NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

If you’re a student-athlete who wants to play your sport in college you will have to work very hard to become the best student and the best athlete you can be.  It’s too competitive for you not to give 100% effort in both of those areas you have total control over.  If you give any less, there are plenty of others who are out-working you today.  Now that is a very challenging proposition in which you expect to be rewarded for that hard work.  Unfortunately, after all of that hard work, you DO NOT get to choose your school.  The school chooses you. 

Now there are exceptions to this reality.  One percent of student-athletes are “blue-chippers” who are recruited by the top-tier, name-brand schools.  However, the vast majority will not be able to choose their number one choice school.  This harsh reality is more harsh for those of you living west of the Mississippi River.  The vast majority of athletic programs at 4-year colleges and universities are located east of the Mississippi River.  As an example, there are only 28 four-year colleges who play football in California.  Whereas, in Pennsylvania, a state with less than half of California’s population, there are 82 four-year colleges who play football.  There are a lot of talented football players in Arizona.  However, that state only has 3 four-year colleges who play football.  

A student-athlete can find a GREAT school that is the perfect fit.  But they have to be willing to play anywhere that has their required academics.  If you are not willing to play at any school that matches your academic needs, you’re really not serious about playing in college.  You should quit spending your parents money on travel ball, camps, lessons, equipment, etc.  The flip side, if you’re serious, you need to be involved with hundreds of schools - just so you’ll have a chance.  Are you serious about playing in college?  Are you sure?

I’m always amazed at what people’s definition of recruiting is.  Some think they are getting lots of interest when in fact they are among thousands on a college coach’s mailing list.   Below is a list of check points to see where you are.  If you’re a 2010 student-athlete and you’re not at a 4, 3, 2, or 1, you’re behind your peers.  If you’re a 2011 graduate and you’re not at a 7, you’re behind your peers.  If you’re a 2012 grad and you are not at a 10, you’re behind your peers.  If you wish to catch up, click here.

YOU means the student-athlete, not the HS coach or club coach.

1. Have YOU received a full or partial scholarship or grant & aid offer in writing from your dream school?
2.  Have YOU received a full or partial scholarship or grant & aid offer in writing from any school?
3. Have YOU received a full or partial scholarship or grant & aid offer made verbally from any school?
4. Have YOU been offered or taken an official visit?
5. Have YOU received a video and/or transcript request from a college coach?
6. Have YOU received phone calls from college coaches?
7. Have YOU been offered or taken un-official visits? 
8. Do YOU receive personal, handwritten letters from college head coaches on a regular basis?
9. Do YOU receive emails from college coaches on a regular basis?
10. Have YOU received questionnaires or camp information from college coaches?

One of the best weeks every year is the NCAA and NAIA Championships for College Tennis. The excitement of the team championship with the early rounds being hosted on campus and then the top teams coming together at one site to determine the champion. In 2009, for Division I the USC men and Duke women were crowned team champions with Devin Britton from Ole Miss and Mallry Cecil from Duke taking the singles titles. In doubles Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova from Cal took the gold on the women’s side and Dominic Inglot and Michael Shabaz from Virginia on the men’s side. The championships took place at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
For Division II the men of Armstrong Atlantic and women of BYU-Hawaii took the team titles with no individual play. Rollins College was the host and the site was Central Florida Sports Commission. At the DIII level UC-Santa Cruz men and Williams College women took the crown. Michael Goodwin from Emory took the singles draw and Amrit Ruspasinghe partnered up with Ben Stein from Bates to win the doubles championship. Lorne McManigle from Emory won the singles title and Kendra Higgins /Chrissy Hu from University of Chicago took the doubles. The men’s tournament was held at Claremont Mudd-Scripps in California and the women were in Lawrenceville, Georgia hosted by Oglethorpe University.

As a review, you know the need to market your child in order for her/him to be recruited.  You know that you could do this yourself or you could use an expert.  In either case, you’ll have to invest time and money into the process.  The need for this service is even greater than it was in the 1980’s for several reasons.  Among these are:

1. the cost of college today
2. the even greater restrictions the NCAA has placed on college coaches. 
3. The internet.
4. The accelerating recruiting calendar.
5. The misinformation about recruiting from so called experts like HS coaches, Athletic Directors, and parents who went through it 15-30 years ago.

But whether a family chooses to navigate the recruiting waters by themselves or chooses to hire professional help, they are going to have to spend time and money on this process.  They are also going to have to coach their kids on how to speak to college coaches.  No college coach will offer any student-athlete a college scholarship without knowing that child.   So where do you allocate your marketing dollars?

