NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

One of the biggest parts of the athletic recruiting process is visiting a college campus.  This can either happen officially during senior year, where the school pays, or unofficially at any time.  Recruits differ on which type of visit is more important, but it is clear that visiting campuses is a key to the decision making process.

ESPN recently intrerviewed a series of recruits to get their take on the official versus unofficial visit.  It became clear that the athletes that were prepared for their visits and were looking at more aspects besides just the football program got more value from their time on campus.

Some student-athletes suggest there’s not much difference between the two other than whether or not there’s a game.

“To be honest, it’s not much different,” Joyner said, “other than you’re there on the college dime.”

Others find otherwise.

“Most of the time you don’t have a player host [on an unofficial]; it’s a person they hire,” said Cassius Marsh, a defensive tackle from Oaks Christian High (Calif.). He made numerous unofficial visits to Cal, USC and UCLA, and official visits to Cal, Arizona State and LSU. “It’s not as intense, much more laid-back than officials.”

Marsh said his official visit to Cal didn’t do much for him: “I was kind of bored since I’d already seen just about everything.”

His official to LSU? Ding! Ding! Ding! Great value. In fact, Marsh called LSU coaches Monday and committed to play for the Tigers. Here’s part of the reason:

“The Cox [Communications Academic] Center is a great support system [at LSU] for students. And the overall atmosphere, the history of the team, and how promising every single season can be,” he said. “LSU had like 50,000 tailgaters when I was there.

“The fans are much more intense than any of the fans in the PAC 10. LSU pretty much blows everybody else out the window.”

Aramide Olaniyan, an outside linebacker at Woodberry Forest (Va.) School, made his first official visit a few weeks ago, to UCLA. He’s also considering Duke, North Carolina, Miami, NC State, Vanderbilt and Michigan. He, too, has made unofficial visits, saying “at Michigan, we got to check out the business school, and that was a blast.”

He said one obvious benefit to making an official visit when the team has a game that weekend is “You get to know the coaches better, and see how they interact with players in game situations.”

College coaches often would rather host official visits in the offseason, or between the end of the regular season and a bowl game because they have more time.

“Some of the good things about coming in during the season are seeing a game and enjoying the atmosphere,” said Texas wide receivers coach and assistant recruiting coordinator Bobby Kennedy. “Instead of having one or two guys in at a time, we like to try to get the whole group lined up to come in during the banquet weekend in December.

“That works best for us because people see our team at the banquet and they get to come to a practice, so they get a good sense of what our program is all about.”

Players usually arrive Saturday morning after having played the night before.

“They all pretty much do things the same way,” Marsh said. “You basically meet the coaches, have breakfast, and go tour the campus, do the pregame activities, go on the field during the game. Once you’ve watched the game you go with your [player] host [for social activities], and you got curfew. The next morning, you sit in on meetings.”

Though much of an official visit is conducted in group form — other than meetings with position coaches and the like — Garner said part of each official is usually tailor-made.

“We have a general itinerary that we follow for every official visit,” he said. “And we try to make sure we get the prospective student-athlete to meet with a faculty member in the area of his academic interest.”

At Texas, “We always try to tailor visits to what the prospects want to see,” Kennedy said. “You’re going to tailor each visit a certain way so you can put your best foot forward, but also show them what they need to see to make to make an informed decision on what school’s best for them.”

Joyner, who has made unofficial visits to Georgia, Miami and Tennessee in addition to FSU and Florida, said he will make official visits to USC and Alabama. “I’m going to be real picky about the last one. I don’t know yet,” he said. “Somewhere out of state because I’ve been to Florida and Florida State plenty.”

Like Marsh, Joyner said he got something special out of official visits to Ohio State and Notre Dame, where he was looking out not only for his athletic and academic interests, but for life after football.

He attended the spring game at Ohio State on an unofficial, but learned things in his official visit that he hadn’t before.

