<p>My son, a passionate and skilled football player, has made contact w/a number of coaches. He's got appointments for interviews and meeting w/coaches at priority schools (range of academic levels). He's signed up for a few "showcase" camps at colleges which will occur this month. Our goal, as parents, is to see him in a school that will nurture him both intellectually and athletically.</p>
<p>What's next? and
How do we navigate offers, if any? Seems like there will be a few from a range of schools.
How long do we wait around for top choices to make space for him?
Do we push for first choices, and if so, how?
Any other advice as this is the next step in the recruiting road for us and we're doing it on our own.</p>
<p>Recruiting varies greatly depending on what level of program you’re talking about, and also which school within that program. If you’re looking at Big 10 football, MAC, Big East, that’s a lot different than Ivy League, Patriot League, or NESCAC. And within those groups, recruiting at Duke will be different than at Florida State, Vanderbilt will be different than Florida, and Northwestern will be different than Purdue.</p>
<p>The process will be different if you’re looking at non-scholarship schools like the Ivy’s or NESCAC. </p>
<p>One thing that is constant. Coaches are interested in filling their classes, and they want relatively prompt commitments from recruits who see them as their first choice. The “courtship” aspect only lasts until they get to the offering stage, and you indicate whether you’re coming to them. The Ivy’s will want an early application, and you’ll be able to get a “likely” letter from admissions early in the fall. </p>
<p>If your athlete is truly elite, you’ll get some slack in how quickly you have to decide, but even the elite athletes are expected to make a decision. </p>
<p>There are lots of sites that have discussions about this, and you can find them without a lot of trouble. It will help you if you have an idea of where you would ideally like to attend and play. And why. Sorry for the potpourri approach here, but if you are more specific on potential target schools, even at this early stage, you’ll get better reponses from people with direct experience.</p>
<p>Hi dadx, Your info is very helpful. He’s mostly looking at Div. 3 (possibly Div. 2) schools and would like to play for a strong academic school. A few of these schools have shown interest and invited him to their camps. What do you think of this strategy:
Visit schools, interview, meet coaches.
Determine priorities, work w/coaches in a frank manner i.e. “Will this be a fit?” Determine schools that are best fits where coaches are interested.
Apply early action to those that have it, early decision for top priority.
If early decision doesn’t pan out, have the back up list of priority schools.</p>
<p>What do you think about being very frank w/coaches with questions such as:
Am I a fit for your team?
Do my academics work for your school?
Is it worth pursuing your school?</p>
<p>We just don’t want to waste a lot of time, and we want the best possible choice/fit going forward. We’re more interested in the quality of the education than the $ for scholarship.</p>
<p>I love the screen name. It describes moms (and dads) to a tee.</p>
<p>I am no expert, but it seems that the frank approach is what is called for here. As you said, there is no point in wasting time. The showcases you mentioned- are those 7-on-7’s that occur at the school for invited athletes and combines ? Just curious.</p>
<p>I believe you have the right approach, and Dad makes some excellent points. The schools want a decision and you want to make the right one-so by all means take the frank approach. Also, it seems that your high school coach is not in the mix. Some are better and more experienced than others in the recruiting phase. There are also websites such as NCSA that guide parents and athletes through the process.</p>
<p>Definitely visit websites that are aimed at helping parents navigate the process. From what I have learned, every athlete, regardless of the level, enhances his/her chances by earning good grades- and it sounds like your son had that covered. :)</p>
<p>You can get a flavor for what kind of program it is (at least in part) by looking at the roster and eyeballing where the kids come from. Some schools are filled with upper socio-economic background players from elite prep schools and high achieving high schools. (New Trier, IL Newton, MA, Fox Lane, NY Shadyside Academy, Pa. Others attract players who are more from “strivers” neighborhoods, and whose parents are more likely to be tradesmen than professionals.</p>
<p>Some of the schools give pretty detailed backgrounds of the players, both academically, and athletically, so in those cases you can get some idea of just who your teammates and competition will be. If everyone was first or second team all state, and also in the honor society and won the physics prize, you’ll know something about that program. Its also interesting to check out what their major field of study is, if they list it. Take a look at Lehigh’s football roster. Couple dozen engineers and architects and accounting majors there. May not be the starters, but they are there.</p>
<p>Take a look at the rosters over a couple of years and see if there is a big attrition from freshman year to senior year. In some schools, especially higher academic schools, there can be a lot of attrition as the kids decide to devote more time to their studies. In fact, one important factor to being recruited, in addition to your talent, is your perceived intensity of commitment to continue playing all four years at a high level. If you’re looking for the coach’s blessing, it comes more quickly if he believes that your first, second and third priority interests are football :)</p>
<p>More great insights, dadx. I’ve shared all the advice with my son. I think it has helped to broaden his perspective with the his search. Thanks so much. Happy 4th of July!</p>
<p>Spend some time reading this long winded “blog” type article. I like Reed’s perspective, even if he’s a little curmudgeonly at times. Its old now, but still has a lot of nuggets of wisdom about the level of competition and what to expect in the process of finding a school where you can play.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind, D3 does not give athletic scholarships and the D2 scholarships are not all that great if you are not a top recruit, better than nothing though. If he is going the D3 route, don’t spend a lot of money attending these camps. