Navigating Recruitment

The sports recruiting process can feel like it is never ending. Unlike the college application process, it does not start during your senior year. College coaches begin recruiting talented athletes all throughout high school and beyond. With coaches putting in so many hours to recruit the right athletes for their team, you too will have to invest your time and effort to find the right school for you.

A lot of the process starts with knowing which schools you want to go to, and what it will take in order to get their attention. The process is a constant stream of researching schools, initiating contact with coaches, and maintaining communication with them on the way to making your final decision. This can all be overwhelming but it becomes a lot easier when you know the major recruiting checkpoints that you should be hitting as you move throughout your high school career.

You are your own best advocate, and if you do not put yourself out there to be recruited, it is unlikely that most coaches will notice you. College coaches have a lot of responsibilities and recruiting is only one of them. Their problem isn’t necessarily knowing what types of recruits they want, but where they can go to find them. If you can present yourself professionally to a coach and make it clear that you have what it takes to help their team win, they will take you seriously and recruit you.

Track your recruiting progress with the SCA recruiting timelines

If you are a high school student athlete, then you undoubtedly have a lot of responsibilities to take care of. Between school, sports, and perhaps even other extracurriculars, it can be overwhelming to also deal with college sports recruiting.  However, managing your progress will be a whole lot easier by using my recruiting timelines.

At every stage of your high school career there are things you can and should do in order to progress in recruitment, with the ultimate goal of finding the right school for you. Don’t stress about the small things because I Coach Rob have got you covered.

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

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

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

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

Taking unofficial visits and official visits to colleges

You can’t really know if a college is right for you until you see it in person. Everything about the atmosphere, student body community, campus life, and the opportunities are very clear when you experience it for yourself. If you are interested in a school, you should always look to visit if you are seriously considering it for your future. In most cases official visits where a coach formally invites you to campus, normally will not take place until your senior year. But you can take an unofficial visit any time. You should always look to contact the coach before you visit and be sure to follow the rules and regulations so that you get the most out of your visit, while remaining in compliance.

Creating and narrowing down your target list

As you continue through the recruiting process the goal is always sot choose one school. So the list of schools you are considering will have to narrow down to the ones that really are the best choices. Schools will get taken off your list for different reasons, the simplest of which will be the coach’s lack of interest in recruiting you. By identifying coaches and college programs that are serious about recruiting you, and determining which ones have what you need with some additional digging, you can trim down a list of 30 or more schools to a clear top 5. You will always know if a coach wants you because they will seek to talk to you directly. Through email, phone, and even social media coaches will contact you by name and make it clear that you are someone they want to recruit.

Satisfying college application deadline requirements

You can’t play sports for a college without first getting accepted to the school, and becoming academically eligible to compete. There are many deadlines and responsibilities for you to meet but they all file into several categories. When it comes to college requirements every recruit will for the most part have to satisfy each of the following:

1. Getting and Submitting an SAT or ACT score

2. Registration with the NCAA or NAIA Eligibility Center. (NCAA D3 athletes are not required to register)

3. Submitting individual college applications

4. Submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for financial aid consideration

5. Submitting proof of graduation and transcripts to the Eligibility Center

6. Obtaining a final amateurism certification from the NCAA (if necessary)

7. Submitting you final acceptance to a school

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!

Getting college offers and athletic scholarship

It is natural for most recruits to desire a full-ride athletic scholarship but they are actually very rare across all of college sports. Most athletic scholarships are for only a fraction of the college’s cost of attendance, and that is for the 2 out of 5 college athletes who will receive one. Big time scholarships are typically given out only the Division 1 FBS Football , Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Basketball, D1 Women’s Volleyball, D1 Women’s Tennis, and D1 Women’s Gymnastics. Each of these sports are considered to be head-count sports where coaches can give scholarships to a full roster of athletes. Most college athletes will have to pay something towards their college education. But knowing how much scholarship money is available and what it takes to get it will help you to know which college offer is actually the best one for you financially.

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.