“I was looking for the feel from the town, the atmosphere, the fans, the players, the way they’re being coached,” he said. “I want to know how does the place feel? Can I climatize? My thing is I want to be successful, and if I am going to be, I’m going to have to man up and maybe live in some weather [unlike south Florida]. And are the guys on the team good guys, or are they going to go partying around every day? Everybody has fun in college, but you’ve got to stay focused.

“It’s bigger than football. After I graduate, if I don’t make the NFL, will they be here to support me? What kind of name will I make myself for myself at Ohio State? Ohio State was louder, more fans, bigger alumni base. Notre Dame. … I know the association with fans is probably as big, but in terms of fan base, Ohio State had an edge. I had a good time at both.”

That final quote should really ring true for recruits and their parents.  The objective of going to college is to set yourself up for the next 40 years of your life.  That means getting a meaningful degree and setting yourself up for a rewarding career.

From the various quotes above, you can see that each athlete found value in different visits.  Therefore my advice to student-athletes is to visit schools early and often.  Take both unofficial and official visits.  Visit with members of academic and athletic support teams.  Visit athletic facilities and academic facilities.

The more visits you take and the more information you gather, the greater chance of finding the right home to continue your athletic career.

For fall sports, we are in the middle of visit season.  Recruits are visiting college campuses for both official and unofficial visits.  Most of the time these visits fall on game days.  Recruits get to see behind the curtains at what goes into the preparation for a real college contest.  These visits are a critical recruiting tool for coaching staffs hoping to make a big impression on the athletes high on their recruiting boards.

ESPN.com chronicled how the University of Notre Dame and the University of Florida handle these visits.

Big-game weekends provide an opportunity for colleges to showcase their programs, and they give recruits a game-day experience at a school they are considering. Whether it’s the best time for a prospect to use his official visit to that school is certainly up for debate, but there is no question that hosting prospects on a big weekend is a powerful way to sell a program and all that goes into a football Saturday.

So it’s significant when Notre Dame hosts Southern California on Saturday for the third time during the Charlie Weis era, there again will be a slew of talented prospects in South Bend for the game, many of whom will be taking unofficial visits.

“Obviously, it’s a big game for us and a big game for college football,” said Fighting Irish recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello, who has been with the program since Weis was hired in late 2004. “Kids like to see big games, so naturally kids want to be at this one. It’s an event. People are coming in for the event and hopefully they see Notre Dame at its finest.”

The Irish have had great success signing prospects who visit for the game with the Trojans. In the Class of 2006, seven players from six different states who visited for the 2005 USC game ended up inking with Notre Dame. In the Class of 2008, three from three different states signed with the Irish, including standout receiver Michael Floyd.

Ianello added that Notre Dame always signs a high percentage of players it brings in for official visits. Schools are allowed 56 official visits per NCAA rules, and the Fighting Irish rarely bring in that many.

“We are usually in the 38-40 range,” Ianello said.

Florida recruiting coordinator and receivers coach Billy Gonzales, the person largely responsible for bringing Percy Harvin to Florida, remembers the electric receiver’s experience in The Swamp and the lasting impression it made.

Harvin made his official visit to Florida on the weekend of Sept. 16-18, 2005. On Saturday night, the Gators hosted SEC East rival Tennessee in a prime-time, nationally televised game and won 16-7. The crowd at The Swamp was loud from start to finish, and head coach Urban Meyer earned his first signature victory as the Gators’ head coach.

Harvin’s signing with Florida “was big,” Gonzales said. “I remember him vividly saying, ‘I am sitting next to my mom and screaming to the top of my lungs and she could not hear what I was saying.’ That obviously had a tremendous impact on him coming here. Of course, he took other official visits during that recruiting cycle and we signed Tim Tebow, so that helped too.”

Big-game weekends are prime opportunities for coaching staffs to bring in and impress top talent.

