The Complete Freshman Year Recruiting Timeline for High School Student-Athletes

Getting prepared for recruiting as a Freshman

The life of a high school athlete is very rigorous. With sports and academics to juggle it can be overwhelming to think about college sports recruiting with college itself four years away. But the recruiting process is fast and furious, and the race begins for every recruit by the time you start high school.

Know the timeline for freshman year so that you can not only get in the recruiting game, but win it so that when you finally do commit to a school, it is the best possible place for you to achieve your goals.

Freshmen Recruiting timeline for the Fall

August to November of Freshman Year

• Plan your academic progress – Check your high school course list against the NCAA’s core courses to make sure you are on track each year. You can even meet with a guidance counselor to plan things out.Let your coaches know about your interest in competing in college – They can support you with training, advice, networking, and talent evaluation to you can make future progress.

• Create an athletic resume – Using a recruiting service, you can create a free profile. Use this to track all of the information a coach may want to know about you. Don’t worry if you don’t have a lot to fill in immediately, you can always update these profiles any time.

• Review the NCAA’s recruiting calendars – Make yourself aware of any important dates for your sport so that you can get a jump on your competition in the recruiting game.

• Research your dream schools – Visit the team websites for at least 5 colleges you would want to go to and study to learn more about each program including their roster to know what coaches are looking for in recruits

Freshmen Recruiting timeline for the Winter

December to February of Freshman Year

• Learn how college coaches recruit – College coaches have a rhyme or reason to everything they do in recruiting. But if you know how they operate, you can play the recruiting game to your advantage. Study up on exactly how college coach’s recruit athletes so you can make you’re your recruiting efforts count! I want to know how college coach’s think!

• Learn what the NCAA wants you to know about recruiting – Use the NCAA’s guide for college bound student athletes to learn what they require of recruits.

• Set goals for your recruiting – Set goals for your training, your competition season, and your academics that will help you attract attention from the types of schools you want to go to.

• Continue updating your athletic resume – A lot can change in a small amount of time. So constantly update your online recruiting profile with relevant information, so that whenever you start conversations with a coach, they have all the information they need like your latest transcripts or updated highlight film.

• Review the NCAA’s recruiting calendars – Make yourself aware of any important dates for your sport so that you can get a jump on your competition in the recruiting game.

Freshmen Recruiting timeline for the Spring

March to May of Freshman Year

• Continue studying college rosters – Take time to branch out from only your dream schools, and begin looking at rosters for colleges around your state or region. Knowing what types of recruits go to each school will help you continue setting goals to get their attention.

• Learn about paying for college – To get money for college you will need to know all of your options. Study up on all of the available options for financial aid so that you can find a school that will give you all the money you need to make college affordable.

• Plan to attend camps, tournaments, and showcases – Look for any opportunity to develop your talent, and showcase it to college coaches. Space can fill up fast at things like camps, but know the difference between ones that are about training and development and others that are to get you in front of college coaches.

• Review the NCAA’s recruiting calendars – Make yourself aware of any important dates for your sport so that you can get a jump on your competition in the recruiting game.

• Consider what you are looking for in a college – To find the right school, you need to know what it will look like. Begin making a list of non-negotiables, both athletically and beyond to focus your college search.

Freshmen Recruiting timeline for the Summer

June to August after Freshman Year

• Evaluate your commitment level to college sports – After completing your freshman season you should re-evaluate what you really want out of your college experience. Determine if you are on track to play in college and what changes you may want to make to your plan to get there.

• Continue updating your athletic resume – A lot can change in a small amount of time. So constantly update your online recruiting profile with relevant information, so that whenever you start conversations with a coach, they have all the information they need like your latest transcripts or updated highlight film.

• Continue studying college rosters – Evaluate how you measure up to college athletes by looking at rosters for colleges around your state or region. Try to find athletes who seem to have been at the same place as you are when they were finishing freshman year in their bios.

Coach Rob’s Note: Don’t go under-recruited! I put in the hard work for you to know exactly which colleges already want to recruit you, which ones will view you as a top recruit, and how to get their attention. Book a meeting with me, Coach Rob, and see how easy it can be to get the offers you deserve!

Coach Rob is a recruiting expert and the Founder of SCA Recruiting. He is also the author of the book Winning the Ship: How to Win the College Athlete Recruitment Game. Available now on Amazon.