Wait, I thought you watched me... Nope, I saw you. Big Difference!
As many Collegiate Prospects enter into the recruiting phase there are often more questions than answers. Most of it comes from understanding the recruiting process and its four phases.
As I sit with prospective Collegiate Student-Athletes I will ask where they think they are in the recruiting process. Most will tell me that they are being recruited. They'll tell me about emails inviting them to camps or a questionnaire or two that has been sent. Most, however, don't have any of this. As I continue to ask questions about their place in the recruitment phase I can see the concern and worry fall over the faces of their parents. It isn't long before mom and dad become frustrated, even agitated, at the amount of money they have spent with little to no results.
In an attempt to justify the investment spent on their Student-Athlete, they'll produce a list of colleges that were at the latest showcase they attended, or who even saw their game. As I look through the list I'm quick to realize that most of the colleges are DIII with several DII and maybe a DI who was actually on the field while they played.
This is when I am forced to ask the most telling question as to their status in the recruiting process—
"Has there been any followup?"
The table usually goes quiet with the exception of a sigh. This is the ugly truth of recruiting—It doesn't matter where you go, how much money you spend on travel, or the "Prestige," of your Academy or club team—if someone isn't being proactive on your behalf, you're not going to get watched!
The cruel truth of Collegiate Recruiting (at the DI and most DII colleges) is, in the end, financial. For the Student-Athlete this is a sport, and a dream to play at the College Level and succeed. For the Colleges themselves, it's a business—plain and simple. It's a numbers game.
How much money is in my Travel Budget—Recruiting Budget—and how much money do I have available for Scholarships. ( Of course, this is all predicated on how many recruiting hours the coach has per NCAA regulation)
Thus, we enter Phase One of Recruiting—IDENTIFICATION, and RECOGNITION.
The IDENTIFICATION process begins in the coaches office, most of the time, at his computer. Here he sorts through hundreds of videos and emails a day/week. He'll send out a questionnaire, see who's interested, and invite to Identification clinics. He has tournament rosters from players he knows couldn't or wouldn't play for him. It's exhausting overwhelming and frustrating. He does this, however, in the hopes of finding that one gem worth WATCHING. In this phase, a prospective recruit is WATCHED for the first time.
Before you leave your house, drive/fly/trek to the tournaments all over the country—before you get out of your car— lace up your boots and start your warmup—before the first whistle of the match, a coach has already Identified the player he is going to WATCH. Hence the RECOGNITION part of Phase I.
He recognizes whom he is going to watch. He has their stats, academics, and identifiers. Being seen means nothing. There are 22 players on the pitch, more with substitutions. As a coach budgets his time, he'll stay 15 maybe 20 minutes at a match before he moves on. In that time he has one priority, WATCH THE PLAYER HE IS INTERESTED IN! Remember, he's FIGHTING to have that player COME AND PLAY in HIS/HER PROGRAM. Maybe he'll "see" one or two others who might catch his eye. In the end, however, he doesn't have the time or the money to stay and watch a full match "looking" for new talent.
I've written several articles about the difficulty of depending on your Club, High School, and Academy Coaches in this process (with understandable reasoning on their behalf). These are men and women with full-time jobs, families, and their lives don't revolve around every single player on their roster or their needs.
So what do you do? What does the parent of a Student-Athlete do to get their child on the radar? Spend tens of thousands of dollars hoping to get their child watched?
So how do I know that my child is being recruited? Here are SIX IDENTIFIERS that tell you a college is interested in your child—
1) You've had an email followed by a questionnaire
2) You've been asked for a tournament schedule (more than once)
3) You've been invited to an Identification Clinic —Get feedback as to your performance either verbal or email. (camps don't count)
4) You've received a letter from the College about an OPEN HOUSE
5) You've been on campus, BEEN IN THE COACHES OFFICE, spoken to the coach personally, and got the grand tour by the coach or an assistant himself.
6) The coach gives you his/her CELL PHONE NUMBER (NCAA Divisional Graduating Year Compliance)
If you do not meet all of these criteria, you AREN'T BEING RECRUITED. It doesn't matter how many emails you send, how many videos you send, how many tournaments you attend... If you're not having personal contact with that coach (regardless of graduation year) YOU ARE NOT BEING RECRUITED!
Just recently, I had a player I'm working with receive the Cell # from a Major DI coach. He called me excited knowing that he was truly being recruited by this Major Fully Funded DI College. This is his reality.
As I said at the beginning of this article, there are more questions than answers. Navigating this process is overwhelming and there are very few who truly understand the process. It requires a ton of research and know-how.
Coach Billy Elias - National Scouting Report - [email protected] - 609.618.3723
