NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

I wanted to share some college athletics statistics that were recently calculated by the Primary Research Group.

• Just a few of the many findings of the report are:

• 8.4% of the students in the sample participate in a college sports team.

• Nearly four times as many private than public college students played college sports.

• An astounding 26.92% of students at colleges with fewer than 2,000 full time equivalent students play college sports while only 2.2% of students at colleges with more than 25,000 students do so.

What do these statistics mean?  There are a lot of schools out there!  If you are serious about playing college sports, you need to realize that most of your opportunities will exist at smaller schools that you may not have heard of.  You need to widen your horizon and look at schools of all types across America.

We are proud to announce our August Student-Athlete of the Month in Baseball, Matt Felvey. He is from the Chicago area, is a left-handed shortstop, has a big frame (6’4” 170 lbs), and will graduate in 2010. This summer he hit around .310 and in the spring he hit .331.

Felvey is a great student with a 3.6 GPA and a 3.92 weighted GPA. He also scored a 27 on his ACT and is looking to study business management, physical therapy, or sports management. Again, we are happy to name Matt Felvey as our August Student-Athlete of the Month.

Coaches help shape athletes.  They help refine their athletic skills, but more importantly they help shape the lives of young people.  They greatly influence the people we will become later in life.

Behind Every Athlete is a Great Coach.  Has a Coach Made a Difference in Your Life?  Now is Your Chance to Give Back!

Nominate Your Coach and Play it Forward.

There have been three well documented cases this year of athletes skipping parts of high school in order to seek higher challenges. Basketball player Jeremy Tyler is bypassing his senior year to play basketball in Israel, football star Stephen Alli has graduated early and is attending Florida, and baseball’s “Chosen One” Bryce Harper is skipping his final two years of high school to enroll in Junior College, perhaps allowing him to enter the MLB draft a year early. While it may seem as though these athletes are being pushed too fast, a closer look into their plans shows otherwise.

Jeremy Tyler completed his jump from high school underclassman to pro basketball player on Wednesday when he signed a one-year, $140,000 contract with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Premier League.

Tyler, 18, is the first American-born player to leave high school early to play basketball professionally overseas. The 6-foot-11, 260-pound Tyler announced in the spring that he was skipping his senior season at San Diego High because prep basketball had become boring.

Sonny Vaccaro, the former shoe company executive who’s been advising Tyler and his family, said Maccabi Haifa is a good fit for several reasons.

“I think it’s a very good deal for Jeremy because it’s a good team, he’ll play, they speak English and he’ll learn there,” Vaccaro said. “The reason we did one year was because it will give Jeremy time to understand how hard it is to be a professional, then he’ll do whatever he wants to do next year.”

Vaccaro said Tyler had five other offers, including one from a team for more money, “but Jeremy, his family and I decided it was more important to have a chance of playing than making a couple extra dollars. If Jeremy is who he’s supposed to be, he’ll earn a lot of money in his lifetime.”

In early May, Tyler told The AP that he was tired of facing triple-teams, being hacked and being limited to playing the middle when he felt he had much more to his game.

Tyler is expected to return to the United States when he becomes eligible for the 2011 NBA draft.

Tyler choosing the team that fits his needs the best instead of the one offering the most money shows that he understands what he needs to do to achieve his goals and is not simply leaving high school for a paycheck.

Stephen Alli is skipping his senior year of high school to move to the next level in his sport.

Alli, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound receiver from Toronto who attended Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H., was supposed to be the sleeper in Florida’s class of 2010. Now, he’s the sleeper of the class of 2009. Alli was scheduled to travel to Gainesville from Canada on Wednesday. If all goes well, he’ll practice Thursday with Urban Meyer’s squad.

Alli, 18, is an excellent student who considered Harvard, Boston College, Rutgers and Stanford before choosing Florida in June. “After I committed, I stayed in contact with the coaches,” Alli said. “We decided that if I graduated early and enrolled in January, that would be the best thing for me.” There was only one problem. Alli said Proctor officials told him they’d never had a midterm graduate, and they had no plans to start with him.

After discussing his options with Florida coaches, Alli checked with the NCAA’s Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse to find out what courses he would need to take to enroll early. An examination of Alli’s transcript revealed he had already passed the 16 core courses required for initial eligibility. He also had earned enough credits to graduate. After that, Alli needed only to be admitted to Florida for the fall 2009 semester. Two weeks ago, he got the good news.

Alli’s plan is phenomenal. He is obviously an incredible student who was eligible to enter college early anyway. He is now going to be able to test his academic merits a year early. Athletically, he is going to play for the best team in the nation, under one of the most successful coaches in Urban Meyer, and with arguably the best leader in the country, Tim Tebow.

Bryce will acquire his GED and enroll in the College of Southern Nevada, a junior college, a move that likely will allow Bryce to be eligible for the 2010 draft, in which he’s expected to be the No. 1 pick.

“But that’s not the priority,” Ron said, referring to Bryce’s draft status. “We’re preparing him for college. That’s the priority. He’s very bored in school. Maybe it’s because he’s always been around older kids. But he’s ready move on. He was very forceful. He said, ‘I don’t want to be bored any more. I want to do it, Mom. I want to do it, Dad.’ He definitely wants to do this. We spoke with his counselor, his principal and his coach, and they agreed he’s ready for this.”

Ron isn’t even entirely sure that Bryce will be eligible for the 2010 draft. “We haven’t got anything in writing yet,” he said. But the Harpers have been in contact with officials from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association to make sure they follow whatever protocols are necessary to be draft eligible next year, including making sure he completed all high school courses and exams at least 365 days prior to the draft.

