NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

This past week I had the chance to talk with the top assistant coach of a division one basketball program that is one of the best in the country. Our conversation focused on walk-ons.

“I have always told kids that they should play at the college level where they are getting the most recruiting interest,” the assistant coach said. “Like any other program, we use walk-ons but we are very up front with them. We tell them it is highly unlikely they will play in games, or even in practice for that matter. They will be in the drills, but when we go live in practice they will be watching unless we have 3 guys out with bad ankles or something. Some walk-ons cling to that hope that one day they will play some. I tell them that if they do start playing then I get fired because it shows I am not doing the job in recruiting. The last thing I want is for walk-ons to play in games. For some reason, when a scholarship player leaves, walk-ons think that means playing time for them. We had a scholarship athlete transfer last summer. A walk-on wanted a meeting with our head coach to discuss his role. Well, his role didn’t change one bit. He wasn’t going to play because a scholarship player transferred.”

“I played Division 3 basketball and was even on the J.V. team part of that time,” added the assistant coach. “I loved playing. I’d hate to think what would have happened to me had I gone to a big school and just done intramurals. Who knows what I would have gotten into. Playing college sports kept me focused and set me up for a coaching career.”

I thought his comment about getting fired if walk-ons played was eye opening. It makes sense. It is why High School athletes need to be very careful about the walk-on route.

Final word:  Another great take on walking-on by Joseph Curtis.

The College World Series of softball is underway at Oklahoma City where the top eight teams are playing for the championship over the weekend.  If you have it in your dreams to be playing softball at the college level – are you following the games?  There are some great individual stories of the players how they had to overcome odds to make the teams as well as how teams progressed through the season.  There is Georgia who is making their first appearance in the world series with the youngest NCAA D1 team with 10 freshmen players and only two upperclassmen.

There is a great story about the University of Florida, catcher Kristina Hilberth took to get where she is today. She began as a freshman walk-on to now a school record holder in career fielding percentage (.995).  Learn about how she ‘earned and worked’ her way to the starting catcher role.

Don’t miss on supporting and watching the Women’s College World Series games over the weekend and championship early next week.

Be sure to check out what softball teams won the other division championships – NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, NAIA, NJCAA’s. (D1), (DII),  (DIII).

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. 

We’re halfway through the season and student-athletes need to understand where they are in the recruiting process. I recommend you narrow down your choices; get aggressive with college coaches, and find out where you stand on their recruiting board. I have implemented my 3 P’s to help you during the months of October, November, and December.

Positive: Understand that you are getting an opportunity many kids could only dream of. Always have a great attitude during your recruiting process. You will find this is one of the most exciting times in your life. I’ve always looked at recruiting like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get! 

Persistent: Like I said earlier, get aggressive! You are your own agent, market yourself to college coaches. Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons are great times to call college coaches. When you get home from practice or if you’re sitting around watching football, call some schools and find out how serious they are about giving you a roster spot.

Patience: During this time of the year college coaches are under a lot of pressure to not only win games, maintain their players, but to deal with their home life as well. By being patient and staying on top of your recruiting you will start to see the light at the end of tunnel. There will be a home for you if you are serious about playing!

Follow these guidelines and more importantly have fun! College sports are one of the foundations of this country. By working hard for your future you will not only set up yourself up for a great experience, but a successful career as well! 

I would like for you to reminisce to your former school years. I bet that for the most of you recess was a major part of your early experience. C’mon you remember the running, the jumping, the monkey bars, and most of all the “choosing of teams”.  The scene usually began when the two best athletes in the third grade would divide the class into two different teams. “I pick Tommy”; said the first captain, “okay than I pick Rickey” as you know this procedure would continue until the last two kids were standing. The captain with the next to last pick knew he had to make an important decision. “Which one do I pick, the guy with the thick glasses, or the kid with the two left feet”. 

When I talk to people about my recruiting experience, I always think of myself as the next to last guy to get the scholarship. Of course, my ex teammate at Clemson, Ed McDaniel, would usually argue on who got the last scholarship. Ed went on to be a great college linebacker and an all-pro with the Minnesota Vikings and remains a close buddy of mine.

