What Should I Be Doing In My Sophomore Year In High School?

In less than a year, college coaches will be allowed to start contacting you. On September 01 of your Junior year, your recruiting process will begin. As a result, it is imperative that you devise a plan of action now.

Below are three suggestions for you to consider during your sophomore year of high school to optimize your college recruitment experience:

DETERMINE THE BEST FIT FOR YOU

Create an expansive list of schools/programs that meet your specific needs and desires.  Among factors to consider are affiliation level (NCAA I, II, III, NAIA, and JUCO), competitiveness of the program, cost of attendance, quality of education, geographical location, intended academic major, enrollment size, public vs private, and other factors that matter to YOU.

Do not be mesmerized by the name of a school. See beyond the prowess of their football and basketball programs or their academic reputation. Make sure the schools you choose meets your needs for reasons beyond it simply being cool to tell the world you will be running or studying at a particular school. There is much more to college track and field than simply Division I.

Create a list of schools that you would be happy at without track and field – just in case your athletic career does not go as planned.

TAKE CHARGE 

Do not be passive. Start reaching out to college coaches now from the schools on your list. In my personal dealings with high school student-athletes, I often heard prospects state that the schools on their list were comprised solely of programs that contacted them. If a program you’re interested in does not reach out to you, reach out to them! You will be surprised at how effective personally reaching out will enhance your recruiting experience.

Start to visit colleges during your sophomore year. Take a campus tour, check out the athletic facilities and eat lunch at a local restaurant. Start to get an idea of what it is you want in a college. You can’t sit down and speak with the coach until your Junior year, but you if you happen to bump into them you can say, hi.

COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY

Over the span of my twenty year coaching career, I learned that communication is the most important element to reaching your goals. It is imperative that you learn to communicate openly and effectively with your parents, high school coach, and college coaches.

Because it is only your sophomore year college coaches are not allowed to respond to your emails and other forms of communication, but now is still a good time to start reaching out. Fill out their online questionnaire. Send an email expressing your interest in their program and give them a brief overview of who you are as an athlete and student.

Your sophomore year is a great time to begin readying yourself for the process that is about to begin. You should view this time as your pre-season training. Although there will be no meets during this time the work and preparation that you do now will be critical to future success.

 

Football Camps & Basketball Camps: How to know if you performed well in the eyes of college coaches

Lots of camp and showcase information going on at the moment on twitter and instagram.  Been watching all the videos and the feedback for the multitude of athletes trying to get an opportunity.  It seems to be growing and growing and growing.  Even showcases that werent that big back in the day, are now big.  If you are not seizing the opportunity to be known or seen, you have problems.  I actually miss going to them and seeing whats out there.  It was even more enjoyable when i was able to see my own experience a lot of success from them.

I can only imagine the hundreds and thousands of dollars each year that are spent on football and basketball camps throughout the country.  While I am sure everyone has dreams of a scholarship during that time, the realistic factor is that it rarely happens.  I am willing to guess that the percentage is somewhere in the single digits.

But lets say you received a lot of interest from schools via the phone during May and you attend their camp.  While you may think you did outstanding, how exactly do you know that you have been standing out against the stellar competition?  Outside of receiving a scholarship offer, there are important things in each sport that show you have excelled against your opponents.

In football camps, the main thing that the coaches will do if they are pleased with a handful of prospects is pull them aside away from the bigger group.  What the coaches are usually doing is having the best among that group go head to head and see how they react and respond when going each other.  These talented prospects are no longer going against kids that hope to start varsity the next season.  They are now going against potential college players. This happens very often at the line positions.  As I have mentioned before, it is very easy to figure out the top few linemen at a camp where they go 1-on-1.  The coaches may pull aside the linemen and have them battle better prospects on the side.  While it doesn’t mean a scholarship is in the bag, it does show that the coaches have been watching you.  And now you will have the opportunity to go against more talented competition.

Please note that all coaches are going to tell you throughout the camp that you are doing a good job.  With the money that you spent to make an appearance there, don’t expect them to tell you suck and that you are wasting your money.  Basically what I am saying is don’t put too much stock into what a coach tells you during drills.

Some camps may also hold the top prospects back after the day and have them tour the campus.  If the coaches eventually feel that you are good enough for the offer, they want you are familiar with the school as possible.  They use this approach in both football and basketball camps so them inviting you to stay later for a tour is usually a great thing.

In basketball camps, what a lot of college coaches will do is have their own players work the camps.  The majority of the camps then will have games at night where the college players are playing pickup basketball.  If a recruit does really well and shines during the camp, he will be asked to play that night against the college competition.

If you get that chance, let me stress that there is a huge difference between college and high school basketball.  It will be a big change for you but you might as well give it your all.  I have seen many college basketball coaches do this so they can get a feel for the player.  Afterwards, the coach can talk to his players to see what they thought about you.  While watching is a great tool, hearing from someone who just competed against you may be even better.

And the final indicator of a fantastic performance following a camp is having the head coach bring you into their offices (Expect huge offices for Division I coaches) and eventually offering you a scholarship.  If that is not the case, get ready to hear the most over used line in recruiting.  We will keep evaluating you and your progress this fall.

Rivals doesn’t care about Scout’s rankings, Scout doesn’t care about 247Sports’s rankings, and SOME college coaches don’t care about any of it

With the rise of Internet recruiting rankings for all sports over the past decade, you have seen “experts” come out of the woodwork and make a name for themselves. The truth unfortunately is that many never played football and don’t even know all that much about the game. They were just in the right place at the right time.

What that means is the only rankings that a site like Rivals cares about is their own. They could careless what Scout has you ranked at or how highly Tom Lemming thinks of you. These sites are all independent of one another and they honestly don’t care where you are rated by another site.

I recently had a parent email me regarding his son. He was telling me about he was the ranked by recruiting service in the country. The parent felt that this ranking should also help him get attention by Rivals, Scout, and other website that this parent can find and contact.  Well….. based on what I’ve or we experienced, it seems that they DO feed off each other.  Attention from one, seemed to draw attention from the other.  Depending on who writes the post or article, can really change the game for the athlete because everyone is on social media and reads what is going on with everyone else.  The key is you have to “play the game” even if you dont believe in the game’s substance.  Become a master at the game and that game will work for you.