You could choose to go to a lot of college camps.  As you’ve learned from the 5 things you need to do, your child must be involved with at least 100-200 realistic possibilities.  How many camps will you be able to attend?  Are they the right ones?  How much will they cost including transportation?  What makes you think your child will stand out from others at that camp in a college coach’s eyes?  My child received recruiting interest from 145 college coaches.  She never attended a college camp after the 8^th grade.  We went to one and that was all it took to realize that the camps are money makers for the coaching staff at the school.  Can a kid improve their skills?  Maybe.  But don’t expect to get your child recruited by attending camps.

You could market your child on our own.  You’ll have to research 100-200 realistic college opportunities.  You’ll have to determine if they have roster openings.  You’ll have to get your child’s information in front of that coach.  You’ll have to hope that information is believed and isn’t trashed.  You’ll have to put video together and do it the right way.  I’ve seen college coaches turn video off after 5-10 seconds of viewing.  Would you want that to happen to your child’s video?  You need to update coaches as your child makes progress.  And, Mom and Dad, the most important thing you need to do is to teach your child to be the “front” person with the college coach.  If you are the one calling and writing college coaches on behalf of your child, that raises a huge red flag in the coach’s mind of how serious this is for the child.  A coach will recruit a lesser athlete that is articulate, serious, and a team player over a child who relies on mom and dad to do the talking. 

As you navigate the process, how are you going to advise your child on maximizing his financial aid package?  How are you going to advise him on what happens if a college coach ceases communications?  How are you going to advise her/him on how to make the best choice for them?  All parents want their children to make the best choice.  Empowering a child to make that choice is the best gift a parent can give their child.  Do you want amateurs who have never been through recruiting in the internet age advising your child?  Or do you want a professional, whose expertise is navigating this process and have seen over 25,000 recruiting situations, advising your child?  If you choose to navigate this yourself, you must read this book.

Finally, you could choose professional help.  If you choose a recruiting company, find out the following:

• 1) Are they organized as a franchise? Are you speaking with the franchise owner? How long has the owner owned his franchise/territory? If they are not a franchise organization, what year was the first recruiting class they worked with? (Hint, if 2005 or later, they haven’t been in business long enough to develop an impact with the college coaching community.)
• 2) How are their student-athletes marketed to college coaches? Is it a targeted approach to the right schools? Or, is it a shotgun approach to all colleges? Is 21^st century technology used, or is it still snail mail and faxes? Can you track which college coaches reviewed your child’s resume and video?
• 3) What is that organization’s true relationship with college coaches? If that organization doesn’t attend college coaches’ conventions, do they really have relationships with those college coaches? College coaches are not allowed by the NCAA to endorse recruiting companies. But those coaches do request student-athletes from those companies. Ask to see a list of those college coach requests with dates.
• 4) Who are the partnerships of that recruiting company? Companies who partner with recruiting companies do a lot of due diligence before putting their good name with someone. See who those partners are.
• 5) Find out about the client service after signing up. Find out the contact information and expected response times to your questions.
• 6) Find out about the financial aid advice the recruiting company offers.
• 7) Find out about the standardized test preparation a recruiting company offers.
• 8) Find out how your student-athlete can determine what college coaches are truly interested in your child.
• 9) Find out about what happens if a child suffers a career ending injury and can’t play in college. Do you get your money back?
• 10) Some recruiting companies like to do the “up-sale”. They’ll entice you with a low price and then constantly ask for more money as you move forward. Make sure your recruiting company spells out exactly the service you’re receiving and the time frame that service is available.
• 11) As with all businesses, make sure the company has been in business long enough to ensure that it’ll remain in business. If the company has been in business less than 5 years, be careful.

Doing your due diligence with any decision involving your child is important.  The most important due diligence a parent can help their child with is their college choice.  Getting professional help is a great way to help your child with their college decision.  To choose the right professional help ask those due diligence questions listed above.

Good luck to all of you who have the good fortune to be the parent of a talented student-athlete!

