College Athletics: Recruit Me
OKAY…You KNOW you’re good enough, you’ve shined in your sport, and you’ve decided….I want to play in College.
What should I do to get recruited?
Being recruited for college is an intense and comprehensive process…it is not easy and it is not up to your coach to get you recruited. Yes, your coach may assist you in the process but you (and parents/guardians) have to put work in too.
Below, suggestions for all 4 years and suggestions for each sport—-
GENERAL THINGS TO DO
Nowadays, it is difficult to get recruited but it doesn’t have to be. You have to put yourself out there to say the least. Here are some recruitment ideas and “MUSTS” for all athletes
- Make a “professional” webpage about me”. This is in ADDITION to any social media! Imagine it like a resume for a job but it’s about you. Don’t include your personal information other than your name and age and never speak to anyone who somehow gets your contact information and reaches out to you personally. INCLUDE a profile picture in uniform (which can include multiple profile pics if you play multiple sports). COACHES from the Collegiate level should be going through your coaches at school, Coaches from your club team or your parents until you are a junior in high school. Then, they can officially talk to you. Still, never meet with anyone unless it’s in school with your coaches or at home with your parents.
The “about me” page can be a simple single webpage made on Google Sites or another free platform and it should include:
- DO NOT include your home address, cell phone number or any information where someone can track you personally…only information for them to follow you and get to know the athletic “you”
- a “professional” profile picture. Smiling but just a headshot. Imagine it like a yearbook photo. You may include a photo for each sport you play, rotating in a picture slideshow.
- interests for a career and hobbies
- GPA (at the end of each year) for each year and cumulative (weighted is better if you take AP courses)
- courses/grades so far for the year and for school for each year
- measurements (height, weight, body mass index, aerobic capacity with health-related or skill-related fitness test results that are relevant for your sport, such as the mile time and Pacer Laps, 40-yard dash speed, Shuttle Run score, vertical jump, push-up amounts and any other measurements relevant to your sport. (Corabi or Doyle can help you with this regardless of the sport you play)
- Your college type you may be interested in (urban vs rural, large/medium/small, Religious/Secular, etc)
- interests or clubs for school (if any), away from the sport
- Volunteering & service …. talk this up a lot
- Interested Majors in college. This can be generic if you are younger, but specific if you are older.
- Links to your Max Preps page* in a sport that uses Max Preps. Note that many sports do not report individual statistics and statistics can be elevated based on the competition you are playing against
- Lnks to any articles in local papers, OR links to game box scores where you did well,
- Honors such as ALL-Public, All-Star, league MVP, etc for each sport and each season.
- links to all other social media you have, such as YouTube**, Instagram***, TikTok*** etc (and don’t ever post or follow anyone who posts something controversial or inappropriate), including YouTube. Why? Colleges like to see the character of the person they are recruiting. See item 3
- a short “hi” video for people seeking you out
2) *”Claim your Max Preps Page” – For most sports, the official score reporting page is Max Preps. College Coaches browse Max Preps. f your team is doing well, the college coaches will see the results and will glance at your stats. KEEP YOUR MAX PREPS PROFILE UP TO DATE!!!!! (This again, is in addition to your “about me” webpage aka online resume)
3) **A YouTube channel for highlights: This channel should only include
- Intro “hi” video
- Training Video(s) (workout/ workouts and as many as possible in it’s own playlist)
- Practice videos (as many as possible in it’s own playlist)
- Any game film you take from your personal videos. Don’t just post the whole thing…”trim” and edit after each game to focus only on you.
- A link in the YouTube information page to your “about me” page
We do not typically record our games at school and even if we do, we don’t focus on you. Unless your sport uses a “Hudl” account, you need to get a friend of family member to record your games to get this footage.
4) ***Social Media….BE CAREFUL You could literally be the best player in your sport in the city and if your social media posts contain aggressive, bullying, hateful, racist, sexist, homophobic comments or images of inappropriate behavior including but not limited to underage drinking, drug use or otherwise illegal activity, you will likely get denied acceptance and almost definitely will not get financial packages. It is a good idea to stay clear of drama, conflicts and any sort of controversial issues and DEFINITELY do not post yourself doing anything “wrong”, inappropriate for your age, or statements that can be considered cyberbullying. Also be careful of what types of pics you post.