I, at first, did struggle with some rankings ESPECIALLY after some high profile showcases we went to.  I remember in particular, The Opening.  I watch my 170lb 10th grade, DE DESTROY 4 & 5 star Olineman all day.  One was going to Alabama, another was going to Notre Dame, another was going to Michigan State, etc……   The problem with rankings of players is that no site can honestly say that they think a player is really the <insert ranking here> best player at his position. Do you really think they watch tape of the 57 players in front of him and eventually say that your son is just below #57 and just ahead of #59? They make assumptions because no one has the time or resources to watch all of those videos.  Some do watch highlight video SOMETIMES, but it is impossible to watch or rank a player against other players they have never seen.

The same can be said regarding just about any other list or ranking. Do you know what impresses recruiting experts and college coaches? It is scholarship offers. If you really have a scholarship offer from a school like USC, Texas, or Florida, that can help open a lot of doors for you in the football recruiting world. The same can be said about North Carolina, Kentucky, and Kansas for basketball.  They add points to schools per Power 5, etc..  The bigger name, ranking, of the school, the better you will be ranked.  The algorithms used for ranking an athlete is complex.  It is.  But lots of factors figure into that ranking such as what i described which i’ll right about at a later time.  In general, the bigger name the school, the more points are added to your ranking.

As proven by Miami a few weeks back, college coaches are not going to win games by just recruiting the top tier athletes as ranked by Scout, Rivals, ESPN, and whoever else (although Kentucky basketball will certainly be trying). They need to find players that fit their system, buy in, and work hard.

If you are the #53 offensive center in the country but are 5-foot-8, then do you really think you will have more opportunities than the #65 center that is 6-foot-3? Rankings like these mean so very little outside of giving an athlete a little recognition. These experts may get to see film but they obviously don’t have the ability to see everyone of these players up close. And the best athletes are able to showcase their skills at Nike combines during the off-season that can catch the attention of experts because they are freak athletes.

I used to think college coaches don’t care about where you are ranked by a recruiting service until we walked into 2 specific schools coaches offices and saw the 247sports site up as they were going thru players.  Think about it…. how else would they know about kids unless they do what everybody else is doing?  In going thru the recruiting process, you need to show that your son is talented, can play in his highlight tape, and do a good job marketing him.

The more media interest in you, the better that it will help your athletic recruiting

One mistake that I have seen a lot in the last few years regarding recruits is that they dont understand the power of the media in the recruiting process.  They do not understand the dynamics of marketing or selling ones self and how using a lot of free means is the way to do it.  Twitter and Instagram can be your best friends if you know how to use them.

How many times have we been on recruiting trips where i, as a parent, walk into a coaches office and they have 247sports up looking at potentials.  I mean, how else do you think they get to know about athletes unless they use social media.  Due to rules, money, budgets, lack of hours in a day, it is almost impossible to get to know who all is out there.  In the old days, it was news papers and word of mouth.  Now it IS social media.  And it works well.   While the college coaches will read an article or a post on a social media site,  no matter what Rivals/Scout/ESPN/etc. website it is on, unless you are a top fifty recruit, you are not in a position to pick and choose what sites write about you.  This means, you want to be on EVER site, every means that will put your name out there.

The reason that I am writing this article is partially out of frustration but more out of how I feel about recruiting interest. I understand that athletes are busy and sometimes don’t have the extra time in a day to do social media even including multiple interviews they ask for after a visit for example can be taxing. But most of the athletes that have many requests everyday for these multiple interviews already have scholarship offers.

An interesting fact……. I have been told by many college coaches that what some of the lower level coaches at their school do is print articles that have to do with kids that they are recruiting. It could be on any sites on any network and yet the coaches will still see this. And while my opinion is bias because they declined the articles (I am not going to try sugarcoating that any other way), I still think it is a huge mistake.

As I have said before, the more attention you can get in newspapers, magazines, and websites, the better. If a coach from the Division I-AA school near you has not been recruiting you but sees that State University is after you, then they will likely add you to their prospective recruiting list. And since State University has a limited number of options for scholarships, you need to keep your options open. As I have said many, many times before, recruiting is a game and you just never know what will happen.

So if you receive a call from a site on any of those networks or a newspaper, I would recommend doing it. The interview should last less than ten minutes and the biggest thing that it does is help get your name out there. And by out there I mean in front of college coaches and fans. Some may consider it bragging or hyping yourself up but those same people are not the ones with the ability to earn a college scholarship in the coming months.

WOMENS TRACK RECRUITING TIMELINE

he dash down the track in the recruitment process will depend on how well you’re able to develop relationships with coaches, improve on your skills and earning the grades in the classroom. Timing with coaches and persistence are important in being a standout for track coaches.

Freshmen Year

• Research 2-3 schools per week
• Create a list of 100 prospective schools consider both athletics and academics
• Send introduction letters to coaches
• Go on at least 3 unofficial visits to colleges
• Build relationships by making phone calls, send letters and emails
• Attend camps with the goals of honing your skills and to gain exposure

Talking to coaches in the Track Recruiting Process

Rules/Tips to Remember:

• Coaches are watching your development throughout high school at camps, in school and on the field
• Standouts are proactive, it’s never too early for YOU to write a letter or make a call to coaches
• DI and DII coaches can’t personally contact you until Junior year, but YOU can contact them
• DIII and NAIA coaches can contact you at anytime
• Important to do be familiar with the school both athletically and academically

Sophomore Year

• Film your highlights tape
• Get an evaluation of your skills tape
• Continue to research prospective schools
• Continue to build relationships with coaches by making calls, sending letters, emails
• Fill out questionnaires
• Make unofficial visits

Rules/Tips to Remember:

September 1^st is the first day DI and DII coaches can send you personalized letters and emails

Developing Relationship with coaches in the Track/Cross Coutnry Recruiting

Junior Year

• Film your highlights tape
• Follow-up with coaches you’ve contacted in a TIMELY manner
• Ask coaches where you stand on their recruits list
• Fill out questionnaires
• Join camps or clinics to hone skills and gain exposure
• Respond to EVERY coach
• Make unofficial visits to schools
• Narrow down your prospective schools list

