit Lions, is going to have more D1 prospects than a smaller school.

One of the best Benton Harbor football players in recent years was Joique Bell, who nailed the Evaluation Process and the College Sports experience. In High School Bell excelled in football as a quarterback with remarkable running abilities. He also played basketball helping the team to a #11 national ranking, placed seventh in the 110m hurdles (14.9) at the 2005 state track meet, and also participated in baseball. He served as a team captain in football, baseball and track.

When it came to recruiting, D2 was the best fit. He signed with Wayne State and rushed for 6728 yards as a 6’1″ 223 pound running back, 8th most in NCAA Football history. He won the Harlon Hill trophy (D2′s Heisman) as a senior and was a 2 time Captain who graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice. He is now a member of the Detroit Lions in the NFL. A major reason why is that he PLAYED in College. Had he gone to a higher level College that wasn’t the right fit that might not have been the case and his NFL dream could have died. His ultimate goal is to use his degree to serve in the FBI.

Benton Harbor H.S. grad Joique Bell of the Detroit Lions

Joique Bell got it right. He has set himself up for the next 40 years. To make sure you have an objective evaluation of where you stand in the recruiting process set up your recruiting evaluation now!

Coaches, Athletic Directors and Parents: To make sure your athletes and families understand the recruiting process, you can bring in a NCSA Recruiting Expert. These are former College and  Pro athletes and coaches as well as sportscasters and College Athletics administrators. These presentations are filled with critical information as well as candid motivation in academics and character.

To bring a NCSA Recruiting Expert to your School, Club or Special Event

Charlie Adams

NCSA Speaker, Recruiting Expert, and parent of current N.C.A.A. athlete

cadams@ncsasports.org

Laura Zeamer was just getting up from a nap when I reached her to talk about her successful college athletics recruiting process. The 12th grade volleyball standout had taken the ACT earlier in the day to get her score up one more point. It was the second time she had taken the test.

“One point higher and I qualify for another academic scholarship,” she told me. As we continued our conversation, she said a lot of important things regarding finding the right fit to be a college student-athlete. No matter what your sport, you will be able to apply successful recruiting principles that she learned along the way.

Laura’s father Jerry came to hear me talk when I delivered NCSA’s College Recruiting Simplified at a major Club Volleyball event. She was an 11th grader at the time heavily involved in Club Volleyball. She had one particular school that was really interested in her. Wanting to make sure they did everything right in recruiting, they took advantage of NCSA’s ability to connect college coaches with her, as well as the many other tools available to families in the recruiting process.

“Being in NCSA lets college coaches know I REALLY want to play college volleyball,” said Laura. “After a few weeks I was getting a lot of communication with college coaches. I couldn’t believe how many college coaches said, ‘We saw you on NCSA.’ The College Search Map within NCSA was very helpful. All of the Tools helped me organize everything and figure out what school was best for me.”

Before joining NCSA, Laura had been recruited by a handful of schools. Being a  6’1” volleyball player (photo to left) will get you noticed by some regional Universities, which is what was happening to her. She had started playing Club in 9th grade for a team that played a big national schedule, going to events across America. “The misconception people have about Club sports,” said Laura,“is they think, ‘I play Club so people will see me.’ They have to understand the number of girls that play Club across the country. There are thousands and thousands. The college coaches aren’t necessarily going to come to you. We used NCSA to get my name out more.”

At the time her Dad heard “College Recruiting Simplified” Laura was being recruited hard by Winona State University, a D2 Minnesota University a few hours from her Jackson, Wisconsin home.

“Recruiting was going well with them,” Laura said. “NCSA gave me assurance that a lot of other schools would recruit me too.”

Laura was team captain for Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School High School and earned first-team all-conference and honorable mention all-state honors. She earned KML’s Best Offensive Player award. Along the way, Laura spent a lot of time making sure she found the right fit athletically, academically, socially and geographically when it came to making a decision that would impact the next 40 to 50 years of her life.

