Athletic Scholarship Advice for HS & JuCo Athletes
A: One of the toughest hurdles a player can go through during their career is dealing with a coaching change, especially at the collegiate level. Whether a coach retires, leaves for another school, decides to go coach a pro team or gets fired—emotions run high and the media and critics will pile on the uncertainty. It’s important to understand …
A: Yes, it’s not a good look! If your boyfriend/girlfriend went on a date to the movies with someone else, how would you feel? Unless the other school has invited a group of your teammates, and you’re going along with the group, it’s definitely not a good idea if you plan on staying committed to this first team. And …
A: Yes, it does happen. With recruiting beginning earlier and earlier, coaches are anxious to get their top prospects committed and finished with the recruiting process. With each scholarship class coaches determine their needs, position-by-position, and allocate slots based on where they are lacking depth. Once they determine their needs for each signing class, they rate their prospects at …
A: In football, verbal commitments don’t usually mean much to opposing coaches, especially with high-level prospects. In football it is pretty common for coaches to continue to recruit players, even after they’ve verbally committed to another school. The level of recruitment may vary, but it’s common for coaches to continue to send mail, email and possibly invite commits to …
Does your plan include signing with a school, and then jumping ship in a year or two to greener pastures? Is it possible, yes. Is it your best option, probably not. If you are considering this option, you are likely not getting the offers that you are interested in, or you are a late bloomer. Both are situations that …
Another factor I want to stress to you is that you ALWAYS have the right to change your mind before you sign that National Letter of Intent (NLI). No matter how close to Signing Day, if your heart and gut are raising the red flags on your decision—by all means, follow them! Truthfully, college coaches deal with recruits changing …
Committing to a coach and program will be one of the most exciting and proud achievements of your life. It can also be a pressure-filled situation, as many coaches will begin to put pressure on you at some point during the recruiting process to get you to commit on their schedule, and not your own. In the moment, you may …
Legally, yes. Until you sign an NLI (National Letter of Intent), anything verbal is non-binding on either side. Verbal commitments from players are non-binding as well, and you have the right to change your mind before signing an NLI. In any sport, there will come a time when coaches will begin pressuring you to commit. Some coaches will be up …
10 MUST-ASK QUESTIONS DURING THE RECRUITING PROCESS AND DURING OFFICIAL/UNOFFICIAL VISITS #1: What are grad rates of your sport nationally, and how do they compare to the schools that you are looking at? Does that university and your specific team graduate their players? What percentage of that teams’ players have graduated in the last 5-10 years? #2: What are the …
Coaches have their own checklist of characteristics and skills that they are looking for. You need to develop one as well! As you sit down, think about the few things that are really important to you, that will help you become a successful player, eventual college graduate and person. In order to be successful in a situation, you need to …