“Even if he’s not [draft eligible in 2010],” Ron said, “he will play 55 games a year with a wood bat and receive an associate art degree. It’s a good situation for him.”

It might be easy for someone not familiar with Bryce, his talent and his family to think the kid is being pushed too fast, but the move to the College of Southern Nevada makes perfect sense. Bryce will live at home, take online and night classes, attend classes three days a week, carrying 12 credits, and be allowed to attend high school events with his former classmates and buddies, such as proms and homecomings. His older brother, Bryan, a pitcher, will transfer from Cal State Northridge and also attend College of Southern Nevada. Bryan will live in an off-campus apartment and will be Bryce’s roommate when the team plays on the road.

Harper has been given every opportunity to succeed. He is obviously a phenomenal talent, but, unlike the other two examples, he will be able to ease his way into his new lifestyle. The fact that he is living at home, will still get to participate in high school functions, and has his brother to help guide him throughout the season will make his transition smoother.

What do all of these athletes having in common? Talent, determination, and a plan. They all understand their long term goals and are making choices accordingly. While it isn’t smart for most recruits to leave high school early, they should follow the commitment that these players have. Student-athletes need to start working hard at improving themselves athletically and improving their chances of being recruited.

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.

Q: What college would you recommend for an athlete looking for a good mix of soccer and academics?

A: Finding the “right fit” is important. You need to find a school that fits your needs both athletically AND academically. Connecting qualified athletes with coaches based on their positional needs is the first step, a player can then filter through schools to find the right academic fit to go along with the opportunity to play college sports. To find out how a school compares to others based on both academic and athletic factors check out NCSA’s Power Rankings.

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.

Evaluating a potential recruit’s recruiting potential is extremely difficult.  Due to the process moving earlier each year, coaches have to make difficult decisions without the luxury of sitting back and seeing a player will develop.  A huge part of that process is how a player will develop academically.  The Columbus Dispatch took a look at how Ohio State tries to gauge a recruits academic ability.

When Ohio State recruit Carlos Hyde failed to qualify academically for this fall, it was a surprise.

“All indications were that he was going to make it,” said Bill Kurelic, a recruiting analyst for Bucknuts.com and ESPN.com.

What’s equally surprising, though, is that it doesn’t happen more often. Hyde was just the fifth OSU recruit to fall short in coach Jim Tressel’s nine recruiting classes — out of 178 signees.

Evaluating high school players is a complex process. It’s tough enough to watch game video, or see a player perform drills at a camp, and try to project whether he is talented enough to be worth a precious scholarship.

But evaluating whether he can meet academic standards is an even thornier process.

“It’s very different when you have to look into the hearts and minds of these kids,” said Allen Wallace, national recruiting analyst for Scout.com. “There’s a certain amount of guesswork involved. It’s subjective.”

Ohio State offensive coordinator Jim Bollman said the key in determining a recruit’s academic potential is to talk to as many people as possible who know him — parents, teachers, coaches and counselors.

Recruiters ask about the player’s character; how motivated is he to work to make the grade?

These days, the job is even tougher, Bollman said, because the trend is toward recruiting players at a younger age.

“You don’t have near the perspective that you had 10 years ago,” he said. “You’re recruiting juniors who haven’t even taken a (college-entrance) test yet.”

Student-athletes should take their academic reputation very seriously.  Taking extra steps like taking the PSAT early in high school or participating in extra curricular activities can go a long way to proving that the student-athlete takes academics very seriously.

In an ESPN article, Andy Katz shows how ever changing practice regulations put in place by the NCAA may be shifting drastically in college basketball.

College coaches have whined for years about the lack of access to their current players in the summer.
The complaint is legitimate. Anyone — notably agents and their hand-picked workout employees — can have complete access to the players. To think there isn’t any influence over the player, especially on his game, is naive. That doesn’t mean all the advice from a third party is wrong. It’s not. But college coaches want to be in control of a player’s college career.

They might finally get their wish — with a hitch.

Next month in Indianapolis, the NCAA’s board of directors will listen to a proposal from the basketball academic enhancement committee, chaired by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, that would allow coaches access on the court with players as long as they’re in summer school.

The model would be that over an eight-week period the coach would have access to the player, with two hours a week in skill development and the other hours to be determined, with possible uses like watching tape, observing pickup games or weight-room workouts. The only thing the coaches couldn’t do is have a full practice.

Guerrero said the minimum for a player to be eligible to participate is three hours of summer school in the initial year. In the subsequent summers, the player must attend six hours to be eligible to work out with his coach. The NCAA won’t make this mandatory because there are a number of schools that don’t have summer school (like schools in the Ivy League). According to Guerrero, there is also a cost analysis that has to be taken into consideration.

This is obviously a long awaited change for both coaches and players. Many players enroll in summer school without this ruling in place in order to lighten their academic load during the season. Now while they are advancing academically, they can also improve athletically with coaches that know what specific skills they have to improve. Also, this is a great way to keep players out of trouble. There have been many recent examples of NCAA sanctions that have hurt the eligibility of player. If coaches have more contact with players, they can make sure they stay out of trouble and on top of their grades.

But what does this mean for basketball recruits? According to Katz:

If this is passed in the legislative cycle next year, the July evaluation period might get another tweak in 2010. If college coaches are allowed to work with their own players in July, it will lead to even more coaches and assistant coaches heading back to campus either in place of or between recruiting evaluation assignments in July.

This means that there will be even less time to get evaluated by college coaches! The recruiting world is competitive as it is and if coaches have fewer opportunities to look at potential players it’s even more important that you familiarize yourself with the Five Things You Need to Know About Recruiting and the Five Things You Need to Do to Get Recruited in order to give yourself an edge over the competition.