“I had a couple of Division One schools talk to me,” said Laura. “I wasn’t quite tall enough for them as a Middle Hitter. At 6’1” they said I would make a good outside hitter, but my vertical leap isn’t that great. I knew if I went D1 I wouldn’t see the court much in games and I did not want to go to primarily be a practice player. D2 gives me a place where I can be very competitive and be a good player. I could see myself possibly being an impact player there. Nothing is promised. What I liked about the program is the current players talked about how much Coach Dave Simon continued to make them better. They said he was always teaching.”

When speaking on the Recruiting Process and how to connect with Scholarships, I talk about starting the recruiting PROCESS as early as possible. She took a couple of unofficial visits to Winona Sate and went to their Camps twice. It was by going to their camps early in High School that word got to her that she was “on their recruiting radar.”

When choosing Camps to go to, I always encourage people to make sure they are Camps at the right level of College that the athlete would eventually play for in College. Had Laura been going to the Penn State Camp, or the University of Texas camp, they wouldn’t have been realistic fits for College. They would not have had her on their radar. She had a realistic evaluation that D2 was the right athletic fit for her.

She was looking to play at a University that wasn’t too big or too small. “I liked that the size of Winona State is 8000 students,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to a University where I would get lost in the crowd or one so small that everyone would know me. That was what I was looking for in College. I liked that Winona State is 3 ½ hours away from home. It is far enough away to be independent, yet still be able to come home for weekends.”

When I speak on Recruiting, I often give examples of the different kinds of scholarships that are out there. Families often hear about “full ride D1” and have no idea about the other kinds of scholarships. Remember, less than 1 percent of High School athletes will get a “full ride D1 athletic scholarship.” The massive majority will play the sport they love in college on a combination of scholarships.

Laura got a significant athletic scholarship. It wasn’t full, but it covered most of tuition. Because of her ACT score, she is able to connect with a sizeable merit scholarship, and she is in the process of applying for more. Most of her college will be covered.

“I am looking at majoring in Biology and maybe some other science,” Laura told me. “I want to eventually go to Grad School and focus on Physical Therapy or something along those lines.”

Laura is ranked #1 academically in her senior class. She carries a 4.0 and has taken Honors Classes in such subjects as Anatomy and Physiology. She has scored a 31 on the ACT.

She told me she has never had an issue with burnout in playing Club. She has loved Club and High School. “There are days where you don’t want to go to practice,” said Laura,” but in a match you or a teammate gets a big Kill and it is all worth it!”

Laura earned a significant scholarship to Winona State. She did what it took to get her name out there. She found the “right fit.”

Charlie Adams, NCSA Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org

To get into the Recruiting Database that Laura was in, click here

One of the biggest points I emphasize when brought in to educate families on recruiting is the importance of finding the ‘right fit’ in college to play the sport their athlete loves.

Constantine High School in Michigan brings NCSA Athletic Recruiting in each year to educate their families. I had a great talk with Athletic Director Mike Messner about one of the greatest athletes in school history, Pete Moe. He was a 6’5″ quarterback in the 1990′s who could make every throw. He was an outstanding guard in basketball. He was First Team All-State in Class C in Michigan in both sports. The University of Michigan did look at him in football but felt his frame was not strong enough to handle the pounding a Big Ten quarterback would take, so that wasn’t the right fit. Former IU Coach Bobby Knight sent assistant coach Dan Dakich up to Constantine to personally evaluate Moe. IU didn’t feel he was quite what they were looking for to play at the Big Ten level.

I remember being in the Plymouth High (IN) gym one time when Dakich personally evaluated former Kevin Ault of Warsaw, who would go on to win the prestigious Mr. Basketball Award in Indiana. Even though Ault was a remarkable shooter, Dakich didn’t see him as a Big Ten player. I would imagine he didn’t think he was tall enough or quick enough. Ault eventually signed with Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) and coach Steve Alford. That was still Division One, but a different level of it. Families have to understand there are levels within levels at D1, 2, 3 and so on.

Getting back to Pete Moe. He was a remarkable athlete. He won the state championship in the 300 IM Hurdles. Still, Division One was not the right fit for him. He and his family could have been bullheaded and ended up with something D1, but he probably would have rode the bench. Moe eventually signed a full athletic scholarship with Division Two Northern Michigan University. He was a four year starter at point guard. Get that? He started all four years. He even played receiver on the football team after his basketball eligibility was up. He squeezed everything out of his experience. When he turns 50, he will have no regrets because he got the most out of his abilities. Moe is now successful in Sales in Oregon. His resume has always played up his college athletic accomplishments because he knows that separates him.

