Run the table for college coaches as a five-tool prospect: talent, desire, grades, work ethic and character

The new normal calls for prospects to do it all if they expect to get a scholarship offer

There is enough talent these days for college coaches to pretty much have their pick of prospects. For that reason alone, today’s high school recruits have to get down with the things these coaches are looking for. Why? Because when a coaching staff does find the prospects that are legit five-tool student-athletes, they latch on and it is hard to squeeze in and compete for that scholarship.

We call these prep athletes five-tool prospects. They are the ones that have all the right stuff that college coaches are desperately searching for every day in their recruiting efforts. Lots of high school athletes are two-, three- or even four-tool potential recruits, but very few can own up to being the quintessential five-tool kid every coach hopes to find and land.

Those tools? First, there’s talent. If a prospect doesn’t have it, a coach’s decision is easy. But, that doesn’t mean that an athlete has to possess DI-level skills. Not by a long, long shot. A DIII prospect can be a five-tool recruit, too, that is if he or she matches up with what a coach at that level perceives as what it takes to compete.

Second is desire. A prospect gives that trait away almost immediately. There is a “tell” that the most attractive prospects show to coaches and that is simply that at the moment they step into their uniform they are full bore, intense and never, ever take a play off, even when the chips are down and a game’s outcome is hopelessly out of hand.

Third, grades. College coaches want to see that a prospect respects academics and works as hard in the classroom as on the diamond, court, field or pitch. College is not for sissies and those high school athletes that have the academic maturity to grind out good grades are the ones coaches want representing their programs.

The fourth tool is work ethic. This trait perhaps separates prospects more than any other single issue. Coaches want proof that their athletes will show up every day, on time and will put themselves on the line without reservation.

And fifth, character. There is no longer a place for thugs in college athletics. Yes, sadly, some coaches will on occasion sacrifice their programs, reputations and their schools’ images for the prospect that they believe can be fixed. But, time and again, that has been proven to fail. Today coaches are putting prospects under the microscope looking for character deficiencies. The athletes that can keep their noses clean, make contributions to their communities and high schools and can emerge tough and privileged circumstances unscathed are the ones coaches go after most aggressively.