My son is a senior and a talented kicker. Unfortunately we couldn’t afford all the ranking camps or the $80/hour trainers so we understand that his options will be somewhat limited. He has attended several local camps - a couple D1 and a couple D2. At both he was finishing with the 5 star recruits. Both D2 schools have reached out to him on twitter (and some others) and personally invited him to their camps this summer. In both cases the camps he went to weren’t especially kicking camps, but ones that they were having for other positions and told him to come out so they could watch him. Both have asked him to set up a visit to a game. One of the schools he is very interested in - this summer when he visited they asked about his gpa, gave him a personal tour of the locker room and introduced him to the recruiter who had him text him so he has his number. The other school is a good possibility. Both are close to home to no big travel expenses. I assume this is a good sign that they want him to come out. Any idea what he should expect at this visit - tickets in the stands, sideline access, questions, tours? Should we go with him? He’s very good at expressing himself and will do fine without us, but we do have some input :).
The schools can give the student up to 3 tickets to a game, so they (and the NCAA) do expect the parents to go. I think which college the student attends is a family decision so I think the parents should go, if not on the OV, then lurking in the background. For one visit for us, parents were included and even given a hotel room (because the kids weren’t staying in a dorm, they were all in hotels). There was part of the weekend with a tour for the parents and then the recruits broke off for dinner and a game and then the parent and recruit met individually with the coach the next day. It was really a good combo.
At another school, she was just with the team/coach and I was lurking in a hotel so she asked me to accompany her on the public tour. At the end of the weekend, I really didn’t have much to say about the school as I hadn’t been included in any of the discussions about academics or sports.
He can ask for a schedule for the visit and then you can see what’s expected (tour, sit in on a class, just sports focused?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCKUYhPGHuk
A walkon kicker got a full scholarship at Nevada last week after winning the game v. Purdue
https://www.businessinsider.com/nevada-kicker-earns-scholarship-brandon-talton-purdue-upset-2019-8
Thanks @twoinanddone - I did go with him to both this visits so far. They were the group type unofficial visit, but one set of coaches, facilities, etc definitely made more of an impression on him. The recruiting coach for that school sent him a good luck text before his game this Friday. The position coach also followed me on twitter whatever that means. No clue how the timing of all this works. It looks like right now is evaluation for D2 football and Dec 2 is the open window. I told him it feels like they are casting a net right now at prospects and feeling out how interested you are and you are doing the same by visiting the different schools to see what fits best. He’s a good student so getting the academic side prepared to because if I understand it right a D2 school could possibly offer a mix of scholarships (if they scholarship a kicker). There is always the possibility of trying to walk on D1, but we would have to be able to afford it. Trying to just enjoy the ride and see what opportunities present.
Yes, for a Div 2 school (and non-head count sports at D1) mixing athletic money with merit money is allowed if the student meets certain academic requirements (not difficult, like gpa or test score or class rank).