Yes, you guessed it; I wasn’t highly recruited coming out of high school. It was really an accident on how I was discovered by the coaches at the University of South Carolina. I come from a very small town in South Carolina and in 1985 there were no recruiting services or the internet. So there were a lot of guys who were good players but no Division 1A coaches came to my region to recruit players. My high school coach, Terry Syters, gave me the heads up that some coaches from South Carolina were recruiting a football player from the other team, which we were going to play that night. I had a great game and a week later I got a letter from South Carolina. The following week I received a letter from Clemson University. The University of South Carolina and Clemson University, offered me a full scholarship and I was never again the next to last kid to get chosen again.

This story seems like a tale that had a happy ending and I did have a great college experience and went on to NFL and had a successful career. That same night when I was being discovered, another player from the opposing team was having an even better night. Sylvester Mayer, a sophomore running back, gained 200 yards on our defense and scored three touchdowns. He was amazing and I knew for sure that I would see his name in lights or maybe at the Heisman ceremonies.

Sylvester and I crossed paths later on in my junior year at Clemson University. He came from a junior college somewhere in Arizona, and came to Clemson as a walk-on.  He introduced himself and we became great friends for the next two years. We would work out together, hang out, and do what college guys do. This guy worked his butt off and was a pretty good player but he never played one down for Clemson. In his senior year, he quit the football team to focus on his studies. I never asked Sylvester why he quit the team because I already knew the answer. He wasn’t playing even on special teams and he had to pay for school himself.  We all know that playing collegiate sports on a full scholarship is hard work but could you imagine playing sports with no financial aid.

I know that my friend has no regrets and is doing well for himself; but I can’t help but wonder how my life and others like me could have benefitted from what NCSA does as a company.   We empower people and educate athletes and their families and lord knows my household needed that information.  I believe that giving back; is our greatness gift and I looking forward to the journey of giving back to the athletic community, with my new teammate at NCSA.

May God bless you as you walk the journey of life.

Levon Kirkland, NFL All-Pro

by Chris Krause, NCSA Founder and President

As the hype and hoopla of the upcoming college football season gets ready to kick-off next weekend, and all of our time and attention here at NCSA focuses on a new class of high school athletes in all sports who are entering the stretch run when it comes to getting noticed by college coaches and hoping for a full-ride scholarship, I want to talk to you about being the perfect walk-on player.

“Walking on???”, you say.  “Why are you going to talk to me about walking on to play sports at the college level?”

Because for many athletes, it’s what they choose to do.  In fact, it was almost the road that I took when I was searching for the right school as a high school athlete.

Furthermore, having the right “walk-on attitude” can help you right now as you compete for scholarships while you enter the final year (or years) of high school. 

I was reminded of that certain attitude when I ran across a great article about the walk-on football players at Marshall University.  In the article, it talks about how important the walk-on player for the program.  The reporter talked to an incoming Freshman walk-on player, Chris Bowers.  Bowers’ attitude was off the charts…here’s what the 6′ 2″, 280 lb. lineman had to say about his grueling pre-season workouts at Marshall University:

“It’s a privilege certainly,” Bowers said. “There are a lot of guys who would have loved to have been down here. They gave me the privilege and the shot to come down and show them what I can do.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity. It’s a strange perspective since I’ve been around it all my life, basically. Actually being on the field with the guys you’ve been watching for a couple of years, it’s a strange perspective.”

“And as a walk-on I know it’s going to be really difficult, because I don’t have to be a little bit better than the guy in front of me. I have to be a lot better, because they brought him in for a reason.”

The thing is, no matter what happens in Bowers’ college football career, he’s going to be successful in life.  If he perseveres, he’s going to come away with a work-ethic and attitude that will make him unbeatable in his post-college career, whatever it is.

Marshall’s coach, Mark Snyder, agrees:

“It’s a rough road for them,” Thundering Herd head coach Mark Snyder said. “They’re paying their own way to school, and you’re relegated to scout team work. And you’ve basically got to make a way out of no way.

“But what we’ve found is that most of the time those guys become great leaders, because they’ve had the adversity. They don’t take things for granted.

“Those kids have done a great job. They’ve worked hard, and I’m glad they’re on our football team.”

