Recruiting Tidbits for the Common Parent and Student Athlete
Recruiting has changed since my son was a top college recruit back in the year of 2015. He was a Top 100 kid in the country with over about 20 offers on the table, when it came down to his…
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Continue ReadingRecruiting has changed since my son was a top college recruit back in the year of 2015. He was a Top 100 kid in the country with over about 20 offers on the table, when it came down to his decision to go to college. He chose University of Oregon cause we believed it was the best choice for him at the time, but you learn that not all things are good for you. So he played about 15 minutes per game, which we thought as a freshman was sufficient, but as the year went on, the minutes really changed and he was reduced to 8 minutes per game. It was very upsetting, but at that level, you have to deal with it and then make your decision at the end of the year to see if you want to stay or get out of there. We chose the later and he decided to go play for University of Pacific in the West Coast Conference. He was able to finish there and get his Bachelors Degree in Communications and now he is back at home, ready to go to Chaminade in Hawaii to finish his Grad-Transfer year. After finishing the grad year at Chaminade, he will venture overseas to make some money in the Euro League for a few years. That is the story and how it went with my oldest son, but it does not always work out, the recruiting nowadays is getting more suspect.
Girls nowadays have to go thru so many hoops, it getting ridiculous to even try and get a girl recruited in these times. First, here is what it looks like these days, coaches are only focused on the girls in the Nike EYBL first and foremost, not saying it is right, but that is the norm. Second, they are now going to the Under Armour and Adidas Gauntlet series a little more, if I had to guess, I would say the UA circuit was one of the best organized and successful events for it first year. The UA event had some great talent and it was good all the way across the board. Kids had about 60-80 coaches watching them play at one time, which was very impressive. What I am saying is that if you do not play on a major shoe circuit, it is pretty much very difficult to get a scholarship offer from a coach, because chances are they have not seen you play. Thousands of coaches are at these events all across the country and they are their because the shoe circuit teams are suppose to have the cream of the crop. Meaning all of the girls that are big-time are playing on those type of teams and the coaches can see multiple kids in a game like that. Now, I deal with coaches all of the time, I talk with them and we discuss who they like and I add my opinion as well as to who I like. They take those names into consideration and then they use the information provided to them thru many channels and they make a decision on who to recruit. Rankings and Article information plays a big role in their decision making of who to recruit, but they always trust their gut instinct to really get the kid they believe can help them win games.
My suggestion to parents and players is this, get on a circuit team or a coach that has a program that has some influence with coaches at the college level. Continue to make yourself better by training and working out with your strength coach, skills training coach and any other training to help assist your development. Attend certain elite camps that the college coaches post on their schools websites, invitation camps and clinics, where you think you will learn something. Talk to people who have placed kids before, because they will always have relationships with those schools if they have sent athletes there. I cannot emphasize enough, market yourself on social media, promote yourself to college coaches on a daily basis and it will start to give you some type of recognition. I assist some young ladies in their recruiting efforts, by contacting coaches for them, but most can do that themselves, you can always call a coach and leave a message, but they cannot always do that for you. NCAA rules are very strict and concise, their are certain times of the year, when they can view, contact or visit you as an athlete. Girls are lucky they still have the five viewing periods to be seen by coaches, when the boys have been reduced to two events and they are camps by schools in each region of the country.
Parents, take heed, we will educate you on the science of this thing we call recruiting, coaches are not dumb and they are not stupid in any form or fashion. They will do their due diligence and with that said, they will be able to make decisions based on their findings, now do not get me wrong, some are not clued in and they fail cause of it. I have met a few who did not have a clue what was going on, but they somehow came to figure it out in the long run. My advice is this, keep working hard as an athlete, promote yourself to coaches constantly, contact coaches yourself and make sure you keep really good notes on conversations or text. Those things will help you get ahead of some girls, but not most, because the main goal is to play on a shoe circuit team and also help your school win games in high school and then they will notice you. This is a quick summary of how to be recruited and it should help some with gaining some more exposure, but the you have to know what you are doing to get it all in perspective. The old saying is this “If you are good, they will find you”, that statement is TRUE. Most coaches can find a diamond in the rough, most of the time. Good luck and hope this helps you a little.