“It’s something we sit down and take a look at as a staff at the end of each recruiting cycle,” Gonzales said. “We go over who visited and when and if it worked or not.”

“There are a lot of pluses,” Gonzales said. “The game atmosphere certainly is one of them. The negative is that you only get to spend a limited amount of time with a recruit and their family when they come in during the season because you are preparing your team. You are going through the walk-through and getting ready to play. If you play an 8 p.m. game, by the time you get through, it’s 11 p.m. or so and there just isn’t a lot of time to spend with the recruits and their families.

“If you come in here after the season is over, then the time works out better in terms of spending time with recruits and their families.”

So it’s not like having recruits attend a big game is the only way to land them. In the Class of 2009, Gonzales signed Under Armour All-American Andre DeBose (Sanford, Fla./Seminole). DeBose did not visit until Jan. 23 and committed to the Gators two weeks earlier at the Under Armour All-American game. This recruiting cycle, the highest-ranked prospect in the ESPNU150 to set an official visit to Florida, linebacker Jordan Hicks (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West)), will visit the Gators the second weekend in January.

Gonzales says it works best when prospects visit unofficially during the summer and then get to return to Gainesville for their official visits and are already familiar with the program, the campus and having spent the quality time with the coaching staff. Harvin had come in for an unofficial during the summer.

I’d like to make three extremely important points about the article.  One, just because this article focuses on Division I, doesn’t mean that visits don’t occur at every level.  In fact, visiting a smaller school shows a coach how much you are interested in a program, not just a ticket to a big-time match up.

Two, that the Unofficial Visit often sets up the Official Visits.  As Rob Ianello pointed out, schools save their Official visits for their very best recruits that they have offered or are very close to offering scholarships.  Therefore, its critical that recruits start the recruiting process early.

Finally, recruits should take not of how much value coaching staffs place on these visits.  If they take so much time to prepare, shouldn’t recruits do the same?  You bet!  That is how NCSA  pushes our student-athletes over the top.  NCSA gets the recruits name out early and then leads the recruit through our curriculum so they know exactly how to conduct themselves on visits.

If you are a student-athlete hoping to get recruited, take my advice;  Don’t settle for watching recruits on the sidelines on your TV.  Join them at the right school for you!

The quest to find the right college for a student-athlete is a challenge that we here at the National Collegiate Scouting Association readily accept with open arms. We understand not only what it means to families to have their student-athlete comfortable and excited to be attending the university of their choice, but we also understand the passion and desire that our student-athletes have to find that particular university. We also understand how important it is for college coaches to be matched up with qualified student-athletes who will help their universities grow both academically and athletically. With this being said, we here at NCSA will do everything we can to match student-athletes with universities that we feel would be a good fit. But when it’s all said and done, it’s up to the student-athletes to visit these schools, meet these coaches and decide for themselves if they truly see themselves being members of that university for the next four years of their lives. So how does a student-athlete go about doing this? How do they put themselves in the best situation possible to meet coaches and visit schools? They should be utilizing a somewhat untapped resource and with this I would like to introduce the unofficial visit.

For those student-athletes who have seen movies like The Program, He Got Game and Blue Chips, the recruiting process might seem like a dream come true. In The Program, Darnell Jefferson is welcomed to Eastern State University by a charter bus filled with cheerleaders. NBA superstar Ray Allen plays the main character in He Got Game and is whisked away from campus to campus for weekends of fun and spoil. Several “blue chip” prospects in Blue Chips receive gifts and frequent visits from the coaching staff. One thing each and every parent, coach and student-athlete needs to know is that these are movies attempting to depict a very long and difficult process. For the majority of high-school athletes, the best way to get a feel for a school and a coach is to take advantage of the unlimited amounts of unofficial visits a recruit can take during their four years of high school.