Rules/Tips to Remember:

• If you haven’t heard from DI coaches, start reaching out to DII, DIII and NAIA programs
• Contact coaches at least once per week
• Senior year Fall/Winter- DI coaches will start making offers

Senior Year

• Make official visits – only allowed 5
• Send coaches your season schedule
• Follow-up with coaches and respond in a TIMELY manner
• Apply to the schools- applications
• Apply for Financial aid – FAFSA.ed.gov starting Jan. 1^st
• Sign and Commit to a school and program (Signing period is Feb. 1-Aug. 1)
• Find out the summer workout schedule
• Get ready for an experience of a lifetime

MEN’S TRACK RECRUITING TIMELINE

Track teams are large and developing relationship is essential. Don’t wait until Junior year to gain your spot on the roster. Freshmen and Sophomore years focus on approaching coaches, evaluating your skills and developing your strengths. Stay in touch with coaches and anticipate calls your Junior year.

Freshmen Year

• Research 2-3 schools per week
• Create a list of 100 prospective schools consider both athletics and academics
• Send introduction letters to coaches
• Go on at least 3 unofficial visits to colleges
• Build relationships by making phone calls, send letters and emails
• Attend camps with the goals of honing your skills and to gain exposure

Rules/Tips to Remember:

• Coaches are watching your development throughout high school at camps, in school and on the field
• Standouts are proactive, it’s never too early for YOU to write a letter or make a call to coaches
• DI and DII coaches can’t personally contact you until Junior year, but YOU can contact them
• DIII and NAIA coaches can contact you at anytime
• Important to do be familiar with the school both athletically and academically

Sophomore Year

• Film your highlights tape
• Get an evaluation of your skills tape
• Continue to research prospective schools
• Continue to build relationships with coaches by making calls, sending letters, emails
• Fill out questionnaires
• Make unofficial visits

Rules/Tips to Remember:

September 1^st is the first day DI and DII coaches can send you personalized letters and emails

Junior Year

• Film your highlights tape
• Follow-up with coaches you’ve contacted in a TIMELY manner
• Ask coaches where you stand on their recruits list
• Fill out questionnaires
• Join camps or clinics to hone skills and gain exposure
• Respond to EVERY coach
• Make unofficial visits to schools
• Narrow down your prospective schools list

Rules/Tips to Remember:

• If you haven’t heard from DI coaches, start reaching out to DII, DIII and NAIA programs
• Contact coaches at least once per week
• Senior year Fall/Winter- DI coaches will start making offers

Senior Year

• Make official visits – only allowed 5
• Send coaches your season schedule
• Follow-up with coaches and respond in a TIMELY manner
• Apply to the schools- applications
• Apply for Financial Aid- FAFSA.ed.gov starting Jan. 1^st
• Sign and Commit to a school and program (Signing period is Feb. 1-Aug. 1)
• Find out the summer workout schedule
• Get ready for an experience of a lifetime

Five Steps to a Scholarship

First off, I want to personally thank you for taking a look at what I feel are five necessary steps to earning a college scholarship.  For those serious about giving themselves the best shot to impress college coaches, these are the steps that will be essential during the recruiting process.

Some people still believe that if you are good enough, college coaches will find you.  The problem with that assumption is Division III coaches will be the ones that find you.  And while there is nothing wrong with playing college athletics at the Division III level, you are not reading this e-book and visiting Recruiting-101 to pay tuition rates for some of the most expensive schools in the country that legally cannot offer scholarship money due to athletics.

These five steps are similar to what have already been posted on the site but have been updated and include new tidbits of information.  If you have received this, I assume you are now an email subscriber to Recruiting-101 and also want to say thank you for signing up.

If you have any friends that are going through the athletic recruiting process, please feel free to forward this along to them and introduce them to the Recruiting-101 website.  The more people that come to the site, the more often updates will come regarding the ever changing recruiting process.

If you have any questions specifically related to the recruiting process, please visit the site and either contact me or post a comment following an article.

Going back to the five steps of a scholarship, doing these will put you in the best position to showcase your skills in order to be evaluated by college coaches.  While not everyone has the ability to play athletics at the scholarship level, these steps are your best opportunities to find a school that fits you as a person and will help you grow.

Here are a few other resources that Recruiting-101 has authored that takes even more in-depth looks at the recruiting process.  They are available for sale now:

Step One: Build a Recruiting Profile

The first step to earning an athletic scholarship is to build an informative recruiting profile that you can distribute to college coaches. Even for parents or athletes that lack computer skills, this is something that can be easily done in a Word Document, Google Docs, or a PDF so take the time to learn the skills needed to put together a professional looking profile.

Before putting your profile together, realize that college coaches only are concerned with high school stats/testing numbers that matter.  If you have not played an extensive amount of time at the varsity level, just wait until further along in your career.  College coaches will not recruit you if you scored 34 points in a freshman game. They don’t care if you were an Underclassmen All American or excelled at a national combine that is focused on making money.  All of this is great but you need to be realistic overall of the time that college coaches have.  Here is what I feel should be included in your recruiting profile:

Contact Information
It is important to send the coach as much contact information as possible. Include an address, phone numbers (home and cell), email addresses (yours and your parents), and even social media handles. Also talk to your coach about including his or her contact information. College coaches would much rather hear that you can play from a coach rather than your parent.  This will never change when it comes to the recruiting process.  If the college coach feels that you may have the skills to play at their level, including all relevant contact information will allow him or her to contact you when things get serious in the recruiting process. For parents, resist the urge to be overbearing and make sure to include the phone numbers for your children.  This is a process that you cannot micromanage so just trust in the fact that you have raised your kids well enough to be able to handle the recruiting process at times without you looking over their shoulders.  Providing this information will give you an advantage over other recruits because they know that you are interested in their school.  If they are interested, you have simplified a big step in the process.