5) You (almost) MUST sign up for college id camps, select teams, showcase teams, tournament teams, regional AAU teams, etc. If you are not good enough to make these types of teams or your college id camps do not identify you as a potential college recruit, you may not be good enough to play at the college level. That’s okay but it’s truth. BUT, if you are good enough..you MUST get your name and skills out there to as many college coaches as is humanly possible. Further down on this page are sport-specific ideas powered by Next College athlete group. It is a paid service that offers many free resources and you all get access to many of its services from the Philadelphia Public League.
YEAR BY YEAR WHAT TO DO:
Freshman year:
Not a ton to do in 9th grade for most students but, if you are already one of the best players or the best player on your team AND your play/statistics compares to other 11th and 12th graders city wide, then you need to get the ball rolling early.
1) Create your About Me and YouTube pages.
2) Keep your grades up and your attendance good.
3) READ and view as much as you can about college athletics. This webpage and the
“playing sports in college” page of our website are a really good starting points
You
may also want to start generating a list of colleges you want to attend. You can use the
NCAA Research’s interactive map to help locate NCAA schools you’re interested in attending.
The NAIA and USCAA also have lists of member schools for you to review.
special note: Most student-athletes have to make sure they are taking the right courses to be prepared for college. At Rush, all of our students take a college prep course load. The only difference is that college-bound student-athletes MUST have 4 years of Math, Science, English and Social Studies and they must have a total of 3 years of EACH following Junior year. This is slightly different than the district graduation requirement.
Sophomore year:
1) Make sure all of the “steps” from the Freshman year above are completed and updated
2) KEEP UP with those grades and attendance!
4) For MaxPreps, your about me page, Field level and NCSA, you are being honest but really trying to make yourself stand out this year to catch the eye of people “following” you.
5) Search and find College ID Clinics in the area for your sport AND if available, try out for tournament or college show case teams.
Junior year:
1) Update your 9th and 10th-grade information, complete any tasks you haven’t done yet, and consider the future.
2) If you didn’t sign up for any College ID clinic in 10th grade, you MUST do it this year.
3) Actively SEARCH AND REACH OUT to ANY college you are interested in possibly playing for. ALL Colleges have an athlete recruitment form that is typically just like a Google Form for prospective athletes to literally write the coaches about their interest and experience.
REACH OUT!!!!!!!!! Sometimes, the forms are easy to navigate to, other times, you need to work at it. Generally, they are located on the specific sport page in their expanded menu. SHARE your NCAA ID with these schools.
4) Create a talk show like “Why I want to go to and play at college” with someone that’s not Mom or Dad, interviewing you.
Imagine it’s like a news feature airing on a local news channel. Other students can certainly help you do this from the Media department OR the news club. Post it on your YouTube Channel, “about me” page, and Field Level profile along with updated hilights and training videos
5) If there is one school you REALLY want to go to, type and send via traditional mail a letter to the Head coach AND send the same letter to the position coach(es) you are interested in playing (example…if you want to play soccer and you are a goaltender, you send a letter to the head coach and the goaltending coach). Include the link to your profiles, your NCAA number etc…. EMAILS are quick and easy but real-life letters are personal and stand out!
6) TAKE THE SAT. Take the April or May test. Not the PSAT, the real thing. Many schools do not require the SAT anymore but for a student-athlete, your required GPA to be eligible to play as a 1st-year freshman is directly affected by your SAT score if playing at a D1, D2 or NAIA school.
7) IF you are being actively recruited by a college (based on participating in college ID camps, clinics, teams etc), and you may get a chance to play at the D1 or D2 NCAA level, transition your FREE NCAA Eligibility account to the paid certification account and at the end of the year, have your high school counselor upload your official transcript.
8) MAKE SURE your senior courses are NCAA compliant. To play in college as a freshman, you need to –
a) meet a certain GPA and SAT score using the comparable scale
b) Complete 3 years of science, 3 years of math, 3 years of social studies, 3 years of English, and 2 years of a foreign language by the END of junior year
AND
BE ENROLLED IN a 4th year of MATH AND SCIENCE, Social Studies and English. Math and Science are emphasized because to graduate, you need a 4th of EITHER Math OR Science but to PLAY sports, you need Math AND Science!
9) There is a slight chance you may get an early admission offer this year. IF the school is your dream school AND/OR you get a good financial package, take it. OTHERWISE, wait and see what else comes your way.
Spring/Summer between Junior & Senior year:
Visit colleges. Maybe you aren’t going to play or maybe you’re only going to play intramural. Visit anyway!
Senior year:
1) Make sure ALL tasks listed for 9th, 10th and 11th grade are finished and updated
2) Unless you got a 1500 or better, retake the SAT in the fall before the college deadline. Usually, it’s in September or early October BUT CHECK!
