Recruiting is a Multi-layered Construction of Activity Requiring a Uniquely Qualified Perspective

Getting Through the Maze Is a True Challenge

College athletic recruiting is a complex, intertwining maze of people and decisions which flows in no predictable way. With prospects, parents, coaches, advisors, peers and onlookers participating in varying degrees of influence, a recruit’s world is in constant flux. Call it “prospect interrupted.”

We know that it all starts with recognition, that is, when a college coach recognizes the existence of a high school athlete. But even reaching that point, a prospect encounters a myriad of puzzling decisions such as whether to go it alone, hire a scouting service, rely on coaches or, worse yet, simply to wait it out. Family culture and history set the stage in most cases. What a family initially hears and believes inevitably pulls them toward a path, but common sense and evidence supporting the consideration of other routes often stymies their progress.  Confusion can lead to stagnation and missed opportunities.

In the end, who can you really count on to be there when approaching the rough patches? Which schools should you pinpoint? Where do you really belong in college athletics?  When should you make unofficial and official visits? Which coaches can you talk to, where and when can that happen? How do school’s determine your academic qualifications for acceptance? Which programs will best fit you? How do you communicate effectively with college coaches? Are you on the right track or have you veered off into recruiting obscurity? Is your impatience with a coach justified? When is it reasonable to expect a coach to get back to you after first contact? How aggressive should you be in communicating with coaches? Where do you begin?  These are questions you will run up against, assuming that you are in the recruiting mix in the first place.

The key question is, do you have a partner with the ability to give you the right answers when you need them, or will you stumble and fall to the wayside as others grab your brass ring as they whiz by?

A clear roadmap should be secured from the outset including where do you want the recruiting process to conclude? In other words, what will be your end game?  In that deliberation, families must decide if their priority is to please their advisors and coaches, regardless of their experience or lack thereof in today’s recruiting atmosphere, or instead is it to get your child a scholarship by the most historically proven means available? That judgment can be clouded by misinformation from unreliable sources whose views are based more on hearsay and street lore than on current college recruiting processes.  After all, in recruiting, the roadmap handed you can be safe or treacherous, depending on the person that drew it up. 

Pushing aside the opinions of individuals whose agendas are heartfelt, but nonetheless misguided, it is extremely difficult for prospects and parents.  Appreciating their input while ignoring their consel is tricky to say the least. Yet, in nearly every conceivable scenario, it is necessary. Were the circumstances instead centered on a life altering operation for their child, parents would doubtlessly pursue the most knowledgeable resource possible so that they could rest assured that they sought out the most trusted option.

At NSR, we do not suggest that local resources should be altogether ignored, but parents should properly vet and see them for what they are, opinions based on sketchy data, not on empirical facts. Lined up side by side, we would argue that taken as a viable option, our expertise and history of results are their most logical alternative. No other method can reach as many college coaches on a widespread or targeted effort as often as NSR. No other option can provide the learned experience our team of experts can put to bear on any and all recruiting questions or dilemmas.

Scouting high school prospects worldwide and helping college coaches find the best recruits for their programs is what we do, not as a hobby nor via folklore assumptions, but through daily, intimate involvement with prep prospects and college coaches. It’s what we’ve successfully done for 32 years. Let us put you back on the path toward a scholarship offer. It’s what you deserve.