As outstanding an athlete as Moe was, he was not quite a high level D1 athlete as far as playing significant minutes. For him, D2 was the right fit.

A few days after speaking in Constantine, I was in Valparaiso, IN to speak at Wheeler High School, a class 2A school. Athletic Director Randy Stelter told me that since he had started as AD there in 1998 they have had two Division One athletes.

Two. Out of hundreds, make that thousands of athletes.

One was Vic Sikorski, who was the school’s first state champion in swimming, winning the 50 yard Free in 2008. He signed a partial scholarship with Valparaiso University over Purdue. His reason was he wanted to be a big fish in a small pond. Valparaiso was in the early stages of their swim program. He liked the fact that he could be a part of something in the building stage, as compared to going somewhere where things were established. Another swimmer might look at in a different perspective, preferring to go after the challenge of swimming in the Big Ten. Again, these are things every athlete and family have to go over, so that they find the right fit for their athlete.

The other D1 athlete in the past twelve years from Wheeler HS is Becca Bruszewski, who is in her senior season as a key player for the national powerhouse Notre Dame women’s basketball team. In many ways, she is an example of what a “D1″ athlete is. Physically, she stands out as Becca stands six feet one inch tall. She made All State three times in High School. She set eleven school records in basketball, including most points with 1808. She spent three seasons with Indiana Elite AAU team (through the Midwest Basketball Academy of Rod Creech in Mishawaka,IN)

Becca was such a remarkable athlete that she could have easily secured a high level volleyball scholarship. In volleyball, she was a three-time All-State selection, earning first-team honors as junior and senior. In that sport she owns school records for career kills (2,042) and blocks (452), as well as single-season kills (657) and blocks (139), and led. led Wheeler to four sectional volleyball titles and regional tournament berths.

THERE’S your D1 athlete. As Sullivan High School Athletic Director Otto Clements told me in August, “families sometimes don’t understand how elite the high level D1 athlete is.”

I was at Glenn High School in Walkerton, IN. Their last D1 athlete was Andy Groves almost a decade ago. He went on to pitch for Purdue on a partial baseball scholarship. You would have to go back forever for their last “fullride” D1 kid.

There are seven million kids playing High School sports. Less than 1 percent will get a full athletic scholarship at the Division One level. Your kid may not be a D1 athlete. If not, get over it. There are remarkable opportunities at all levels of college sports. I covered college athletes for 23 years as a Sports Anchor at TV stations across America. While I covered many D1 athletes that loved their experience, I found that the small college athlete usually had the better college experience. That’s why I get so frustrated with families and athletes that think D1 or nothing.

I had a long conversation with the mother of a very talented 9th grader who projects to be D1. The player is very tall, talented, and smart. She is one of those that stood out so much in Middle School that it is reasonable to project her to be a D1 prospect. One of the major reasons they are in NCSA is to help with the management of the process all four years of High School. One of the reasons I encourage people to start the PROCESS of recruiting early is so they can start putting a lot of thought into the eventual right fit. One in four college athletes quit after their freshman season, primarily because they screwed this up.

Even though this young lady could very possibly eventually play for one of the top D1 college basketball programs in America, that may not be the right fit for her. At this point, the mother told me, her daughter was much more motivated to still play D1, but at a strong academic school that is not one of the Top 25 programs, where pressure is constant. For example, Tulane. That’s a great academic school that plays D1. Are they going to be in the Final Four? Not likely, but it’s still D1. It’s good that the mother and daughter are starting to sort these things out early, rather than waiting until 11th grade.

Kids want different things. I was talking to the coach of a girl that is the Sectional champion in Cross Country. I asked him what his elite runner was thinking about as far as running in college. He looked right at me and said she would be interested, but not at some place where the pressure would be intense to maintain low times.

Another kid may want that pressure. This girl, according to the coach, wants no part of that stress. For her the right fit might be a top academic college where she could run at a very competitive level, but not at a place where the running expectations are all consuming.

Whatever is the right fit, I am a strong proponent that if you have been blessed by God with the physical ability to play your sport somewhere in college, you should look very seriously at doing so.

