Morgan Cary Sees Dream Come True

With No College Options in Sight, Cary Family Turned to NSR

Morgan Cary is the quintessential NSR high school prospect, but with a twist, or a twist and a half.  Like thousands of other high school seniors, Morgan wanted to play college sports.  And as a promising young athlete, Morgan had set her sights on doing something many prep athletes dream of but few accomplish – securing a college athletic scholarship.

There was a problem, though.  Even though Morgan was an accomplished three-sport athlete at The Villages High School in The Villages, Florida, she had received no interest from college coaches midway through her senior year.  Panic had set in.  Would her dreams, the dreams of a solid high school athlete, be lost because no college coaches knew she even existed, much less was an excellent prospect? 

Then one night something happened which changed Morgan’s life.  Sean Kitchen, an NSR scout from Ocala, walked into the gymnasium where Morgan was playing volleyball.  He was at once drawn to Morgan as the best player on the court.  Her athleticism, competitive drive and attitude stood out from the other players.  Following the match, Sean approached Morgan and began to ask her questions about her athletic future.  To his surprise, Morgan had no athletic future to speak of.  With 14 varsity letters to her credit, here was an athlete whose career was coming to a close as her dreams and goals were apparently fading away day-by-day.  

After seeing the passion and hope in Morgan’s eyes, Sean spoke to her parents and set up an appointment the following Friday evening to interview Morgan and to discover if she, indeed, qualified as a college student-athlete.  Sitting around the family pool on a warm, Florida, November evening, Sean explained to the Cary’s their predicament.  Morgan would be getting into the recruiting mix very late.  But, if they worked hard and fast to make her profile and video available to coaches ASAP, then she stood a chance of being noticed, evaluated and recruited.  The Cary family took the plunge.

Fast forward to December, a month later.  With Morgan’s profile and video posted on NSR’s Web site, the interest by college coaches about Morgan began to pour in.  And pour is a mild description.  In the month of December, buoyed by excellent volleyball workout footage, Morgan heard from an incredible 80 college coaches.  With Sean advising the family regularly, Morgan began to make visits, unofficial and official, to colleges up and down the East Coast. 

Then, magic happened as it sometimes does with prospects, campuses and coaches.  Morgan found her home away from home at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.  The school simply felt right in every way.

Still, by January Morgan was experiencing something akin to the remarkable as questionnaires, emails and phone calls from coaches increased to a level the Cary family could hardly believe.  Although Morgan had found her dream school in ECSU, she continued to receive offers, more than 15 in all.  Some were full ride offers, some were partials, but regardless of the final tally, Morgan was going through in four short months what most prospects can only imagine in an entire high school career.  She had received interest from 170 college volleyball coaches by springtime. 

After Morgan had formally accepted and signed the ECSU offer, she had a graduation party at her home.  And, of course, Sean Kitchens was invited.  But as he was leaving to go to the celebration, Sean found that there was a message left on his home phone answering machine from the Cary family which said, “Sean, please don’t bring a gift.  You have given Morgan something no gift can replace – a college education.”