Grades & Academic Information
Coaches know what it will take academically to get into their school so make sure that they are aware of your grades and test scores. If you have worked hard in high school academically, this should be something you are proud of and want them to see. If you have taken your ACT and SAT already, make sure to include those scores. The majority of the schools around the country do not have Ivy League standards so even if you have a 3.3 and a 23 ACT, that is still a strong resume academically. Most coaches seek out kids with these grades because that you will have no trouble getting past admissions. If you have talked to the guidance counselor to learn your class rank, throw that information in as well. As with contact information, the more academic information that you can provide the coach, the better. What also makes grades important is that many feel the better grades you get, the better kid you are overall. While I am not saying all kids with low grades are bad kids, it does show you can focus and succeed at something outside of your sport of choice.

Athletic Accomplishments
Make sure you are being realistic about this and not rounding your numbers up. The last thing you would want a coach to find out is that you were dishonest about your stats. So if you rushed for 956 yards, put that instead of 1,000. Keep things realistic because the coaches will eventually find out if things are exaggerated. Other areas to talk about in this portion of the athletic recruiting profile include individual stats, post season honors (try to avoid putting in preseason honors because that doesn’t really say a whole lot), team records, and team accomplishments. Combine accomplishments do not matter either.  Another good thing to add is accomplishments in other sports. Even if it is a 20-10 wrestling record or a letter earned in track, college coaches like to see athletes who play multiple sports. It shows that you are well rounded and have not been focusing on a certain sport your whole life. Football coaches love to see when a lineman plays basketball or wrestles. That is just an added dimension of athleticism that is good for you in the recruiting process.

A Picture
You might as well allow them to see a picture of you with a big smile on your face. If you visit the school in the future, this should help them have a clue who you are when you finally meet face to face. This picture will help that along if it is the athlete without a helmet on. Some schools have the coaches memorize the players’ names so when they come on a visit, they can make them feel at home immediately. Having a picture on your profile can really further this process along.

Format
I mentioned earlier that you can put it together in a Word or PDF document. Another option is using Microsoft Excel. When sending these out, make sure to not use an obscure program that causes the coaches any trouble in opening.  Send the profile out to multiple family members in order to make sure they all have no problems opening it.  If there is a problem, seek a solution.

Things to Avoid
College coaches will not want to waste their time reading irrelevant information. I said it is important to provide a lot of things about yourself but I don’t think being named MVP of the sophomore team will help you earn a scholarship. Try to look at things from the eyes of the college coaches and what would help them recruit you.

Conclusion
This recruiting profile is an important introduction of yourself to the coaching staff. While it may not seem like much, it is a good way to introduce a lot of coaches to your skills. It is easy to grab email addresses off of college websites and that can make things much easier than writing letters. Think of this as your athletic recruiting resume. It will help open doors for you at the next level so make it professional. When looking for a coach, if you have not heard from anyone at the school, try and find information on the recruiting coordinator.  That is the first place you should start when sending these out.

Step Two: Finding Schools that Fit

The second step to earning an athletic scholarship is finding schools that match you. In order to be successful at the college level, you need to think of a variety of things that could factor into the college decision process.  These areas will not be weighed the same but should be talked about.

Location
Most athletes don’t want to go to school in the same city that they grew up in but they also don’t want to be 1,000 miles away. Do you want that comfort zone where you are not too close or too far away? Think about what factor location would play in your decision.

Athletics

Another area to consider when looking for that potential college is finding a fit athletically. If your coaches feel that you are a Division II athlete, then chances are probably good that you are.   So if you are looking for a fit athletically, you want to find a school that matches your abilities.  Finding a fit athletically where you can succeed will help you enjoy your college experience a great deal.  In order to find that fit, talk to your coaches and anyone who has a feel for your sport in college about what level you can play.

Academics

You may not know your major early on (especially when you are 17 or 18) but think about what you are interested in. These areas may eventually help you pick what field you decide to go into after school so think long and hard about this. If you are interested in engineering and looking at programs that do not offer it or have poor programs, it would seem to me you are wasting your time.  Many athletes go to college undecided but have a good feel for what interests them.  It may be Business, Biology, or Computer Science.  While that may not be the path you eventually take, you should know what your interests are and have those factor into your decision.  Transferring out after two years because they don’t offer a field you are interested in should cross your mind at this point.

Social Aspects

The next fit you must find is a school that meets what you want socially. If you want to find a laid back place or a strict school, these are available all throughout the country. Would you be more interested in a military academy or a party school? Think about what you want to accomplish at the college level. This could help you find that match.  If you consider those around you uptight and too strict, you may be more comfortable at another school.
Finding Potential Schools
Once you feel you know what you are looking for, go to this website: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ/state/.  This is a website that lists all of the colleges throughout the country. If I was searching for my future college, the first thing I would think about is location. More than major or athletics, distance could play a factor. How many students leave a school because they are home sick? While you may not be sure if you are that type of person, keep location in mind when looking at the list of colleges.

Narrowing Things Down

After you have narrowed it down to a location, start looking strongly at the athletics offered. If you are a lineman on the small side for a football player, it probably it not worth looking into the power Division I programs in your area. Think about what schools may be of interest for you and fit the criteria you are looking for. Really take some time and write out what you are looking for in a potential school. Then once you get to that website and research your options, you will not just be surfing websites. You are finding potential fits for you at the college level. Chances are good that you will spend four or five years of your life there so focus on what you want in your future.  The above linked site is also helpful because it allows you to search quickly on new schools that may have just sent mail.

Money Could and Should Factor In

One note that I want to make that could throw a wrench in all of this matching is if a school that doesn’t match what you want offers you a scholarship. What should you do then? That is a tough question to answer because leaving college debt free is something most people wish they could have done. That may not be realistic in some sports but I would not go to a school for free that does not offer what I am looking for academically. Having student loans are better than going into a field you are not interested in because you will be doing more schooling later on in life.  The athlete needs to look at the repayment plan as well for student loans to see if they want to be paying thousands of dollars over an extended period of time.

Conclusion

You have a chance to play athletics for the next four or five years. Your academics will help you find a job for the next 40 plus years of your life. So think about it carefully when accepting a scholarship just because it is a scholarship. It may be tough to turn down money to play a sport you love but you need to find a school that is a good fit for you overall athletically, academically, and socially.