I attended a luncheon to celebrate the start of the basketball season for a NAIA school. I talked with one of the assistant coaches about their players that were seniors on last years team. He told me that all of them had been hired by outstanding companies and were employed in good jobs.

Remember, we are in a bad economy. Jobs are tough. This coach told me company leaders had watched them as student-athletes and wanted them in their companies. He told me how alums at the school look out for each other. It’s one of the major reasons to go to college, but when you have the God given athletic potential to be a college student-athlete, go for it because it will put you in better position for careers upon graduation. As Chris Krause’s book says, Athletes are Wanted.

I had the opportunity to speak to a group of wonderfully talented 8th grade soccer players as the U 14 Jr. Irish Fire Premier Soccer team of Craig Horvath. They asked me to speak to them after practice. I asked them where they wanted to play. Several said they wanted to play for North Carolina or Notre Dame. Those are the Giant’s of D1 women’s soccer. For them, recruiting really does start early. Programs like that identify prospects so early that they practically look at Ultra Sounds. I remember speaking at the Mizuno Mid East Regional Volleyball qualifiers in St. Louis. NCSA was brought in to deliver Recruiting Education to the families.

Several bigtime D1 coaches were watching an 8th grade travel team from Florida that had a girl that was a tremendous talent. She was so smooth I thought she was a 12th grader. I was courtside talking with an assistant coach from a SEC school that told me they had identified her when she was in 6th grade (!). Do I totally agree with how accelerated recruiting has become at the D1 level? No, but as one coach said, “that is the world we live in today.”

These are insights from being out there speaking on recruiting and constantly talking to families and coaches that are in the crosshairs of it. I hope you find these observations helpful. You can always reach me at cadams@ncsasports.org

Also, please share your insights down below. We all learn from the experiences of others that have gone through the process.

Charlie Adams

Senior National Educational Speaker – Bring Charlie to your School HERE!

Submit your Recruiting Information to the NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network HERE!

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting process of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and a longtime professional speaker. He is also one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

As a speaker, I have a few thousand conversations a year with families and coaches that are going through, or have been through, the recruiting process. I often share them in this blog.

During my son’s 12th grade season, I was at a top Cross Country Meet. A veteran South Bend (IN) High School Coach came up and told me one of his sophomore runners had recently done a Recruiting Analysis with NCSA. The Coach said it had an immediate positive impact on the young man.

“This athlete wants to compete at a high level in college,” the coach told me. “During the Recruiting Analysis he told the NCSA College Scout his times. The Scout told him they projected to be D3 or NAIA times. Well, that put a fire in him because he wants to eventually run at a higher level. Then the kid told the Scout he has a 2.5 GPA. The Scout chuckled slightly. It wasn’t in a rude way, but in a way where he was challenging the athlete that he could do better than a 2.5 and that he would need to do better to be in better position for scholarships. Ever since that Recruiting Analysis, the runner has been more focused in practice and has immediately started improving his grades. I have seen a distinct difference in his focus, even as a sophomore. I tell athletes these things all the time, but when it comes from that third party, it’s big.”

THAT can be the power of a Recruiting Analysis. It is important to do one to see where you stand in recruiting. If you have not done one yet, or never set up a time after hearing a NCSA speaker, contact us

Charlie Adams

cadams@ncsasports.org

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and is one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

I was driving near Indianapolis this week and heard former Indiana University Basketball Coach Dan Dakich hosting his daily talk show on 1070 the Fan. A caller called in a little ‘bent out of shape’ that IU Basketball Coach Tom Crean had recently received two commitments from players that had yet to play a second of High School basketball. Two highly rated 9th graders had made their decision to attend IU. The caller just could not understand how they could be doing that at such a young age. Dakich, who was an assistant coach at IU for years and knows recruiting inside and out, wasn’t surprised. He said back when he was evaluating talent he could often tell if a 7th grader could play at a major D1 level like Indiana and the Big Ten. In recruiting, basketball is especially accelerated and seasoned evaluators like Tom Crean can project early if a kid can play. Back in the 1980′s, Bob Knight went down to Bedford, IN to watch a legendary 8th grader named Damon Bailey play a game. In the book, “A Season on the Brink” Knight made a comment to the author John Feinstein that “Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. I don’t mean potentially better, I mean better today.” Bailey ended up going to Indiana and was a very good player at that level.

