NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

I just watched the video from Brian Davidson’s post below. If you haven’t seen it yet, read the post and watch the video here.

As funny and outlandish some of the things these coaches say are, there’s definitely some truth to take away. If you play the sports college recruiting “game” wisely, college coaches should be fighting over you and will go to great lengths to get you to come to their college.

But here’s the thing. Once you lace up those sneakers, put on the practice jersey and step out onto the field/court/etc., in most cases, you’ll quickly find out that you’re not the program’s savior afterall. An article about Blaine Gabbert, who was a five star recruit in high school, is a perfect example of this. From the University of Missouri’s student newspaper, The Maneater:

As a tall and sturdy 6-foot-5-inch, 225-pound freshman, Gabbert’s high school performance was nothing less than extraordinary.

His All-American status and five-star recruit ranking earned him a spot on the Missouri roster, but playing time is hard to come by on this team.

“He’s the most physically gifted quarterback to come out of high school that I’ve seen in six years as far as size, speed, arm strength and release,” said David Yost, quarterback coach and recruitment coordinator. “If you were to build a quarterback, you would build a guy like Blaine Gabbert.”

For this season, Gabbert waits behind senior quarterbacks Chase Daniel and Chase Patton. With the publicity of his high school football days gone, Gabbert must wait his turn on the bench. …

The same story holds true to Jimmy Clausen last year on Notre Dame. Clausen, who was considered by many as the No. 1 prospect for the class of 2007, wasn’t announced as the starter once the season began. And even when he took over that role, he struggled, only passing for 1,254 yards, with 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

It’s a whole different game in college. You might have been a dominant high school player, but if you’re playing in college, chances are that your entire team is made up of former dominant high school players.

So when you step on to the playing surface for the first time, check your ego at the door, realize you have a lot of learning to do and eventually, you can become a dominant college player!

Typically the trend in lacrosse is that the goalie position is wrapped up and filled as early as possible. Some might say it is due to the growing nature of the sport, as others have expressed that there are just less spots on every team. Either way, athletes are giving their verbal commitments in recruiting earlier and earlier each year–no matter what their position. If you plan on playing at the next level you need to get seen by the college coaches at the big camps and tournaments the summer before your junior year, as well as, the summer months before your senior year.

Among the many reasons to enter the college sports recruiting process earning an athletic scholarship to pay for college is always at the top of the list. Playing in college offsets the burden of paying for college. After all, who wants to be paying for college 10 years after they graduate because of student loans? In May 2007, testimony before US congress revealed that a quarter of all students graduate with too much debt to pay back on a starting teachers salary. That is way too high.

If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be knowledgeable in the ways of Financial Aid?

I earned my MBA from one of the top business schools in the country and traded sophisticated financial instruments for over 20 years. I thought I could figure this financial aid thing out. I couldn’t. I needed help. I’m very glad I invested in professional advice that helped maximize the grants and scholarships my daughter received. One of the great things about NCSA is that their advice on how to maximize scholarship dollars actually works. And it continues to work. Except for the less than 1% of college athletes who have “full rides” (tuition, books, room & board, fees, transportation), most families must negotiate their financial aid package on an annual basis. Paying for that expert advice helped - a lot! As she enters her junior year, my daughter has received over $135,000 in financial aid. Not one penny of that is a student loan. It’s all grants that don’t have to be paid back. Do you think I’m happy with the professional advice I received? My return on that investment was over 6700.00 per cent!

 In 23 years as a sportscaster at TV stations across the country, I covered hundreds and hundreds of recruiting stories. I was able to have the access to college coaches to learn all the things they look for in a prospective student-athlete.

I once sat down with a highly successful college basketball coach at the NAIA level and asked him what he looks for when he is in the stands at a prospect’s games. I was interested in learning what he looks for besides athleticism.

He said he closely watches how the athlete reacts when he is substituted for in the game. Does he appear miffed about being taken out? Does he actively cheer for the team on the floor or does he just sit there. While in the game, the coach looks for how the athlete reacts when he makes a bad play. Does he hang his head or immediately put the play behind him and give his best to make a positive play. The college coach said he makes notes on all those things and anything else that would possibly impact the chemistry on the college program. The successful college coach had built his program on chemistry and character. Though he needed good athletes, he was very careful about who he let into his program.