One might ask, “What is an unofficial visit and what other kinds of visits are there?” Great question. An official visit is one where the cost of part of the visit is incurred by the school. For example, a recruit is invited to visit the campus and during their visit the school will pay for their flight, hotel room and meals. These are less common than unofficial visits and are heavily regulated in terms of how many a school is allowed to give out and how many a student-athlete can attend. The alternative is the unofficial visit, where a student athlete visits the campus on their own and pays for it themselves. Although it may be less glorious than the official visits depicted in films, it is just as effective in terms of finding a school that you would be comfortable and eager to attend. Did I mention that you can take an unlimited amount of unofficial visits? Read on…

So let’s say you are a student-athlete and this blog has inspired you to take some unofficial visits…but you don’t know how to go about it. Here is your crash course to the unofficial visit.

First, come up with a list of schools and programs that you are interested in learning more about. Basically, you want to narrow down your list to schools you would realistically like to attend and compete for. Next, pick a weekend where you know the coach of your respective sport will be on campus. Football and basketball games are very popular events for coaches to entertain recruits, so pick a weekend where there is a game such as football or basketball. Next, you want to contact the coach to let him or her know that you will be visiting that weekend. Ask if they can give you a few minutes of their time to meet and possibly answer some questions that you may have (hint, hint…come prepared with academic and athletic questions for the coach). Next, contact admissions and also make them aware of your visit. Campuses are constantly giving tours and you want to make sure you see the campus in its entirety because it will be your home for the next four years. You also want to have a main contact in the admissions department to answer any questions you may have before, during and after your unofficial visit.

So now you’ve got your game plan to schedule some unofficial visits, but what is it that coaches are looking for when a recruit comes to campus. Marc Thibeault, head coach of John Carroll University’s baseball team, explains what he is not looking for.

“I can’t tell you how many times a recruit shows up with holes in his jeans, hat backwards, earring in and really has no questions when they visit. “

Coach Thibeault looks for potential student-athletes who can carry themselves well both on and off the field. Making a good first impression when meeting coaches is essential, and your appearance is key. A great point Coach makes is the ability of the recruit to ask meaningful questions during their visit. Think of it as a job interview; when your potential employer asks if you have any questions and you say “Nope, I think we’re all good here,” they are going to take that as a lack of preparation and excitement on your part when it comes to becoming a member of their team. College coaches will view this the same way.

When asked about some good questions for recruits to ask on their visit, Coach Thibeault had a few in mind.

-What did your graduating class end up doing upon diploma?

-How many freshmen ended up playing 4 years?

-What are the years of players playing my position?

-What were the credentials of last years recruiting class?

The above questions are great things to ask coaches and by asking these questions, a recruit shows the coach that they are interested, committed and eager to contribute to the program.

The bottom line is that no one buys a car without test driving it. No one gets married without dating first and no recruit should commit to a school without visiting campus. So instead of waiting by the phone or the computer for a coach to invite you for an official visit, maximize the unlimited amount of unofficial visits you can take and put yourself out there. The recruiting process may seem less glorious than depicted in the movies, but the end result of choosing the right school is all the glory a recruit needs.

Taking Unofficial and Official Visits to college campuses in an essential ingredient in the college athletic recruiting game.  These visits allow for a student-athlete to get better feel for a program allow a coach to evaluate a player’s character first hand.  Usually recruits only take a handful of visits beofre settling on a school, however that approach could potentially limit your options.  The reason?  Many recruits don’t take visits to schools the perceive as a lower quality.

New Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen told ESPN about the importance of showing off his school first hand to recruits.

When we get kids on campus, most of the reports are when they leave campus something along the lines of, ‘I can’t believe it was that nice,’ or ‘I didn’t know it would be that nice.’ It’s not just our athletic facilities. But walk through campus on a school day. Go downtown. It’s a great community and just a really nice place to live and a great family atmosphere that revolves around the university. That’s what makes it a neat place. The issue we fight is getting kids here. Once they come, they’re amazed.