Step Three: Market Yourself to Coaches

The third step to earning an athletic scholarship is to market yourself to the college coaches.  If you are skipping steps, make sure to go through step two beforehand.  You need to find the schools that match what you are looking for and that is what the second step is all about. After you have found those matches and put together your recruiting profile, now is the time to get the attention he or she deserves.

Finding Contact Information

What you will need to do is delve further into the college websites and onto their athletic pages. If you have done a good job researching them, you will have already seen the athletic pages and what the school has to offer in sports. Now you will be going to the page on a mission to find an email address of the recruiting coordinator of the sport your son or daughter plays. If there is no recruiting coordinator, find a coach who you feel most comfortable sending the information to. You may find that by looking at their bios and seeing their background. If you have something in common with the, bring it up in the email.

The main area you will be looking for on the athletic site is the staff directory. This has email addresses from everyone in athletics, including the athletic director, coaches, compliance officers, and sports information directors. There will be a lot of email addresses if you are able to find the staff directory so know the name of the coach you are looking for.  Before finding this, go to the sporting page and read the information about coaches.  Once you have found which coach you plan to send the information to, then look for this staff directory.

One thing to look out for is many coaches do not have their email address listed. Instead, they have a secretary’s email address listed that is the default email for all coaches. If this is the case, then you want take a different attack than if you have the coach’s email address.

Writing the Email

If you have the email address of the coach, you will want to write an email introducing yourself, your son or daughter, and including the athletic recruiting profile that you have already put together as an attachment. This is an introductory email that should be short and to the point. Say a little bit about your child and that you have researched schools and this program is one you are interested in. Keep it very friendly and offer to do anything to help them in the recruiting process.  Include your highlight video link in the email as well as your profile.

If it is the email address of a secretary, email this person with an intro email about your child and what high school they play at. Say you are interested in emailing the coach you are looking for. I would not include the athletic recruiting profile with this email.

Stay on Top of your Emails

Obviously not all coaches are going to respond but they should at least email back saying something like they will get back to you. That is the polite thing to do but does not happen in all cases. When emailing coaches, try to keep a log to know which ones you have and have not emailed. If one coach doesn’t get back to you in two weeks, try one to two more times.  If that doesn’t work, it may be best to try another coach at the school. You could also try calling and speaking with the coach as well but this is something few high school athletes want to do.

If the original coach does not respond, make sure to not give up.  You honestly have no idea what emails get caught in spam filters and which ones are not read.  What you are looking for is an honest answer.  They could tell you that they are not interested but at least you know one way or another.  I doubt that coaches would actually say that because you just never know what could happen but getting a definite answer one way or the other is required in this step.

Returning Questionnaires

Another way to help with your marketing is by returning the questionnaires that the schools send you or has available on their website.  If you have a lot of this type of mail from coaches, you could print out a copy of your recruiting profile when sending it back.  If you do this, make sure to include a note to the coaches and say something about their program.  If all you send back is a recruiting profile, they may think you are big timing them.

Coaches really find these questionnaires as an important gauges if a recruit is interested in a program.  The letter may get lost in the mail but if a coach doesn’t hear back, there are chances that the school will no longer recruit the athlete.  It is important to consider all of your options so fill out these questionnaires and do it well.

Step Four: Make a Quality Highlight Tape

The fourth step to earning an athletic scholarship is to put together a quality highlight video. Athletes in football rely on putting together a quality highlight recruiting video that showcases your abilities. If you have a bad tape, chances are that the college coaches will quickly move on to another recruit.  Unless you have already excelled at their camp, putting together a good highlight video is something that is essential for the recruiting process.  The majority of this advice is focused on football recruits but like all articles on Recruiting-101, it does apply to other sports as well.  If a coach is unable to see you during the season or you need to get your foot in the door recruiting wise, a highlight tape is critical.

If you are sending out your video online, make sure that you have a full game tape available (either online or in DVD form upon request) as well as all the background information about the athlete with the recruiting profile.  On the DVDs I have made in the past for college football coaches, they have consisted of three different parts. This includes a highlight video, a full game tape, and more about the athlete.  Making DVDs like this has helped athletes land at all levels of college, including Division I, I-AA, II, and III.

Here is what I feel the three parts are.

The Highlight Video

Unless you are among the top football players in the country, you will not receive a scholarship offer just based on the highlight portion of your tape. But this is the time that college coaches will finally get a chance to see your best plays over the course of your career.  In a lot of cases, the coach will make a decision either to pursue you as a recruit or take you off of their athletic recruiting list. So when it comes down to it, this really is a vital part of the recruiting process. There are conflicting reports about how many highlight clips should be included in this segment and they vary from 12 to 40, depending of course. I have also seen highlight videos that last over ten minutes and include every positive clip from the previous season. A five yard gain up the middle will not help recruiting. So with that in mind, try to keep the video between 20 to 40 plays and somewhere between four to eight minutes if possible. With the amount of tapes that these coaches have to go through, few have more than five minutes to spare on each prospect.

When picking out these clips, it is important that the quality of video is as good as you can get. If you are a parent, you may have to tape the games yourself. It may be tough to do this, but if it could help your child get a scholarship, it may be worth it. Also speak with the head coach of the team to see what kind of video footage you can get your hands on. It seems that the bigger the school, the better quality of tape but that really can vary from school to school.  Asking opposing teams about getting video highlights can work at times as well.

Make sure that your best plays are early in the tape.  If anything, order the plays and put the very best first, then second, and so on.  College coaches are sent thousands of tapes each year.  You need to jump out on the video and the best way to do that is include your very best highlights early on.  If not, the coach has more than enough other tapes to watch and will quickly move on to another recruit.

In a lot of cases, it may be worth the initial investment to have a professional produce your highlight DVD. Now that doesn’t mean you have to spend in the thousands to get a quality product. I would advise looking online or locally.  One company that we have worked with, www.highlight-videos.com, focuses only on creating highlight tapes for athletes and does not do other video work.  Company that also do weddings, proms, and things of that nature should be ones to avoid.  It is very important to find a company that has experience with the recruiting process and it not stretched thin in other areas trying to earn money.