(Part 1 is here) (Part 2 is here)

There is recruiting help found all over the web.  There are companies who assure everyone that they’ll get your child recruited.  Some are free.  Some are not.  You know the need for help and, as with any service, there are good providers of help and those who aren’t as much help.  To understand the market, it’s best to understand the industry.  The recruiting industry started in the 1980’s when the NCAA started putting restrictions on the number of scholarships available for sports.  These restrictions were caused by 2 main factors:  1) the implementation of Title IX (passed in 1972) that mandated equal opportunities in sports for women.  2)  the NCAA’s desire to create a more level playing field for its member institutions.  To demonstrate the impact consider that in 1972 Coach Johnny Majors at Pitt, in his first year as head football coach, gave full scholarships to over 100 players in that recruiting class.  One of those recruits, Tony Dorsett, led Pitt to the national championship 4 years later.  In order for institutions to be in compliance with Title IX, they had to reduce scholarships in football.  The recruiting impact was that the relationship between HS coaches and college coaches became more distant.  As time went on, the rules restricting contact between college coaches and high school football players became stricter.  (As an aside, trends in football recruiting are duplicated in all other college sports.)  The high school coach had less influence because he couldn’t help as many kids get scholarships – there weren’t that many to be had.  College coaches wanted to feed their families.  In other words, they had to recruit players that would help their program win.  Since they didn’t have as many scholarships, they couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.  Therefore a need developed for college coaches to recruit nationally.  There was an equal need for high school athletes to be introduced to college coaches.  Thus the recruiting service industry was born. 

Those companies evolved as franchise organizations who had a back office that could put recruiting resumes together and mail them to college athletic departments.  They relied on the college athletic department secretary to put the resumes of lots of players from many sports into the correct sport coach’s mail box.  Prior to email and the internet, this was a great way to get a kid’s name in front of a large number of college coaches.  The company found these kids by selling territories or franchises.  A franchise owner qualified because they liked sports and had some money to give to the franchisor or territory salesman.  Some of these owners were really interested in a student-athlete’s success.  Others just wanted to make their investment back and would sign up any kid.  The problem begins when that package put together by the back office is sent to the college athletic department.  To save money in postage, the back office sent hundreds of resumes to every college in the country at one time.  As time wore on, college coaches realized that not all of the resumes they were looking at were of student-athletes qualified for their program.  As such, college coaches began to ignore the resumes.  In time, qualified student-athletes were ignored by colleges because they were packaged with many non-qualified student-athletes.  Still, in spite of this inefficiency, student-athletes received mail in their mailbox from college coaches.  When a student-athlete received a letter from a college coach, parents felt their investment in the recruiting company service was paying off.  But is receiving a letter from a college coach being recruited?

As they still do, in the 1980’s and 90’s, college coaches, depending on the sport, sent out thousands of letters annually.  They are marketing to large numbers in hopes of finding the best few student-athletes for their program.  So even though these student-athletes who used a recruiting service were getting letters, they weren’t getting recruited.  Because of the franchise organization structure, there was no one to advise a student-athlete on what to do with those recruiting letters.  Today, getting letters, emails, contacts from college coaches is an important first step.  A child can’t get recruited without these.  But it’s only 20% of the game.  The other 80% of the game is a child converting those contacts into personal relationships with college coaches, and converting those relationships into scholarship dollars.  And that’s all the responsibility of the student-athlete.  Mom and Dad can’t do that for the child.  The child has to interact with the college coach(es) and convince that coach they are a good fit for that program.  All recruiting services you see on the web will put some letters in your mail box.  But are they from the right schools?  I’ve talked to a kid who used a recruiting company who got letters from Ivy League schools even though he had a 2.4 GPA and an ACT score of 17.  No way that Ivy League school had any interest in that kid.  But the kid thought he was being recruited.  Clearly something had to be done to address what was not being done to help the families.  Among these issues are:  How are parents going to target the right colleges for their child?   How do parents guide their children through this process?  How can parents maximize the scholarship package their child receives?  If parents decide they want help to give their child a competitive advantage, where do they find the best help?

Stay tuned for Part 4 for the answers…..it’s not what you think.

This is the second of a 4 part series. Part 1 is here.

