College Recruiting Goes Smoother with a Reality Check

Overshooting Where Your Kid Fits is a Common but Tragic Mistake

Good or bad, right or wrong, in high school recruiting, every prospect fits into a box — its dimensions determined by college coaches based on what they know are the traits of the athletes who thrive in their sport at each position.  According to their size, speed, strength, skill level, attitude, competitive drive and grades, prospects are assigned to a DI, DII, DIII, NAIA or NJCAA box, without much wiggle room.  But, convincing prospects of this most basic of recruiting facts, that is that they belong in Box A, not Box B or C, is like telling a Chihuahua that he is not a German Shepherd.  It’s a viewpoint frequently adopted by prospects and their parents which is pervasive in recruiting at every level and in every sport. 

Here’s a perfect example.  Last year, in 2009, there was a terrific basketball player who played for a high school an hour or so from where I live in Western North Carolina.  This girl was a dominant 5’8″ guard who could do almost everything well.  She ran circles around the competition in these parts.  Need a spot-up three in the clutch?  Swish.  Drive the lane and finish?  Yep.   Pull-up jumper?  No problem.  Execute an assist in tight quarters?  Done.  Get out of a double-team jam by dribbling behind her back then between her legs in the same move?  Easy.  She was as smooth a player as there has been in the region for a decade.  But, this kid was not exceptionally quick or fast and she wasn’t an outstanding jumper.  Moreover, perhaps her most telling Achilles heel was that she did not work hard on the defensive end of the floor.  This was a kid like thousands of others across America — she was a very good high school offensive player well suited for DII, DIII or the NAIA.  But DI?  Not a chance.  

Yet, having been told which box she fit into by a multitude of knowledgeable onlookers and college coaches, she was adament that if she did not receive an offer to play DI basketball that she would not play in college.  She would give up the sport.  And sadly, that is what happened.  Rejecting a number of excellent DII offers, her pride got the best of her.  

There are exceptions to the “Box Rule,”  to be sure, but they are very few.  This coming week, a 5’1″ point guard prospect with whom I worked as a scout for National Scouting Report, will sign her National Letter of Intent with a Division I program.  Over the past year when I talked to Division II schools about her, the consensus was the same — great ball handler, superb defensively, all-out hustle, but at the college level opponents would simply post up on her and that would be the end of that.  Still, one DI coach saw something in her which she was willing to take a chance on.  This kid’s work ethic, character, drive, determination and family were collectively a fit for this coach and her program.  So yes, Dorothy, you can reach the Emerald City if all the pieces fall into place.   

But everything considered, when it comes to recruiting, as rule you are what you are.  Accepting this is so very difficult for so many high school athletes.  They grow up excelling in youth league, middle school then high school.  They start on every team they play on.  Their will to compete and to win often outweigh any physical or skill deficiencies which they may have.  They learned to compensate and they came away, and grew up, as stars in their small world.  This is downside to star power.  It can shower a kid with misconceptions of where they truly belong on the college sports landscape.  Our best advice to prospects and parents is to give the big schools a shot.  As for an honest evaluation of your talent and accept their professional assessments.  Yes, like the diminutive point guard I worked with, a miracle could happen, but in the meantime, don’t allow the opportunity, or opportunities, of a lifetime pass you by in the form of smaller college scholarship offers.  You will have only one pass at this.  Take full advantage of it or the chances are that you will someday see it as the biggest regret of your life.