3) IF you absolutely KNOW you are playing in college, request your
final amateurism certification beginning April 1 (fall enrollees) or Oct. 1 (winter/spring enrollees) in your Eligibility Center account at eligibilitycenter.org.
4) Your English teacher and school counselor will help you with the college application process but most applications are due by the end of October. If using the Common App or other mass application sites, apply to as many schools as you want BUT if there are 2 or 3 schools you REALLY want to play at, reach out to their coach and admissions team and apply directly
5) Get offers and select your school. Once you sign a commitment letter to play, you play!
RECRUITMENT TOOLS
Field Level a great free recruitment site!
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ext College Student Athlete This organization has a TON of information and its basic features are free for members of the Philadelphia Public League!
Sport Specific Recruitment –
FOR EVERY SPORT BELOW, “NEXT COLLEGE STUDENT-ATHLETE”, has a TON of free resources, including area camps, ID clinics, helpful information and lists of schools that carry your sport at each level!
Basketball:
AAU is usually the name of the game in college recruitment but you do get coaches that travel around the city looking for that diamond in the rough. Basketball is the 2nd most difficult sport to get recruited for and the most difficult at the D1 level. Why? It is the most played High School sport in America and the colleges only need 2-5 recruits each year. If you are serious, you have to put yourself out there. Sadly, if you are a boy and shorter than 6 feet, you will barely get looked at unless you are a stud point guard or Allen Iversonesque-type player.
For the women’s teams, the recruiters still look at size but they also emphasize specific fundamental skills and speed.
Bowling: If you are a male who averages a 240 or better or a female who averages a 200 or better, you have a great chance of being recruited to play in college. You even have a better shot at being recruited if you can hook the ball. But you have to sign up for individual youth tournaments that have college scholarship money for your “smart account” in order to put your skills out there in person. Bowling was one of the few sports that allowed high school age athletes to earn money while keeping amateur status, specifically for competition in their sports (aka prize money, not NIL money). All money earned, though, must be placed in a 529 or other college fund and be used for college.
Field Hockey: The easiest way to get recruited in Field Hockey is to find a regional club team affiliated with USA Field Hockey, play in their tournaments, and then attend the regional ID camps. College recruiters RARELY look at inner-city Field Hockey programs for athletes so it is imperative to get your brand out there. Field Hockey is one of the 3 top scholarship sports in the NCAA due to the severe lack of programs when compared to most other sports. ‘
Soccer: Soccer is one of the biggest businesses when it comes to prepping students for college-level soccer. It easily has the most commitment from Team USA than any other team sport. But that is because it’s the number one played sport in the world and the U.S. is often lagging behind the men’s programming in other countries. Because so so so many students play and people in other countries play, to be serious about college recruitment, your top-level club team must be signing up for college showcase tournaments and you should have tried out for the regional ODP programs sponsored by EPYSA or local “academy” teams.
ID SPORTS USA and there is also a national database for individual athletes to sign up for with their parent/guardian’s permission away from your club team called
IDCAMP SOCCER
Softball: Softball is interesting because on one hand, and this is sad, there are only about 600 colleges that still field teams outside of Florida, Texas, Arizona and California (warm weather states).
THIS LIST tells you every college softball team in America. Luckily, there are 100 in Pennsylvania!
To be a college-level athlete, you not only need to excel at your position but you also need to excel at various positions.
You may be a Pitcher or Catcher in high school and end up playing a totally different position in college. That said, you really should be playing for tournament and club teams that will play at college showcase events, joining academy programs when available, looking into regional programs such as the
Phillies RBI tryout program (not just the neighborhood club versions), and tryout for and make the carpenter cup team (and do well) as a 9th, 10th or 11th grader.
Volleyball: The city of Philadelphia is typically not a hotbed of college recruitment for volleyball although there are a ton of schools with teams! In fact, Girls Volleyball is the 3rd most participated sport in Philadelphia behind Boys and Girls Basketball. Typically, the best players end up playing for high-level private schools but that doesn’t mean you won’t be recruited with a little work. The easiest way to do this is to attend Volleyball specific “ID” clinics or camps. Not only do they improve your skills but also allow for college coaches to see you in action.
Within the city, one of the best Volleyball programs for students who want to reach that next level is
“PHILADELPHIA STARLINGS” . It is one of the most complete Volleyball programs for training and competition around and their travel teams play at both recreational and tournament levels. It’s not cheap but if you have the time, money and transportation to get there, it is well worth it.