It’s not that way for every basketball player that eventually plays D1, but it is for the special ones. Trey Lyles is one of the two players to commit to IU. He stands 6’9″ as a 9th grader. The other one is James Blackmon, Jr. His Dad was a very good player back in the day at Kentucky. Tom Crean and his staff have no doubt those two project to be winning Big Ten players. As Dakich said on his radio show, the IU coaches know what they are doing because they are seasoned evaluators. They have been watching those kids in the July evaluation events.

Less than 1% of the High School athletes will get this kind of “fawning over.” The rest have to be proactive in recruiting, and understand the process starts early whether you are a 6’9″ ninth grader or not. A 5’9″ 9th grade basketball player that is not even on the varsity team needs to understand how important it is to make his baskets in the classroom so that he can have more options in recruiting when he is a junior or senior. That kid may never get a D1 offer, but if he and his family get educated in recruiting and he works his tail off, by the time he is a junior and senior he will have more options in recruiting.

Charlie Adams

cadams@ncsasports.org

Charlie Adams brings 23 years of experience covering the recruiting of high school athletes who reached their dream of playing college sports. Adams was an award winning sportscaster at television stations and is one of NCSA’s Recruiting Experts.

I had a long conversation with a mother and father whose daughter, a soccer player, had just found the right fit for college.

She was found by the college coach when he was looking at another recruit’s video. The other recruit was not clearly identified on the video, and the college coach noticed their daughter making plays on it. This is why you cannot make college coaches play detective in trying to figure out where you are on video, or some other kid will get a scholarship off your tape. I have found the NCSA guidance in this area critical. An arrow pointing at the recruit at the start of a play is very important. One of the points of College Recruiting Simplified is to make a “winning Highlight/Skills video.” The key word there is ‘winning.’ Families often have no idea how much more successful they will be in recruiting if they had a better understanding of how to work the video process. I continue to be amazed at how many families don’t even have a plan for it, and don’t have video of their kid – even as 12th graders sometimes!

The mother, father and daughter made several unofficial visits during her High School days. The young lady evaluated out to be a NAIA or D3 player, so they met with several coaches. One young head coach got all wound up during their meeting and talked about how they would have a “D1 mentality” at the D3 school. He was a little too gung-ho. They appreciated his fever and enthusiasm, but wanted to find someone a little calmer. They continued the process, made more visits, and found a school with a veteran coach who still had the fire for coaching. It wasn’t the reason they picked the school. Their major reason was the school would allow her to grown in her faith, athletics and academics, but they felt this particular coach had the calm, steady approach and decades of experience to better fit her. Now, the next kid might eat up that other coach’s wound-up approach. It’s all part of getting out there and finding the right fit. I spoke at the Mizuno Mid East Regional Volleyball Qualifiers in Indianapolis earlier this year. I talked with one mother whose daughter had already been on three unofficial visits in the Fall of her junior year, and was close to firming up the right fit. It was because she was “out there.”

For an Evaluation of your College Recruiting potential

Charlie Adams

NCSA Senior Speaker

cadams@ncsasports.org

1. How would you describe yourself as a coach?

Laid back
2. What?s unique about the experience at Fort Lewis?

It’s a great outdoor sports town (Ski resort, fly fishing, hiking, whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, mountain biking, etc…).  Being nestled in the mountains with an elevation of 6700 feet.
3. What do recruits need to know about you?

We will push you to be your best.
4. What do you look for in recruits?

Good grades and a non-stop motor on the field.
5. What is the one thing every recruit needs to do with the recruiting process?

Investigate all opportunities.
6. What sort of questions do you really like to hear from recruits?

Questions about the direction of the team.
7. What turns you off when you’re recruiting a student athlete?

When the parents do all the talking.
8. What do you think your program is the most successful at?

It’s hard to say right now, I just got hired in January and we have an entirely new staff.
9. Why should a recruit consider your program?

Best player plays.
10. If a recruit is interested in your program, how should they reach out to you?

Email is usually the best.