{"id":9389,"date":"2020-02-22T04:30:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T10:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=9389"},"modified":"2020-03-24T12:41:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T17:41:18","slug":"when-is-a-prospect-really-being-recruited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/when-is-a-prospect-really-being-recruited\/","title":{"rendered":"When is a prospect really being recruited?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Most<\/a>
Most college prospects are dropped from recruiting lists without knowing or understanding why.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

High school athletes and their families often suffer the indignity of being unceremoniously dropped from consideration by college coaches. It can happen anytime to anyone. Nobody is safe from the recruiting guillotine.<\/p>\n

Why is college recruiting so cutthroat?<\/p>\n

First of all, recruiting\u00a0is all about numbers for coaches — the more, the merrier. The Internet has dramatically changed recruiting and the number of athletes coaches\u00a0can access, evaluate and contact. \u00a0 Each week, coaches receive huge numbers of profiles\u00a0on prospects, so many that\u00a0they typically never\u00a0see a large percentage of them.<\/p>\n

So, even though a college coach may have initially distributed 1,000 letters with questionnaires to prospects, it would be virtually impossible to give every return equal attention.<\/p>\n

Altered\u00a0NCAA rules over the last five years (the NAIA has always been less strict) have made connecting with prospects easier than ever. \u00a0Whether by phone, emails, social media or texts, coaches have a choice of ways to reach recruits. Because all of these are now on mobile platforms, coaches and prospects are linked in an instant anytime, any place.<\/p>\n

However, coaches only have so much time. Responding to every inquiry is an unreasonable expectation. \u00a0So early on, coaches pinpoint the prospects with whom they will communicate, leaving a large number of aspiring prospects sitting in the dark waiting for return emails, calls or texts which are unlikely to come.<\/p>\n

The growth of monstrous travel and club team tournaments across the country has significantly reduced\u00a0the distance between coaches and prospects. \u00a0Seeing quality prospects\u00a0not long ago required a plane trip halfway across the country. \u00a0Most coaches’ budgets do not allow\u00a0for that extravagance. Those who can take perhaps one longer trip a year are\u00a0all but strapped for the rest of the year. \u00a0Today, with the increased number of events across the youth sports landscape, attending them is easier and far less expensive for coaches.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>
Assistant coaches screen prospects and eliminate many along the way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recruiting is not a lottery or a draft. \u00a0It works like a funnel. \u00a0A lot of prospects go into the top but only a few emerge from\u00a0the bottom. \u00a0That means a large number of prospects are knowingly or unknowingly discarded, much to the chagrin of prospects and their families. Again, that has become the nature of the beast.<\/p>\n

When recruiting is in full swing between coaches and prospects, the process becomes\u00a0all about two things: academic qualifications and interpersonal relationships. So if there are personality incompatibilities, a better prospect emerges, a parent overreaches his or her perceived influence, a GPA drops or a standardized test score turns up too low for the school, a prospect can be eliminated. A lot of things must happen between the start and finish for a prospect to receive an offer.<\/p>\n

College coaches initially connect with as many potential prospects as possible, usually through recruiting letters, emails and questionnaires. \u00a0That is only a first step and, other than the fact that a coaching staff has a prospect’s profile and video in hand, does not mean much more.<\/p>\n

The next step is when coaches target and follow certain\u00a0prospects — based on the data they have received — who could fit\u00a0the head coach’s criteria. \u00a0That includes skills, grades and other items on the coach’s priority list. That is when a large number of prospects are dropped.<\/p>\n

\"Receiving<\/a>
A\u00a0letter, text or email from a coach\u00a0means often means very little.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are several reasons a coach may eliminate prospects from consideration. \u00a0The most common is when a\u00a0prospect believes\u00a0he or she is\u00a0being recruited when they actually are not. A letter from the school’s program; a complimentary word to a high school, club or travel coach; or showing up at a prospect’s game are often misinterpreted by prospects and their parents. These things do not mean a prospect is being recruited, and knowing that can save a prospect and family a great deal of unnecessary pain.<\/p>\n

The NCAA defines precisely when a prospect is formally designated as a recruited student-athlete. That is when an NCAA coach:<\/p>\n