There are 3 areas that every parent will have to invest in to make sure you put your child in the best position to be recruited. On the athletic side, you are going to have to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per year from about 6th grade forward on travel, hotels, team fees, training, and equipment. If you’re not doing this, those other 4 student-athletes looking for the same scholarship your child is looking for is. On the academic side, you’ll want to make sure your child is earning all A’s and B’s in school. The more A’s the better! If they need help to develop the study habits to make that happen, then there could be an investment in tutors, learning centers, etc. Have you priced those lately? Then, to ensure that their test scores reflect their grades, an investment in test preparation will help. Finally there is the recruiting itself. In the vast majority of sports, the college coaches’ recruiting budget is pitifully small. They WILL NOT discover your child. College coaches don’t have a scouting budget like the NY Yankees, which is in the millions of dollars per year. You have to devote time and funds to marketing your child. If you spend $6,000 to $30,000 in athletic development and $5,000 in academic development so that your child can be athletically skilled and academically qualified enough to be recruited and your child doesn’t get recruited, what is the payoff for that investment? Also, if your child doesn’t get a chance to play, will she/he come back to you in 10 years and wonder if they could have played if only they knew how to maximize their recruiting opportunities? So where do you allocate your funds for marketing and how is the most cost effective way of doing this?

Marketing your student athlete is an important skill that 99% of parents I speak with don’t know how to do. If you never attended college or haven’t searched for a job in the age of the internet, you probably don’t know all of the ins and outs of the athletic scholarship acquisition process. Even if you are college educated or an expert at finding a job using the internet, you still are unaware of how college coaches determine who they recruit and how you can make your child part of that coach’s recruiting list. Your child has to take an active role in this process. It’s their life! They must be empowered with the skill set to market themselves to college coaches. Since your child’s college decision will impact her/him for the rest of their lives, don’t you think that it’s important that they have those skills?

If you’re reading this, you know that NCSA has devoted a lot of time and effort to educate student-athletes and their parents on this marketing. We call this the recruiting process and our goal is for each qualified student-athlete to achieve their maximum recruiting potential. Everyone reading this thinks they can do this on their own. Especially after they read the five things you need to know and the five things you must do. And some parents have been successful doing things themselves. However, understand the effort those parents made. They’ve devoted literally 40 to 50 hours a month to researching colleges, putting together marketing packages, contacting lots of college coaches, following-up, and fighting encouraging their children to do things they need to do, such as calling college coaches on the phone. They’ve had to put up with teen-age kids who aren’t skilled in talking to college coaches and have no desire to do so because they don’t know what to do. Does your teen-ager do everything you ask without question? Do you have 500 hours over the next calendar year to devote to this process? How much of that time will you spend spinning your wheels and targeting the wrong college coaches? How much of that time is spent driving to camps where a child has no chance of being recruited? How frustrating is all of this and does a child give up their dream if no college coaches respond to your marketing efforts?

From a financial standpoint, you will be spending money for marketing. If you aren’t spending money – you’ll be spending time. How much is your time worth? As you know from the five things you need to do, you’ll need to do the following: 1) Get a objective evaluation so that you target the right college programs; 2) Post an online resume that college coaches will look at; 3) Create a winning highlight or skills video; 4) Get in contact with at least 100 college coaches at the right places; and 5) consider all options in a thorough way so your child makes the right decision. The first can be done by comparing your child’s metrics with those of collegiate student-athletes at the various levels.  (See the recruiting guidelines for your sport.)   The next 2 can be done in a variety of ways and you can do it for as little as free – which will net zero results, to hiring professional website and video vendors which can run up to $1000. Contacting college coaches is more problematic. Since college coaches are inundated with emails and letters from a variety of sources, they only rely on trusted sources. How many emails does the typical college football coach get from a mom, dad, or kid that says, “hey, I’m 200 pounds and run a 4.4 forty yard dash…”? What do you think the college coach does with that email? (Hint: if you answered anything else but, “he hit the delete button,” you got the wrong answer.) College coaches rely on trusted sources and verified information. That’s the biggest roadblock to parents doing it themselves. They don’t have the relationships with the college coaching community to generate the kind of response from college coaches needed to maximize opportunities.

Finally, how do you empower your child with the skill set to make a life-changing decision? Most parents do a great job of raising their kids. All parents love their kids and want their kids to be the best and have the best. However, most parents can’t empower their children with the skill set to speak with college coaches. When speaking with college coaches, student-athletes need to ask the right questions in the right way so they don’t get their name crossed off of that college coach’s recruiting list. What parent knows those questions? Do you know the questions college coaches ask student-athletes to see if they should cross your child’s name off of the list? And, if you the parent think you can talk to college coaches for your child, you can’t! I’ve seen more talented student-athletes NOT get recruited because of the parent than I care to list right here. All parents have a deep emotional attachment to this outcome. However, some parents don’t know how to channel their emotions into a positive influence on their children. Would guidance from an expert be of value? Would the peace of mind of knowing you’re doing the right things and your child is getting coached the right way in this process help tone down the emotions when discussing this in your household? So where do you get that help? 

