With 4 years of NCAA eligibility for myself, I thought I'd hit the topic hard! Hard to imagine? I know, but as much of an awesome athlete as I was I never got there. With two kids in the absolute thick of the subject, I am going to consider myself experienced. If you don't like it then I get it but I am speaking from experience. My experience may not be like everyone but I offer mine more as a sounding board to help give you my baseline. By no means does my opinion make yours more or less valid.
First things first. Your friend whose kid went through this last year or a few years ago is not what is happening now. Things have evolved and today's recruit is dealing with a different circumstance than those folks. Not worse or better, just different. With all the new rules about roster size, money distribution, and portal. These are not the times of the past. On a recent visit, one of the recruiting coordinators told me that his job is to get to the finals every year. Not every 2-3 as in years past. He said we need "Now" players meaning kids who could help them win this year and next. The idea of developing is a thing of the past. Yes, they are still going to have to develop their top recruits but long gone are the days of the walk-on recruit that they "see something in". Essentially if you are not a stud they will go to the portal instead of getting a lesser player. This makes it extremely hard for us parents. "Why take a chance on a High Schooler when I have an ESPN video of the kid in the next conference who wants to come over."
With this thought process the later you commit could be a great thing. They know who the player is and want them for next year. Had they agreed to some sort of scholarship a year or 3 ago who knows what that player would look like now. Who knows if they would have taken a lesser offer, or even worse a better offer than they deserved. What do I mean? Well, folks, I have news for you. When committing to said college you are not committing right here and now. You are for most intent and purposes committing to what the staff thinks you'll be when you get there. If you are better then that awesome but if you are not then you may find out the hard way that the commitment was merely one-sided. The same thing goes for players who committed to schools that they exceeded in talent. You see them de-commit and head to a bigger school.
Ok here is the way I have experienced it. If you have a child who is recruited on day 1 at midnight that is awesome. If you have a kid who did not please do your best as a parent to understand that your child's time is coming if that is what is meant to be. We had some texts at midnight and a few more the following morning followed by phone calls.
What I have learned from this process is this. If you got a phone call meaning an actual conversation at midnight you are most likely among the top 1% of kids in the country. The school called a handful of players at that time and I will call this their tier 1 players. These are the players they will want to get into their program asap. If you got a personal text from a coach and you got an actual response of some sort then you are most likely a tier 2. Then there was the next level of kids who got a generic text along with a thumbs-up response or something you are tier 3. I think the best way you can understand this is to imagine the amount of effort given is the amount of importance assigned.
At the end of the day, a lot of kids most likely did not get a text. More did not than did. To those kids, I say just keep working. It doesn't matter how good you are today it matters what you do between now and the time you step on campus. This is only my opinion based on my recent conversations with actual college coaches and recruiting coordinators. No, I did not talk to every one of them and a lot of them do things differently. A power school called Sav the following day citing that midnight is stupid and she has a family and respects her time away from work as much as she does ours. I thought this was awesome. For those who want to follow, I will call a "Power School" any school in the top 4 conferences. There is still an order of things within that group but for the interest of this blog, I will say it goes SEC, ACC, BIG 12, BIG 10.
Official visits are what everyone strives to get. With the new rules, however, you only get 1 at each school, so you may want to play it wisely. An official visit is where the school pays your way to come out and see the school. This can be up to 3 people. Usually a player and 2 parents. Total of 3 plane tickets. A hotel room or 2 for each night. Maybe a nice dinner and a few meals along with an experience such as a football game or a sporting event that the school feels will make your visit best. This contact can last up to 48 hours and will entail what most likely will be the school's scholarship offer for your child.
An unofficial visit is where you show up to the school on your own to get a tour of the school and get all the same conversations without most of the indulgences the school pays for. You can do these as much as you like. Why would you want to take an unofficial before your official? Let me tell you.
If you know your child may most likely commit to said school but this takes place during a time when activities such as football games or sporting events are not happening then it may be advantageous to wait and use that School funded trip for your child's senior year when they bring in all of their recruits. Let me make this simple. If your kid is offered a scholarship in the summer when school is out and you use your official visit, the school will pay for your hotel on downtime when the room costs maybe $200 a night. When you are asked to come out for the big game senior year with all of your classmates who will be attending the next year at the same hotel, maybe $1200. Follow me? A lot of you may be thinking well I would rather use my official first and pay later. This is normal. Understand that not every school offers you an official the same way. Some kids get 1 plane ticket and stay in the dorm with players. Some get the full boat as stated above. Understand what the school is offering and more importantly where they see your child with their offers. Vistis, timing, and money.
If you have a Tier 1 you most likely received that phone call at midnight and were offered an official visit. Within that tier 1, there is still an order of things. As one coach told me he had called approximately 5 players in his tier 1. If they all agree to come out then he schedules them in order of their rank on his list. So if he calls 3 catchers who all want to visit then he understands not all will commit but he also can't waste the budget all at once. He will have to spread them out. This is where the patience of us as parents is tried over and over again. This is where my saying of believing what you see and not what they say comes into play. If you get a call and the visit is scheduled for some time off in the distance and not this week or the next, understand one thing. The school is buying time. For an official visit at a power school, they can happen as soon as you say yes. If this is not the option then you are most likely not at the top of the tier 1 list. You might be #2 and that is still awesome but can be concerning. Take your time and find the right fit.
If you are a tier 2 player you are being offered a visit. It could be official, it could be unofficial. Depends on the school and their budget. I think some great advice I heard is to have your decisions as narrowed down as you can. If you have a top 5 school that comes with a good offer, be ready to accept it. If you wait around for your #1 the offer from #5 could be gone. Remember that your child is only invaluable to us as parents. They are easily replaceable by these colleges.
Tier 3 kids and the remaining athletes. The kids that may fall through the cracks or be the late bloomer. This tier of kids will be the hardest group as it requires patience and knowledge of your value and worth. You will doubt yourself at some point but understand that it will work out. You will have to keep working and the truth is that if you do you will prevail. Not gonna be easy but will be worth it.
Best of luck to everyone this fall and I hope you guys enjoy the ride.....
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