Some families also considering doing it themselves and certain online video websites make the process very easy.  If you feel comfortable with doing it, take the time and get the job done as soon as possible in order to send out.

I have seen DVDs with interviews of the athlete and in the background there is video of the athlete on the field. Others have included smoke introductions that are amazing to see. But in the long run, these things will not help you earn a college scholarship. I think they are outstanding videos to watch but as a college coach, interviews or great video production don’t matter. A scholarship will be extended only if the kid can play. Expensive highlight tapes are not worth the money. Spending thousands of dollars is too much.  You just need something professional and something that can showcase the athlete and his abilities.

Using Hudl
If your school offers the opportunity for you to create a highlight video using Hudl or other online software, take the time to learn it.  This is a fantastic resource that puts control in the hand of the athletes and their family.  Be willing to spend time on this and follow the directions within this book and on our site during the update.

Full Game Tape
If a college coach is impressed with the highlight tape of an athlete, he will want to see more of the athlete in action. If you are sending out a DVD to coaches, ensure that it includes a full game. This coach can learn a lot about the player through a highlight tape but will get to see the player in all of their glory on the full game tape. They will be able to see if the player takes plays off, his demeanor around teammates, how hard he plays every down, and a lot of other aspects that are missing from a highlight tape. For recruits that coaches are serious about, these game tapes may be even more important than the highlight video.

As a recruit, it is important to pick your best game of the season. If the coaches are serious about you as a player, they may spend the hour to watch the entire tape to see what type of player you are from the start to the end of the game. Your performance, effort, and ability on the full game tape is important. Coaches may decide to request even more game tape after this as well.

Contact Information and Vitals
No matter if the coach has been in contact with you or not previously, make sure to include contact information that includes home phone number, cell phone number, email address, and home address. These are even more important if the staff you are sending the video to has not been in contact with you. Also try to include your jersey number on the tape, height, weight, bench press, 40 time, squat, and anything else of interest. Do no overrate these stats as well and remember to focus on the video first.

If you are sending out an online video link, this information should be included at some point within the highlights.  Simplify the process as much as possible on your end and leave no questions in the eyes of coaches.

Step Five: Build a Website with Video

The fifth and final step to earning an athletic scholarship is to put together a website that provides stats and video of the athlete in action in their chosen sport. Some may consider this an egotistical thing to do for a cocky player but I consider this a smart investment that utilizes the Internet as well as being able to get video to coaches within seconds of their request.  It saves you money on producing more highlight videos as well as sending out the tapes. Having that video available by clicking on a link makes things very simple for college coaches during the recruiting process.

Video Online

When posting video footage online, if you have the expertise or can get it at a good price, it is definitely worth registering a domain name with your son’s name (For example, if your son is Michael Jordan, register http://www.michaeljordan.com). If that domain is taken because it probably is rather popular, try something like jordanbasketball.com or jordanfootball.com. While you can email college coaches the extended link of a youtube video, it may be easier to be able to tell them to go to an easy website that mirrors the name of the athlete.

Why Post Video Online?

As for the main reasons to get this footage online, the biggest advantage is to make it easier for college coaches. Let’s say that you just finished sending your profile out to 50 schools that fit you academically and athletically. Say that 22 college coaches get back to you and say they are interested in learning more about you and seeing video footage of you. Having these highlights online will be quicker, easier, and cheaper than to send each of the 22 college coaches your highlight video.

Not even counting postage, you save the money of producing copies of your DVDs because you send them to the same exact website where all of the coaches can view the highlights. While some may move on to another recruit after seeing the video, these coaches would feel the same way if you took the time to go to the post office, pay the postage, and sent them a physical copy of your highlight video.

This is especially important for recruits later in the process. As the end of your junior year blends into your senior year, getting these highlights online is huge. If you came off the bench as a junior in basketball and suddenly started pouring in 25 points per game in the best conference in your state, this gives the college coaches a quick look at your ability.  It may not include your off-season of improvement but it certainly shows to coaches what type of player you are.  This helps move the recruiting process along quicker than sending your highlight without any previous contact with the college.

Costs Involved

If you are going to the trouble of putting a quality highlight DVD together by a professional, it would be at least worth seeing what the costs of building a website for the athlete would be. I am not recommending paying in the thousands of dollars but in the $300 to $700 area could be worth it in the long run. This is another advantage that most athletes or parents do not see when thinking about ways to get their son or daughter recruited. Plus it also allows out of state friends or relatives to visit the site and see the athlete in action himself.

When posting any video footage from a DVD to a size suitable for a website, the quality of the video will be hurt. So make sure when doing this to make it obvious where you are on the field or the court before sending this out to college coaches. In football, it is important to have a squares or circles around where you are if you are a lineman and the quality is not great to begin with.

If costs are an issue, another route really is to just post the video free on youtube.com and then send out that link.  It may not be a pretty link to send out but the biggest thing is if you can play or not.  This is a great advantage that may be worth looking into.

You also could register a domain and forward it to your online footage.  If that helps garner attention and makes it easy for those that can offer scholarships, it may be worth it.

Conclusion

The recruiting process is a difficult journey for families.  There will always be questions about what you need to do to impress college coaches at all levels, from Division I to Division III.  That is why Recruiting-101 was created.  We are here to do our best to help those with questions and figure out how they can help themselves in front of college coaches.

For parents unfamiliar with the recruiting process, things can get stressful in a hurry.  But in order to better prepare yourself as much as possible, I recommend getting a better feel for the process and reading up all that you can.  If you use this information that was provided in this e-book, you will help to put yourself in a better position for an athlete to be recruited.  These methods have worked in the past and they will continue to work in the future.

What college coaches visiting high schools during the athletic recruiting process really means

There have been some interesting comments on a few of the recent columns related to what it means when a college coach visits the high school of a potential athletic recruit. One reader felt that if a Division I college coach flew to your school, then you had it “in the bag.” Another poster had seen a Division I college coach come to the school to talk to two players and neither ended up with a scholarship offer.

