Early signing completes roller-coaster ride for NSR prospects

Day One of the NCAA early signing period today will be one of the most exciting days of their lives for thousands of high school seniors across America.  Many of those signing over the next seven days will be prospects who have been promoted to colleges by National Scouting Report and guided by NSR scouts.

NSR scouts dream right along with their prospects.  They do their best to present them with as many opportunities and options as possible leading up to the signing periods.  While most prospects enter the recruiting process as juniors, sophomores or freshmen with a particular dream school in mind, in the end it’s not unusual for prospects to change their minds multiple times once they get on campuses for unofficial and official visits, meet coaches, tour the facilities and get to know their potential teammates.

Trisha Schwartz was an all-state shortstop and catcher from T.C. Roberson High School in Asheville, N.C., whose decision-making process was a roller-coaster ride.

“I had five official visits lined up in the early fall of my senior year.  After every school I visited, I would call my NSR scout and tell him that he could cancel all my other visits because this was the school for me,” recalls Schwartz, 28, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C.  “But he would not budge.  He kept saying that the only way for me to make the best decision was to gather more evidence by visiting all the schools on my list.  I followed his advice and it worked out great.”

Schwartz eventually decided on a D-II school that had excellent academics and a very good softball program, both of which fit her needs.  And she decided to sign early.

“The school I settled on was exactly what I wanted because of the demanding academics and high level of softball they played,” Schwartz explained.  “Had my NSR scout not insisted that I visit all my scheduled schools, I would have ended up playing for another school that today I doubt I would have enjoyed all that much.

“I had friends that committed to the first school that made them offers.  Later they regretted not looking into other schools that recruited them.”

Prospects can count on NSR scouts for advice.

“The job of an NSR scout is not to direct prospects, but to assist them in making sound decisions based on as much information as can be gathered,” said longtime NSR area director Bryan Black of Alabama. “When that happens, a prospect and a family can rest easy knowing that they took under consideration everything available to them and explored all their options.”

When NSR scouts say, “You only get one chance at being recruited,” they are telling prospects to begin the process early and patiently make the best decisions possible along the way.  It’s advice born from 35 years of college recruiting experience.