The college recruiting stage is set for younger prospects to be recognized

Earlier Contact Now a Part of the Recruiting Process

NCAA Division II has crossed the heretofore unapproachable line of contacting prospects on June 15 following prep prospects’ sophomore high school year, a full twelve months sooner than was previously allowable. June 15 following the junior year had long been a sacred line which the NCAA dared not breech. But when Division II sports in its entirety and Division I basketball in tandem jumped into the chasm together this past summer, they ushered in what will doubtlessly be a new era in connecting coaches with potential recruits. Moreover, there is little doubt that all other sports in DI will soon follow.

It was time for this significant rule change to happen. College recruiting has moved full bore into the digital age and in doing so they now have more access to prospects through Web sites and online recruiting outlets. This has allowed them to identify key prospects earlier than ever before. And, they have instituted permissible tactics which have led to recruits giving their oral commitments sooner than in the past. To get a competitive advantage, coaches were clamoring for earlier access to prospects as they filled senior and junior classes of recruits. Waiting to reach out to sophomores was becoming a necessity, so the governing bodies responded to their wants and needs.

All this puts ninth graders and sophomores in the cross hairs of coaches wanting to get a head start on recruiting those classes. Sitting back and twiddling their thumbs was no longer an acceptable option, so they acted and the world of college recruiting will never be the same as a result.

Prospects and their parents must now start considering how to get into the recruiting process as eighth, ninth and tenth graders. We are already deep into a New Day when juniors and seniors hanging around hoping that they will get their big chance at being identified are widely being met by the fateful phrase, “It’s too late.” Current seniors that have followed the tired advice of their parents’ generation that if they are good enough coaches will find them are already ruing the day they believed that flawed counsel. And juniors that waited are also feeling the pressure of fewer open spots being made available because of all the early commitments from other talented athletes.

Competition for scholarship and roster spots is incredibly stiff. Prospects and parents must decide which route to take. Self promotion is not effective. High school and travel coaches, although well intended, simply don’t have the time and expertise to properly promote their athletes. What’s left is for prospects to choose which source is the most reliable and will get their information in the hands of college coaches most efficiently and effectively.

Online sites such as Rivals.com, Scout.com and others of the like are free, but college coaches cannot possibly go through all the unqualified prospects to get to those which are legit. It simply takes too long and so the coaches look elsewhere. Scouting services can be helpful, but there is quicksand there, too. Some services are little more than telemarketing companies that will enroll any prospect that agrees to a phone interview and a five-minute evaluation. The families are lured into inexpensive contracts which in a short time prove to be ineffective. When the families come back with complaints or concerns, they are up charged by the company to go with a more expensive program which in many cases ends up being just as lackluster in attracting the attention of college coaches. Most importantly, these telemarketers, or cubicle counselors, never really scout the prospects. They never see them perform in person, meet the prospect and family and are unavailable for one-on-one sessions which families often need to navigate the recruiting process. There is no relationship building.

The scouting services worthy of serious consideration are those which actually have scouts on the ground evaluating talent in person, meeting the prospects, learning about them as athletes, students and people, and developing bonds with them and their families. And, the most reliable ones for college coaches are those which only enroll prospects which college coaches will want to recruit. These services, in essence, do the preliminary work that college coaches would otherwise be doing. They are trained to spot prospects that are qualified athletically, academically and personally to join a college program.

There are few of these scouting services around, but they are out there. National Scouting Report is one of those services. Now in our 33rd year of working with high school prospects and college coaches, no other scouting organization in the world can claim as many on-the-ground scouts or as many highly qualified prospects on their rosters. Do your own evaluation and you will find that NSR is the top in the field and richly deserving of your faith and trust.