The recruiting lesson is simple.  Don’t cross schools off your list until you understand exactly what that school is all about.  Many recruits don’t realize that there is no limit on the amount of unofficial visits.  Taking extra visits just to be sure is one strategy athletes should take advantage of.

Recruiting is a 365 day process year in and year out. If you graduate in the spring of 2010 and think the process does not start until your senior, spring season you are already way behind (the recruiting process really begins as soon as high school classes begin, to learn more click here).

Many college baseball programs scrimmage in the fall against themselves and some teams play against other colleges for a fall season. This is a good time for a coach to see what he has to work with for the spring season. It is also a great time for a student-athlete to go see the team play and/or practice.

It is important to see as many colleges play as possible and the fall season is a great time to do this. If there is a team you are communicating with on a regular basis it is time to set up a visit and there is no better time than when you can see them practice or play.

Many times you will hear us connect two words together – Recruiting + Process. Hardly ever does a coach see you play, call you the next day, set up a visit for the following week, and then offer you a scholarship on the visit in a matter of days. There are a lot of factors that help you make a decision on a school, including one of the most important – visits. These take time to set up.

Whether you are a freshman or a senior you need to be taking advantage of as many unofficial visits as possible. If you are unaware of the difference between an unofficial visit and an official visit you can go to this NCAA website. You have an unlimited number of unofficial visits and a coach is very welcoming to setting these up to check out their campus. Be careful about where you spend your official visits because you can only take five them between division one and division two programs combined. But the point is, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM.

Too many times I hear from student-athletes that they committed after taking only one or two visits to different colleges. You should take at least two visits to each of your top choices. Remember, you are going to be living at this campus for four to five years and you have to be comfortable with where you are attending. There is no better way to figure this out than by taking a visit. In order to get to each of your top colleges at least a couple of times, you need to be visiting right now. Lastly, just giving yourself a self-tour is not really considered “visiting” the campus. Each visit you take you should be trying to visit with the coach, meet with admissions, and take a guided-tour. To learn about more details that should take place on a visit you can sign up here. Finally, the question you need to be asking yourself through this process is, “Would I be attending this college if I weren’t playing my sport here?” You can’t ask that if you haven’t been to the campus.

Attention all underclassmen: Summer camps are right around the corner! This is the best opportunity to perform in front of college coaches and generate interest at the next level. Due to several NCAA rules that prohibit college coaches from evaluating student-athletes, summer camps have been a hotbed for college recruiting nationwide. Did you know that other schools may attend one summer camp? That’s right! This could be a prime opportunity for you to compete in front of a large crowd of coaches which can increase your odds of getting recruited! I have added some quick tips that can help you perform at your best this camp season:

1. Be well rested!
Don’t drive long hours and then stumble into camp. Try to get there the night before. Walk around the facility if possible and get acquainted with your surroundings. Get a good nights rest, proper meals, and most important be hydrated!

2. Perform at your best!
Understand you are being evaluated from to the time you set on foot on campus until the time you leave. From the time you start stretching until you break the final huddle, college coaches are watching your every move. My advice is giving 100% on every drill! Sprint from station to station and show these coaches you are serious about playing at the next level.

3. Reps, Reps,Reps!                                                                                                      

Getting to camp is a critical event in your recruiting efforts!

One of the biggest problems I see at camp is student-athletes not getting enough reps. Word to the wise: Take every rep as an opportunity to perform! The more reps the more opportunities you have to get evaluated. Have fun out there and understand this is your time to shine!

4. Build Relationships
Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to coaches after camp. Student-athletes who get out of their comfort zone tend to make a great first impression with a college coach. Shake hands and thank him for the opportunity. Have a copy of game and highlight film if available and be sure to follow up with the coach after the event. It can make a world of difference by just doing to the small things.

5. Be well rested (not a typo)!
That’s right student-athletes, I can’t stress enough how important it is to get proper rest in between camps. I see it time and time again when a student-athlete goes from one to camp to another without proper rest. You never know what school may be the most interested. Poor performance from lack of rest can seriously hinder your opportunities of getting recruited. Proper rest, big meals, and fluids are highly recommended!

