<p>Division III athletes are recruited by the same coaches as Division I, Division I-AA, and Division II. From my experience, both personally and hearing from others like me, WashU competes with Ivies like Princeton, Yale, Harvard, etc. for football players and basketball players, despite being division III as compared to I-AA. This can also be shown in that many DIII football players even get drafted into the NFL, Studebaker from Wheaton, a team WashU played, is one example of this from just last year, being drafted in the 6th round. From personal experience, WashU does get athletes that have been recruited by both division I and I-AA schools all the time and could compete with some of these schools. Most people, however, assume that there is a significant difference in talent between divisions, when this is not entirely true. A lot of players at WashU or schools like the University of Chicago, etc. sacrifice playing DI sports for academics. Not to say that WashU could even come close to competing with LSU, Ohio State, or Florida in any sport but they could with many Ivies or D I-AA schools.</p>