After listening to Coach Snyder and Chris Bowers, here’s why I think every high school athlete should take on the attitude – right now – of being determined to be the perfect walk-on player in college:

• You will put yourself in control of the recruiting process.  Of course you want a full-ride scholarship.  But even for really good athletes, that sometimes doesn’t happen (especially in non-revenue sports at the college level).  Think about it: If you make up your mind that you’ll probably be a walk-on player in college, you can take control and choose the best school for you, rather than waiting for phone calls from your dream school.
• You will develop an unbeatable positive attitude.  That’s something that you will take with you your entire life.  Having a “can do” attitude is something that employers (and college coaches) look for in people.  Look back at the quote from Chris Bowers at Marshall: Does it sound like he’s unhappy to be a walk-on?  Absolutely not!  He’s a part of a program he loves, and even though it’s hard work he knows he will benefit in the end.
• You will develop GREAT leadership skills.  Why?  Because you will have to go through a little more adversity than some of your fellow athletes.  And I can tell you, as someone who has built a successful organization from the ground up and has gone through his share of adversity on the field and in the corporate world, you will draw on your experiences as an college athlete to power you through to success.  The walk-ons of today will be the CEO’s of tomorrow.
• You will be more grateful for the chance to play sports.  Walk-on athletes at the college level talk about the renewed passion that they have for their sport at that level.  Why?  Because they have to work harder to continue playing the sport they love, which propels them towards better performances in their sport.  Sometimes you have to go through a little adversity to launch you to the next level.
• Chances are, if you stick with it, you’ll earn a scholarship.  As you begin to hear from college coaches this year, don’t be surprised if they tell you that they have a policy of not giving incoming Freshmen scholarship money.  However, they will also talk about kids who stick with it, make the team, and then are awarded healthy scholarships for the rest of their college career.  My message here is that your hard work will pay off; usually with scholarship money, and almost certainly with new leadership abilities, more maturity, and with the ability to overcome obstacles in your life after college.

So, right now in high school, develop the attitude of the perfect walk-on player.  Decide to have the attitude right now, before you need it, that you WILL play college sports no matter what.  And, if it comes to taking a walk-on opportunity in your sport, you will look at it as an opportunity to build yourself into not just a better athlete, but a better person as well.

To maximize your opportunities to play college sports, I’d love to have my team of more than 70 former college athletes and coaches here at NCSA be able to help you through the process.  If you haven’t registered your athletic qualifications with us yet, click here.

Before I begin this post, I want you all to see the infamous “Rudy”, when Daniel Ruettiger comes into the game on Georgia Tech’s final drive of the game and sacks GT’s quarterback, Rudy Allen. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing, feel free to forward it to the 1:30 mark to see the sack in all its glory.

I know what you’re thinking — “Where are the ‘RU-DY’ chants? Where is the dramatic solo sack and the entire crowd giving him a standing ovation? Where is the radio announcer praising Rudy’s name? And where is the triumphant Jerry Goldsmith score?”

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Only in the movies.” Well, this scenario definitely did not played out as advertised in the movie.

With regard to “Rudy,” multiple members of NCSA’s staff can be heard saying, “Great film. Bad story.”

Case in point, this article about Vanderbilt senior linebacker Bo Baggerley in the Tennessean. The article essentially praises the four-year walk-on for his dedication to Vandy’s program, despite not seeing an ounce of playing time, a la the movie namesake himself.

The difference here, however, is that Baggerley could’ve played somewhere else.

A two-time all-state selection and a four-sport standout at Stratford Academy in Macon, Ga., where he played with current Middle Tennessee State defensive tackle Trevor Jenkins, Baggerley was equally accomplished in the classroom. He graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average and a desire to attend an academically challenging university.

“He was looking at several different schools — Duke, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest,” Buddy Baggerley said about the oldest of his four children. “He wanted to go play football somewhere and go to a school that, when he got a degree, it would help him get into medical school.”

Despite his football credentials, though, the only recruiting interest came from smaller schools that didn’t offer athletic scholarships or the name recognition Bo sought. The son of two Auburn graduates, making the decision to walk on at an SEC school was an easy one.

And as much as I admire his work-ethic and dedication to prepping the first-team offense for Saturdays, I can’t help but wonder for him — “What if?”