Summer camps are where college coaches may find student-athletes who have the potential of being the right fit. Take these quick tips with you to camp and generate some serious buzz about yourself!

If you are fortunate enough to have options to choose which travel baseball team you should play for over the summer here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Which team are you going to receive more playing time with?

The only way to get better in baseball is by actually PLAYING the game.

2. Which team is playing better competition?

In addition to making sure you are playing, you have to make sure it is against good competition. The best way to get better is to play against guys who are better than you.

3. Where is the team traveling?

The summer time is an important time that college coaches do their recruiting. One of, if not, the most important factor coaches take in to account is seeing you play in person. Playing for your high school summer team usually doesn’t fit the bill in terms of gaining exposure or playing against good competition.

4. What is your budget?

In these economic times this is a difficult question, but it is a factor you need to consider. Many times the more travel required, the more expensive the team is to play for.

Don’t forget to incorporate attending some college camps and making a few visits over the summer. If you are traveling to a showcase or tournament with your summer team don’t be afraid to stop by some campuses to meet with some coaches. Lastly, be sure to be pro-active in terms of inviting college coaches out to see your games.

Making the right impression on a coaching staff is an extremely important part of the recruiting process.  Recruits make impressions in a lot of different ways; by sending a quality DVD and performing well at a combine or camp are a few of the better known mediums.  However, one of the underrated ways to make a solid impression is the unofficial visit.  Coaching staffs take these visits very seriously because they know its an incredible opportunity to make a first impression.

Tennessee Football Coach Lane Kiffin is going to great lengths to make a memorable impression at their Junior days.

More than 100 high school players, including several of Georgia’s elite prospects, attended Tennessee’s Junior Day. Things started off rather routine. “It was just like your normal Junior Day, with coaches and other people from the college talking,” Brookstone tight end Brian Vogler said. “You could see heads bobbing, with eyes falling a little bit. But the second they split us up from the parents, it got so much more intense.”

The prospects were led to the film room, where Kiffin thanked the recruits for making the trip and considering the Volunteers. “Then this other coach [assistant] got up there and said that Tennessee takes special teams very seriously, that it’s a big key to winning,” recalled Northview defensive lineman Denzel McCoy, who has 31 early scholarship offers.

“That coach said they get real fired up on special teams and yelled for everybody to ‘Get up, get on your feet, and get fired up about special teams.’ Then this other coach ripped off his shirt Superman style. It was crazy.”

After things appeared to calm down, Tennessee recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron gave a rousing pep talk, which caused the whole scene to repeat itself, only more intense. “The last time, everybody was hyped up and feeling it,” Loganville tailback Storm Johnson said. “People were jumping all over the place. It was rocking. You should’ve seen it. Even the podium got knocked over.”

Of course Coach Orgeron and Kiffin both served on the USC where this video was taken.

The point I want to make to recruits isn’t to rip off your shirts when you first meet a coach, but to be prepared to stand out in their own way. Take as many visits as possible and conduct yourself appropriately on those visits. Coaches are trying anything possible to stand out, and recruits need to do the same.

Researching schools is an essential part of the recruiting process.  A great new website that potential student-athletes can check out is Unigo.com.  The site is entirely free and while it is overseen by editors its built on content submitted by actual students at the university.  The information submitted isn’t just simple reviews, but a robust array of pictures and videos to give prospective students a more accurate view of what its like to actually attend a school.  You can also create customized social networks of potential students interested in specific schools or common characteristics.

Obviously, there is tremendous value in getting information directly from current students.  Athletes have a unique opportunity to get a snap shot inside a college’s athletic program by taking unofficial and official visits.  A little understood rule, is that students can begin taking unofficial visits as freshman.  The more schools you visit, the better your chances of finding the right fit.