The Importance of Freshmen Entering the Recruiting Process

Put simply, for freshmen there is big advantage to entering the recruiting process as soon as high school begins.  There are limitations, yes, but the benefits far outweigh those restrictions.  Here are the benefits:

• Being recognized earlier.  The first part of the recruiting process is to be recognized by college coaches and the earlier the better.  With each passing day, a freshman prospect somewhere has a chance to steal the spotlight.  Being in that position is more desirable than being unknown.  That’s just common sense.
• Being evaluated multiple times.  In early allows freshmen to be seen and evaluated over and again by college coaches.  They can watch freshmen progress and get a feel for where they started and how far they’ve come.  Knowing this, most coaches will have the good sense to then predict a prospect’s learning curve, physical upsides and mental makeup.
• Landing on more recruiting lists.  The longer a prospect waits to enter the process, the fewer coaches that will see them perform in person.  Time collapses the process in no one’s favor.  It stands to reason that as time goes on and coaches move in and out of various positions while adding new assistant coaches that the eventual total number of coaches that have a chance to see a prospect rises significantly.  
• Visiting more campuses and watching more coaches and teams.  As college recruit in search of the right program to join ideally wants to visit as many campuses as possible, see a large number of college teams play and observe lots of coaches do their thing.  Waiting shortens that exploration process leaving decision making less optimum.
• Making the best final decision.  Waiting puts prospects in the unenviable position of having fewer choices from potentially less palatable options.  A freshman has the time to properly navigate the recruiting process.  Years quickly turn into days and not enough of them when juniors, late in the school year, and seniors at any time of year decide to finally get going.

At NSR, we give freshmen a jump on the recruiting process every day.  Over a period of four years they may get attention from hundreds of college coaches at every competitive level and from every size school.  In this position, ninth graders have the luxury of time to explore, prod and learn instead of having to cram it all into six, twelve or eighteen months when catch-up is more the rule than the exception.