Stay tuned for Part 3 and Part 4.

So Mom and Dad, you have visions of your youngster playing sports in college. You got them involved in youth sports when they were 5, 6, or 7 years of age. You noticed that they were a little bit or a lot better than their peers. You noticed that they always wanted to go to practice, had fun in games, in some cases, they hated to lose. At some point in time you started wondering if playing college sports could be a way to help pay for college. If you came to this conclusion your child’s junior year in high school, you already know how late you are in preparing them adequately. However, if you come to this conclusion when they are 6th or 7th graders, then you are wondering what you need to do to prepare your child for playing college sports. Depending on the sport, how does a parent find the best competition for their child so they can develop their athletic skills? How much money is all of this preparation going to cost? How competitive is it and how can I get a return on that investment?

In the following series of articles, I’ll address the following questions: In part one, how competitive is it to play a sport in college? And, what do parents need to do to give their child the biggest competitive advantage over their peers? In part 2: how much of an investment needs to be made in time and scarce resources? What activities should you invest in? In Part 3: a history of the recruiting help industry.  In Part 4: if you decide you need help, what are the best resources for that help?

The numbers are daunting! If you’re a boys high school basketball player in the US, you have a 4% chance of playing in college. Now statistics lie, so let’s dig into this one a little. Last year, there were 552,935 HS basketball players. There are 1733 college basketball programs at all levels – Junior College, NAIA, NCAA D1, D2, & D3. With an average of 12 kids on a roster, you can do the math. (Find out your sport’s numbers here.)  Now obviously not all 552,935 basketball players are going to be good enough to play in college, have the competitive desire to play in college, or have the grades and test scores to be accepted into a college. So the reality is for the one college roster spot that boy’s basketball player is seeking, he’ll be competing with 5 other kids from somewhere else in the world. He’ll have about a 17% chance to play. Depending on the sport, that percentage could be as high as 25% chance. So what will give your child the competitive advantage to be one of those roughly 20% of kids who want to play in college AND actually get to play AND get college funded?

A child must be competing at the highest level possible and sometimes that’s not at the high school. Every sport has outside of the high school programs where the student-athlete can compete. Football has camps, combines, 7 on 7, etc, where elite athletes compete with each other. Girls and boys basketball have “AAU”, basketball camps, like NCSA partner 5-star, etc. Soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, volleyball, field hockey, ice hockey, water polo have elite club or travel teams. Golf, tennis, swimming, track and field, cross country, and wrestling have elite tournaments or competitions that student-athletes earn their way to compete in. Some student-athletes don’t play their sport at their high school because of a variety of reasons. Some parents are shocked to learn that these kids who don’t play at their high school are getting recruited and, in some cases, getting drafted by professional sports teams. All of these club, travel, and camp activities that are outside of the high school cost money. So let’s get rid of the myth that you, the parent, don’t have to spend any money to get your child recruited. Even the most elite athletes have personal trainers to give them an edge over the other elite athletes they are competing with. So what should your budget be to get your child recruited? What is the best way to invest your money?  

Part 2, part 3, and part 4 has those answers - stay tuned!

NCSA founder Chris Krause’ first book, Athletes Wanted is now available to pre-order for shipping June 1st! Athletes Wanted is the premise that athletes are indeed wanted in all areas of society. Just look at the record TV contracts for college and professional sports networks, the rise of ESPN and the conference networks, and the growth of collegiate athletics in popularity year in and year out.

The other areas athletes are wanted is on college campuses and in the professional world. Statistics prove that the recruited student athlete is much more likely to be accepted to a better college or university, and receive a better scholarship and/or grant and aid package. After college employers want former athletes as well. Just polling recruiters and CEO’s it is apparent- former college athletes are in demand for leadership position in every career imaginable!

Why? The book digs into the Athletes Wanted world and is designed to shed light upon why, and gives tips and anecdotes into how you can help maximize your student athlete’s athletic scholarship and eventual life potential.

Student athletes are taught life skills that impact them continuously. The former collegiate student athlete brand is something they carry with them always. Since the average person changes jobs over 25 times throughout their lives, this will come in handy in opening doors, building relationships, along with the learned skill set of hard work, leadership, goal setting, team work, time management, and achievement that will help them succeed at whatever they set their minds to. These invaluable tools will continue to help them thrive in a meaningful and rewarding career to provide for their families and be positive role models, spouses, friends and parents long after the cheers and roar of the crowd are over.