Another time I was talking to a college coach about what he does while watching from the stands. The coach said he stays in the bleachers long after the game. He waits until the athlete is showered. He wants to see how the athlete interacts with the parents. He said one time he had checked out a recruit who was fine academically, athletically and seemed to be fine character-wise. The coach watched from the top of the bleachers as the athlete left the locker room. The proud parents were beaming and couldn’t wait to hug and congratulate their child. The athlete brushed right by his parents. Whether he thought it wasn’t cool to hug his parents or whatever, he glided right past them. The college coach told me he terminated recruitment of that kid right away. That may seem a little harsh, but some college coaches mean business when it comes to character. Part of character is honoring your parents. It is one of the Ten Commandments. That college coach was very serious about signing kids that showed respect at all times to elders and especially their own parents.

I hope these examples help remind you that college coaches are looking at a lot more things than how well you kick a soccer ball, dive into a pool, or chase down an elusive tailback. They’re watching your character because they are watching out for their own team chemistry.

Do you think the college athletic recruiting process should provide you with the highest number of opportunities? Do you think understanding college athletics recruiting can reveal the perfect college fit for you? How do you go about increasing your opportunities? What system should you employ to make sure you are selecting the right opportunity for you?

College coaches begin by initially contacting 1,000 or 2,000 or even 10,000 (depending on the sport) student athletes by sending them camp brochures, emails, questionnaires, etc. Those same college coaches are clearly not recruiting all of those student-athletes. Why do they start with such a large pool? They are following the advice of Marketing 101: the more kids who they find out about, the better chance they’ll find the really quality student-athlete who will help their program. If that’s a good strategy for college coaches, shouldn’t a student-athlete use the same strategy? Doing so will increase your number of opportunities.

A savvy student-athlete will learn as early as freshman year that they need to develop trust-based relationships with college coaches. This can only happen through communication. Since the NCAA restricts the amount and timing of contacts initiated by college coaches, the student-athlete must be proactive. Unfortunately, the 14 or 15 year old student-athlete doesn’t have the life experiences or the maturity to begin building relationships with adults. The good news is they can be trained in that skill set. It’s like interviewing for a job. 

College recruiting boils down to trust-based relationships between college coaches and student-athletes. What college coach is going to make a significant investment in a student-athlete unless they know a lot more about that student-athlete than her/his performance on the playing field?

If you agree with playing the numbers game and building trust-based relationships with college coaches, have you thought about how you would do that? If you’re a student-athlete reading this, do you think your parents can do this for you? If so, you better forget about playing sports in college. Do you think your coach can do this for you? Again, if so, you better forget about finding the perfect college fit for you. You are the one that needs to take charge. You can only do that if you develop the skill set to do so. Who will teach you that?

Finally, if you do all of the above correctly, how do you determine the right fit? There are many different factors including: academic quality of the school, size of school, location of school, financial aid package, level of competition, opportunity to play early, getting along with the coaching staff and players, receiving tutoring help (if necessary), etc. There is a way to logically sort out all of those factors. If you need help, go here.

 My trip to California Gold was a little different because it was the first tournament that someone had to recommend a player to play in the tournament. I knew that the level of play there was going to be the best. We flew in a day early and my grandpa came a picked us up at the airport. My grandpa lives in San Cruz, so it was about a two hour car ride from his house to the airport. We were in a hotel that was really close to the fields.

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Are you a student-athlete who is on a mission to play college sports? Are you a student-athlete who has played your sport for years? Imagine your first sport season after high school and you’re not playing. What would that feel like?

Most student athletes and their families are unaware of how early college recruiting begins. Or the reasons it begins so early. The problem is that 93% of high school students who go on to college are applying through the academic door. They begin researching colleges late in their junior year or early in their senior year. They listen to the high school guidance counselor who advises them to apply to several schools. They place these schools into 3 categories: 1) Reach schools (if I’m lucky, I’ll get in.) 2) Stretch schools (I’m pretty sure I’d get accepted to half of these I apply to.) and 3) safe schools (I’ll get in no matter what.) Make sure you have all of your applications in before Christmas break.

Unfortunately, student-athletes and their families think that college athletic recruiting operates along the same time-line. It doesn’t!  If you wish to apply through the athletic door, you need to understand the different calendars and timelines.