So the question is what is the importance of having a college coach visit you during the athletic recruiting process? First off, when a college coach visits your school, regardless of level, it definitely is not a bad thing. But it doesn’t mean that there will be a certain scholarship offer on the table coming your way either. /p>
There are two main times when the college coaches make visits to talk to the high school coaches and say “hello” to potential prospects (if of course you happen to run into them while they are there, which seems to happen rather frequently). It is normally during the spring of your junior year and the fall of your senior year. Both times of the year, in my opinion, mean something different.

It is normally the bigger schools that are making the visits during the spring of your junior year. It is in late April and May when they can visit as well as call you during that month as well. But let me stress that these coaches travel the country and try to hit as many schools as they can. While I don’t have a number off hand, I know that staffs at most schools visit hundreds of colleges at this time. And even if a school doesn’t have a Division I player in the current class doesn’t mean that they will visit.

Again, while it is nice to show your face to a prospect at a school in the eyes of a college coach, the biggest reason for this visit may be to foster the relationship between the college coach and the high school coach. The college coach may end up recruiting a player years down the road from this school but because he built a relationship early, that could play out well for him. So just because the assistant coach of State University makes an appearance at your high school doesn’t mean you are getting a scholarship offer. It could just be building a relationship with your coach.

A perfect example of this is in a small state in the Midwest that only produces a low number of Division I athletes. But apparently UCLA felt that they needed to make the trip to visit a variety of high school coaches throughout the state. This college coach was flying to the state to build relationships and maybe set up some connections for future years. To my knowledge, UCLA has only offered a scholarship to one player in this state in the last ten or so years. But they are coming to build relationships.

The visits in the fall are a different story. Because these coaches have targeted the majority of their recruits, they will want to show their face and make sure that the athlete knows that they are visiting the school. If there is no offer on the table, they may be getting more film from the coach and doing another eyeball test. These coaches also spend time chatting with one another. So if you are in the doghouse, as much as your high school coach likes you, he will likely be honest with the college coach.

The fall visits are when the coaches have a lot less time because they are in-season. That means they won’t be going to schools where they are building relationships with the coaches. The key is to make sure that the athlete knows they are visiting, catch up with the high school coach, and see what else can help them with his recruiting.

I have to stress this that even if a college coach flies out to see you in the fall, there are no guarantees. Until you get a written offer stating that they have a scholarship for you, then nothing is in the bag. Having college coaches visit your school is a good thing but nothing to get too excited about. Expect them to bring plenty of camp brochures as they “extend invites” to this camp to you. Like the mailed camp invites, don’t expect much unless they are actually recruiting you.

When should I sign up for summer football recruiting camps?

The summer may seem like something in the far off distance but for junior and sophomore athletes out there ready this, the rest of the winter and the spring will fly by. Before you know it, the summer season will be upon you. So with that in mind, it may be important to at least have a strategy for your summer football camp schedule.

The single most important role when signing up for a football camp is by NOT picking a camp based on one camp invite that you received from the school. Let me stress this again (and I should just repeat this about twenty more times). If you are a junior and the only “recruiting” that a college does is send you a camp invite, do not go. They are not interested in you as a player. They are interested in you to make money during the summer months. These coaches can really improve their income by bringing in as many athletes as they can. So with money on the line, they are going to mass invite athletes from all over their area.

All schools send out these camps invites to pad their camp numbers as well as their wallets. These invites are being sent out while you read this and football recruits across the country may really think that this program is interested in them. Again, if you have received little to nothing else from the school outside of a camp invite, save your money (or the cash of your parents) because this is a waste of time. There is one school in the Midwest known for sending out camp invites to anyone. My guess is that if they know you started on the football team, you are good enough for a camp invite. Keep that in mind before getting excited and quickly signing up.

If you are a sophomore, then picking camps are much different. Until the first day of your junior year of school, all college coaches can send you is questionnaires and camp invites. The problem is because it is so early, it is really tough to tell if the school sending the camp invite is really interested. That is why I would not take these camp invites all that serious, even this early in the football recruiting process.

As a sophomore, you should dictate what schools you decide to attend camps at. Yes, it would be great to get a scholarship while at the camp but the odds are very slim so don’t count on it. Go in thinking that the reason you are going to the camps are to get better as a player and hopefully show the coaches enough that they will evaluate you later on in the recruiting process.

For picking camps as a sophomore, I honestly wouldn’t do all that many. Just pick somewhere between two and four that you feel can help you. You may decide that you want to go to two in-state schools and another dream program that you have followed for years. Again, getting yourself exposed to different coaches should help you become a better football player if you listen and work hard.

Signing up for a summer football camp as a junior is completely different. Because college coaches can send you all the mail that they want and eventually call you in May, I would strongly advise to not sign up until May. I would say in 98% of the situations that unless a school calls you in the month of May, then they are not going to offer you a scholarship while at the camp (there are exceptions but I am stressing that the mass majority do not come out of nowhere for a scholarship offer. The athlete is at least someone they know to watch coming in). So the question is why pay a school hundreds of dollars when the reason you are going is to be recruited and they are not going to take you all that serious as a potential player at their level?

As a junior, your goal for camps is to get evaluated and either get a scholarship or show enough ability that they will be looking at you down the road. With this in my, there is no reason why you should have to attend more than one day at the camp. I have talked about this before but when speaking with the coaches that call in May, ask them about how you can attend one day at camp and what the process is to sign up for that.

The reason to only attend one day of the camp is simple. First, it saves you a great deal of money. That is going to be a huge benefit in the long term scheme of things. The second is that as a college coach, they have the ability to evaluate an athlete very quickly. If they know you can’t play, why stay there hoping to impress them? You are not suddenly going to turn into Tim Tebow from the second to third night.

Anyways, going back to the original question, signing up for camps does differ. As a sophomore, pick a few camps that you are interested and go to those. As a junior, find out what schools are really interested in you (and that means by calling you in May, which is more than a college coach visiting your high school) and then talk to them about attending one day at their camp. Then it will save you money and give you more flexibility to get to different camps around your area.

Steps to avoid being stressed out by the athletic recruiting process

It always seems that when Signing Day nears, the stress levels for entire families continue to rise.  Making that final decision is never going to be easy regardless of the situation.  But there are some ways that we will talk about that can help with reducing your overall stress level and making things easier for your entire family.

