By: Jay Miller
Since the lockdowns began, I have been looking for a way to help young athletes who aspire to play at the college level. What I found is a major lack of education for athletes and parents on how to go about the process and go about it the right way. Having experienced watching my oldest sister be recruited at the Division I level, then my recruiting process as well as on the other side as an administrator and college coach, I believe I can offer some clarification on the whole thing.
At the very beginning of the recruiting process, it can seem very overwhelming and the goal with this piece is to shed some light on a path to take. This particular article is geared toward softball and baseball, but aspects can be taken and used toward all sports. Let’s begin…
The first decision is knowing you can make the commitment to college athletics. It is not for everyone and very few actually play all four years. For example, in my graduating class we had 24 individuals receive athletic scholarships. After four years, there were only two of us who played our entire academic careers. That’s a whopping 8%. The reason I tell you that is because there is an opportunity to play if you are willing to go. It comes down to the love of the game.
Using softball as my example, there are over 1600 college softball programs across the country. That includes NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA. The percentages will tell you how difficult it is to play at the collegiate level. During the 2018-19 school year, only 8.1% of high school senior athletes went on to play college softball and only 1.6% competed at the NCAA DI level the next fall.
It is important to understand the opportunities go far beyond the power five conferences in the NCAA that you see on ESPN. After NCAA DI, there is DII and DIII. The biggest difference is that Division III cannot offer athletic aid. However, they do have some of the best financial aid packages and sometimes can offer a better financial package than other programs who can offer athletic aid. NAIA, or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, is another option and offer more scholarships than NCAA DII. Finally, there is the National Junior College Athletics Association, also known as JUCO. Per student-athlete, the NJCAA can offer more aid than the biggest power five schools at the NCAA DI level. The biggest difference is JUCO is for two years and then athletes move on to the four-year level, but have already obtained a degree (Associates Degree) during their time at the NJCAA institution.
Now that we have gone over all of the options, let’s dive into the athlete’s side of recruiting. After years of being involved in the process and answering countless questions on, “how do I get recruited”, we have broken it down into three phases.
Phase I
The first phase is all about you, the athlete. It begins with making a list of what is important to you. The school you choose should follow your list, not the other way around where you are conforming to the school. Possibilities of items that can be found on your list:
• Cost to attend
• Opportunity to play your sport
• Opportunity to play right away
• College major
• Campus feel (big or small)
• Classroom size
• Distance from home
• Division of competition
• Relationship with coaches
• Facilities
• Ability for family to see you play
Phase II
Phase II is all about research. Take your list, go to google and begin searching for all of the colleges and universities that offer your sport and check off the important items from your list on phase I.
• Create a list of schools you are interested in (20-30 schools)
• Target Schools (10-15 schools that meet your criteria)
• Top 10 list (rank them and why)
Things to remember
• Know your skill level!
• Keep all your options open
The reason I say to keep all of your options open comes from a personal experience. When I was in my senior year of high school, I had a list. The list was schools I didn’t want to attend. As you can tell, I was not very educated on the process back then. At the top of the list was a university that was 45 minutes from my hometown and “everyone” went there. At the end of the process, guess where I went. Yep, that university. After it was all said and done, it was the best opportunity for me to play right away and the cost was the most affordable of all of my offers. It also turns out my parents moved several states away the next summer, so only being 45 minutes from home didn’t matter anymore. Don’t make that list. Keep all of your options open.
Phase III
This phase is all about contacting coaches. Even though it has only been 15 years since I went through the recruiting process, the opportunities for current athletes to be seen by coaches is incredible! Let’s look at some of the viable options to get your name in front of these coaches.
Emails
• Send emails to all the coaches on your list of interested schools
• Keep it short!!! 5-6 sentences!
• Tell them something personal about the program and why you are interested in it
• Double check the spelling of coach’s names, colleges and mascots
• Make sure the athlete is sending the email, NOT parents
Social Media
• This is the newest form and coaches are very divided on it
• Remember, not all coaches run their social media pages and they may never see your tags
• Do not tag coaches multiple times in social media posts if you are not currently getting recruited
• DO NOT put anything on social media that could get you removed from a coach’s recruiting board
• We are looking for something to make you stand out, it can be good or bad
Videos
• Four minutes is too long unless you are a pitcher who hits
• Try to keep it at three minutes or less
• Emphasize in the video what you are best at
• Give two angles of your swing
• DO NOT clock yourself running. Coaches will clock it themselves
• Be sure to put contact info in the video
• Make a new video each year to demonstrate growth
• Use your phone/ipad or camera
• No need for music
Here is a check list of do’s and don’ts from your side of the recruiting process.
• Do not hound coaches at showcases. That’s more for parents than players
• Make sure you are not over emailing coaches
• Do not be offended if a coach does not remember your name right away
• Ask current players questions about the school, program and the coach. Ask for that opportunity if it isn’t available
• Be sure not to abuse social media
• Have a list of questions prepared for visits or face to face meetings
• Do proper research on the school and roster
• Make sure YOU are doing this, not your parents. They can help, but it should be on you
• Don’t panic when others are accepting scholarships around you. Everyone’s experience is different
Finally, the best advice I can give you for getting in front of a coach or staff at a school you are interested in is to go to their camps. Yes, camps at big schools like Florida or Ohio State are cool, but if they aren’t on your list, don’t waste your money. Spend it on the best opportunities for your future.
I hope I was able to educate you on the recruiting process and all that it entails from the athletes side. Please remember, playing college athletics is a privilege and not a right. There are thousands of student-athletes working hard on their craft and working hard in the classroom. If you want it bad enough, you will work for it and you will get an opportunity. All you need is someone to open the door for you and then you can kick it in.