Different sports have different recruiting calendars and time-lines. However, all sports have the following in common:

1. College coaches would love to find out about you early. In some sports that’s as early as 7^th and 8^th grade, other sports it’s by 10^th grade. Waiting until the beginning of junior year begins to reduce your opportunities.
2. A college student athlete has a certain athletic profile. For example, in baseball, a student athlete needs to have a certain 60-yard dash time, a certain overhand throwing velocity, a certain bat-speed, etc. For very competitive schools, those metrics need to be achieved by the end of junior year. If not, many college coaches will refuse to evaluate a student-athlete. It takes time to develop physically and student-athletes need to train to that level early to ensure they reach that level on time.
3. College coaches only give scholarship money to student-athletes they know, like, and trust. Those trust-based relationships take time to build. Because of the recruiting restrictions placed on college coaches, it’s important that a student-athlete begin to build those relationships as a freshman. Most don’t know how to go about that.

If you’re serious about being a college student-athlete, you need to implement that game plan that will get you there. Knowing what to do is as important as doing it. If you don’t know what to do, you should contact an expert for an evaluation. You can do that at NCSA.

 - by Taylor Graves 2009 Lax Grad

After finding out that I made the Adidas All-American team, I had a chance to meet my coach, Glen Miles. He contacted me about a week before the tournament and asked me if I wanted to be part of a team for a tournament held at San Diego State University that was sponsored by Great Western Lacrosse and was a memorial tournament for Norman Webb. He is honored and credited with starting lacrosse programs in southern California. I thought that it would be great to have the chance to play for my Adidas coach a week before I would play for him in the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic.

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  - by Taylor Graves 09 Lacrosse Grad

My experience at the Gait Cup was definitely something that I will never forget. One of my friends, who now plays for Messiah College, asked me if I would be interested in playing in Gettysburg where there would be college coaches looking to recruit me. My first thought was absolutely and then he told me that the tournament was called the Gait Cup and that I would be on the FCA team. I had never been apart of FCA at all so I was pretty excited about it.

The whole trip was supposed to be about having fun and new experiences.

I was able to hook up with two other guys from southern California going to the camp and we were able to travel together. It was great because we all knew each other so it was going to be great just the three of us going on this trip.

Our flight there went well, except the fact that we had to wake up at four in the morning which wasn’t so hot but other then that I thought everything was fine. We flew in a day before the tournament and we all stayed with a local family whose son was also in the camp. They picked us up at the airport and pretty much did everything for us. They were just a wonderful family. Once we all got to their house in Annapolis, Maryland we noticed that they live pretty much right on the water of Chesapeake Bay and right across from Navy Stadium. The first thing we did was throw on our swim suits and they took us out on their boat to go tubing in the bay. I had never gone tubing before so it as really exciting.

The next day we drove two hours up to camp in Gettysburg. It wasn’t too bad because I pretty much slept the whole way up there. It was funny though because the time that I was awake I was noticing all of the differences between the east coast and the west coast. In California our highways are four or sometimes five lanes and everyone is going above the speed limit. In Maryland and Pennsylvania the highways were two lanes at the most and the one that we were on was one lane and everyone was driving a steady 65. It was a little annoying but I got over it.

Once we got there all of us went to go check in. It was like nothing I have ever seen before.

First of all I have never been to such a big tournament like this one with players come from all over the country. Second the man that was greeting us at the door was the Maryland Head Lacrosse Coach Dave Cottle! I was just not ready for that. I could not believe what I was seeing. Having Coach Cottle greet us at the door and then to walk past him into this huge gym filled with lacrosse players was the probably the most amazing thing that I have ever seen.

We found our dorms and got settled in and then went outside to play catch with all the other guys. I barely knew my team and we had a game a seven that night. After everyone was settled in, we all brought our stuff down and met outside and introduced ourselves and got our new shorts, shirts, and jersey, and headed down to the cafeteria to get some dinner.  We were talking and getting to know one another a little better so we had a good time, until our first game.

We totally bombed. It was horrible, but for our first time playing together it wasn’t too bad.

As the week went on though, we grew closer as a team and started new friendships and had our bible studies. I felt that doing all of that helped us out on the field. We were winning our games and having a fun time in every one of them. To be able to watch all of my other teammates play and to see how different they all played compared to the skill level out in California was just a real treat in itself. I had the best time being able to play and learn and meet new kids. Going to this tournament was definitely one of the best decisions that I have ever made.

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!!