Again, these steps are not going to be a magical list that makes the athletic recruiting process a breeze.  What these will do is help you get things in line and ready so that when coaches come calling and visiting, you won’t be scrambling and struggling to get your information in line.

The first step, by far, is start everything early.  The later that you wait, the tougher and more stressful it is going to be on you.   The turnaround is needed because coaches are asking for the recruiting tape and now the family is stressed because they need to get it done.

Like I have said before in other articles, if you are seriously considering playing college athletics (especially football), then you need to get a highlight video produced shortly after your junior season.  And if you are smart enough to work ahead, you should use time during the football season to contact highlight video companies and find one that you trust and feel good about.  The hope will be that this company comes through and allows you to get things done early.

The same is said about getting information out to coaches.  You would be amazed how many athletes continue to think they are better off waiting until the season comes around and then the real recruiting will start.  It is vital that you market yourself to college coaches and the earlier you have varsity experience, the better it is to do that.

After you have everything done early, the next thing you need to do is keep track of all the recruiting attention.  You can use an excel file, a manila envelope, or anything that works for your family (and especially your son/daughter who will hopefully be fielding the calls).  You want to keep information about letters, calls, what was discussed, visits, and anything else that may be important.  The more information, the better down the road when making a final decision needs to be made.

Time may be tight but it is very important that you continue to reevaluate where you sit with the recruiting process.  This may get a little old but you need to have a good feel of where you sit with colleges.  You may have gotten two letters from your dream school but realistically, you need to be realistic and continually reevaluate where you sit with the programs that are after you.  You can use your recruiting attention log and figure out which schools are contacting you the most.

This evaluation process of the schools should be done as a family because it gives a great opportunity for parents to figure out where your children want in a future college.  And parents, realize that the answers you get from your child are likely going to change by the month, week, and potentially day.

You also should make adjustments based on this overall evaluation.  For example, say that you contacted all of the Division I-A coaches in your state and the surrounding state.  I wouldn’t recommend this but it was something you did so that you could play at the highest level possible.  In that contact, you included a link your website and highlight video.  A number of coaches contacted you back at the time but few have been in contact since.

When this happens, you need to start being realistic and setting your sights a little lower.  It may be a tough pill to swallow, even if State University is your dream school, but broaden your search to programs that fit you academically that may be at the Division I-AA/FCS, Division II, and Division III levels.  In the end, you want to have a lot of options on the plate to be able to choose from.  You can eliminate schools late in the process but the more options you have, the better for you in the long run.

Time may be tight but it is very important that you continue to reevaluate where you sit with the recruiting process.  This may get a little old but you need to have a good feel of where you sit with colleges.  You may have gotten two letters from your dream school but realistically, you need to be realistic and continually reevaluate where you sit with the programs that are after you.  You can use your recruiting attention log and figure out which schools are contacting you the most.

This evaluation process of the schools should be done as a family because it gives a great opportunity for parents to figure out where your children want in a future college.  And parents, realize that the answers you get from your child are likely going to change by the month, week, and potentially day.

You also should make adjustments based on this overall evaluation.  For example, say that you contacted all of the Division I-A coaches in your state and the surrounding state.  I wouldn’t recommend this but it was something you did so that you could play at the highest level possible.  In that contact, you included a link your website and highlight video.  A number of coaches contacted you back at the time but few have been in contact since.

When this happens, you need to start being realistic and setting your sights a little lower.  It may be a tough pill to swallow, even if State University is your dream school, but broaden your search to programs that fit you academically that may be at the Division I-AA/FCS, Division II, and Division III levels.  In the end, you want to have a lot of options on the plate to be able to choose from.  You can eliminate schools late in the process but the more options you have, the better for you in the long run.

Even if you decided to waste spend the money on a recruiting service or someone that you are paying to help you with recruiting, realize that the person(s) who will care most about the situation is you and your family.  This person/company you are paying is doing it in order to put a roof over their head.  It is the same when it comes to investing your money.  Realize that it is your money (or your recruiting future) and the person who will dedicate the most time/energy is you.

If that company doesn’t get you a scholarship, they are not going to be fitting the bill for a college tuition.  Regardless of what you decide, realize that you always need to keep learning in recruiting.  It just kills me when parents will complain about how great their son is and wonder where their scholarships are but won’t want to learn about recruiting because their “guy” is handling it for them.  That is a huge mistake that you must avoid at all costs.

One great thing about learning the process together as a family from a site like this (and a few others if you look hard enough) is that it will be a bonding experience.  Most teenagers don’t like to talk but if they want a college scholarship, then it will open up some lines of communication that should help with more than just recruiting.  This may be cheesy but it definitely can be a bonding experience that the athlete should be thankful for (and hopefully will realize that as they get older).

The last thing is to be realistic.  The more you try fooling yourself about the attention that you are getting and who is really recruiting you, the harder it is going to be to face facts and realize that you may just be a Division III athlete.  And for the record, there is nothing wrong with that at all.

I know of athletes, which I will talk about more in a future article, who didn’t start for the football team as a junior that plays in one of the smaller states of the country.  His team was good but not great.  In this state, if you are talented enough, regardless of who is in front of you, chances are that they may change your position and try to get you on the field.

Because this athlete has marketed himself (to the wrong schools I might add) and paid big money to go to all these combines, he is getting letters from some of the top programs across the country.  The issue is that when Signing Day nears for him, there is no possible way that these schools will still be in the picture.  The family continues to fool themselves and think that this is serious attention in the recruiting process.

If you had dreams of playing at the highest level, it really is tough to be realistic.  I have seen many athletes not get offers from big time schools so instead of getting your education paid for, they decided to give up their sport of choice.  While there is nothing wrong with that, having your education paid for is a luxury that most families cannot pass up.  So be realistic and know that even if the big boys are sending you letters, that doesn’t mean a damn thing until you get a scholarship offer.

The reason that this can be disappointing is because you may be stressing over if Florida offered a kid at your position.  Well, if the Gators are not really recruiting you, then chances are that offers doesn’t mean anything.  Following these steps will help alleviate a lot of the stresses that I see during the athletic recruiting process.