It takes a mature person to understand the keys to being successful and accomplishing goals. It is especially tough when the task is both physical and mental in nature. The steadfast and focused individuals are able to handle the ups and downs that eventually lead to success. The following is a road map for young athletes to follow if they are truly committed to being the best they possibly can be in their particular sport.

Keep All Doors Open

As an athlete, you need to give yourself every opportunity to succeed. The better you are in the classroom the more opportunities you will have in the future. Everyone would like to play at the top level of collegiate competition but we all know those opportunities are limited. If you are talented enough and dedicated, those chances may indeed come to fruition. The ultimate goal, however, is to end up at a school that is the best match for you. The better you are in the classroom, the more choices you will have from which to pick.

Be Committed

Once you have decided to make college athletics your goal, you need to set your game plan and be rigid in keeping your every action toward accomplishing that end result. It’s easy to stray from the disciplines it takes to be successful; only the strong-willed reach their goal.

Let Others Know Your Intentions

As an athlete, don’t be afraid to communicate your intentions. There are a lot of people who can be instrumental in the process. Relatives, coaches, administrators, and friends are just a limited example of those who can be important as you work to accomplish your goal.

Ask For Help

Even though the bulk of your success rests within tour attitude and your efforts, it’s smart to learn from those who have been where you want to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about physical training, improving technical skills, or mental maturity; seek help from those who know what it takes to max out ones’ potential.

Work to Improve

As you go up the athletic ladder the competition gets tougher and tougher. Everybody you will face at the next level will be as good as or better than the best of the best you have already faced. The great athletes thrive on competition and know if you don’t get better you are doomed for failure.

Ignore Naysayers

Remember that not everyone you come in contact with is as dedicated and committed as you. There will be those who try to deter you along the way; even though sometimes not purposefully. Others will be jealous of your successes. It is crucial to keep your eye on the target and not get off track.

Be a Leader

Just as others have done for you, you have an obligation to pay back and pay forward. The examples you set may well be the standard other athletes will use as their guidelines in the future. Remember, the best leaders are those who lead by example.

Learn from Failure

The road to success is a rocky one. There will be ups and downs along the way and it’s important to not dwell on the shortcomings but use them as motivators. Every failure is learning and growing experience. Getting knocked down is going to happen, the key is to get back up and go again.

Share Your Successes

Great teams celebrate together. As an athlete, never forget your success is a team success even if the sport is considered an individual success. Your team is comprised of may who have and continually helped out. Let them know your success is a direct reflection of their help and support.

Believe in Yourself

Confidence in yourself and your convictions is the self-motivator to finish the job. Never waiver from your belief in your own abilities. Others can help but you have to have the grit and determination to do it yourself. The long hours of physical and mental preparation fall solely on your shoulders; be proud.

Think college coaches aren’t evaluated players on social networks like Facebook?  Guess again.  NFL scouts even go to length of creating fake profiles of attractive women and friend potential draft picks to see how they will interact.  Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reports on why coaches can’t afford to leave any stone unturned.

“It works like magic,” said a personnel source that was familiar with his team’s tactic of using counterfeit profiles to link to Facebook and Myspace pages of potential draft picks. The source directed Yahoo! Sports to one of the team’s “ghost profiles” – a term he coined because “once the draft is over, they disappear. It’s like they were never there.”

Most NFL players and draft picks still have their own profiles on social networking sites. Every potential first-round pick in this year’s draft currently maintains a presence on Facebook. But many of them learned long ago to scrub their pages of anything that would give teams ammunition to use against them. Perhaps they followed the lead of their predecessors.

“I have a Facebook page. I’m rarely on it. But when I was in college, I didn’t have anything to hide,” said Houston Texans defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, a 2007 first-rounder. “But I was just mindful of whatever was on there. If you had the slightest doubt that it might create some controversy [it wasn't on there]. My whole thing is that I live by the phrase ‘You don’t want to give anybody a reason.’ ”

If NFL coaches are going to this length, so are colleges.  Recruits need to be ware that photos posted of them in Middle School have the chance to later impact their recruiting efforts.  My advice is to avoid any potential scenario where you could be seen to be involved in questionable behavior.

But, recruits could take the idea one step further.  Since they know coaches will be following their activities online, why not use their page to highlight their best attributes?  Use it to show off their highlight video.  Use it to display the charity work they have done in the community.  Take another recruit’s smoking gun, and turn into an advantage.