What if he looked past the “BCS-mania” and the name-game? What if he got an athletic OR academic scholarship to a Div. II or III school with a fantastic and well-known pre-med program and actually got to play, or even start, for his school? 

Instead, Baggerley decided to walk-on at a big Div. I school with Rudy-esque expectations, figuring that if he worked hard enough, he’d get to play. And on top of that, his family has to pay about $25,000 per year for his education.

Needless to say, it looks as if this movie isn’t going to have a happy ending.

So here’s the thing: As a student-athlete, you get the opportunity to write, produce and direct your own screenplay. Make sure you do your research, and hopefully at the end, you’ll feel like you just won an Oscar.

The Pac-10 Conference is called the “Conference of Champions” for a good reason.  In 2007-2008 the conference captured 13 NCAA Team Championships far more then its runner up, Big Ten (5).  These 13 championships is one shy of the record 14 set in 1996-1997.  The Pac-10 has lead the nation in NCAA Championships 41 of the last 47 years.  They also finished second five times in that span.

College recruiting can be an intimidating entity.

It’s a long and elaborate process that is chock-full of questionnaires, phone calls, letters, brochures, summer camps, campus visit, interviews, etc. Don’t believe me? Check this story out.

What’s probably the most frightening, though, is what happens at the end of all this work — your final college decision. Take Zeke Motta in the story:

“I’m just trying to weigh out what ultimately I want to go to — a top-10 perennial school that is going to be competing for a national championship every year or going to a school that has great academics but is maybe only going to qualify for a BCS Bowl once every two years or something like that,” Motta said. “I am trying to find a mix of good academics and great football.

“It’s a big decision.”

Indeed it is. But luckily, it doesn’t have to be the only decision. Let me explain.

Here at the NCSA, the end goal is for all of our student-athletes to attend a college with the right academic and athletic fit. And the vast majority of the time, that happens.

But sometimes, something goes wrong — the head coach who recruited you leaves, you’re not getting enough playing time at your current school, you decide you don’t want to play your sport anymore, you want to attend a larger school, your sport takes up too much time. Whatever the reason, people will change their mind about things, including what college to enroll in.

But does that mean you have to be miserable for however many years you have left of college? Of course not. If you don’t like the situation you’re in at your current university, transferring always is an option.

This isn’t to say that every time something doesn’t go your way, it’s time to back your bags and head for the hills. College is designed to prepare you for adulthood, and part of that means learning how to make the best of a not-so-great situation. And with transferring comes the chance of having to sit out a year, losing a year of eligibilty or not being able to play your sport at all, so definitely make sure to do your research and talk to the college coaches at the other schools you’re interested in.

Ultimately, however, if you’ve found yourself unhappy with your college choice for an extended period of time, transferring to another school that has what you’re looking for might be, and usually is, the best path to take.

The college recruiting experience has many twists and turns.  There are many factors that play into recruiting for a student-athlete but one they have control over is doing the research.  Every student-athlete’s process is completely unique and different.  Doing research on the colleges and the process should be one of the top priorities!

Not only is the Stanford University one of the top academics schools in the country but it is also one of the best athletic programs (Stanford has won 14 consecutive Directors’ Cup).  The Stanford baseball program is a regulaly in the College World Series and is a two time National Champion. 

The Baseball Assistant Coach Dean Stotz at Stanford talks about the importance of research and choosing a college; “I have been doing this a long time, and if I may be so bold, I would like to help you simplify the process of selecting what college you will attend. First of all, please have respect for the magnitude of this college decision. You will live with this decision THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! This is not a “four year” decision, but a “FORTY YEAR DECISION”. There are no “mulligans”, no “do-overs”. Consider the task as if you are doing the most important research paper of your young life. The title of your research paper is: Where will I attend college? Now, how do you do well on a research paper?–RESEARCH!!!

There are three broad areas of risk in your college decision. You must decide what type of “academic challenge”, what type of “baseball challenge”, and what type of what I call “social challenge” you wish to take on.  In Coach Marquess’s and my 31 years we have not graduated 9 people who attended Stanford for four years.” What do you think?  Please post a comment on this topic!!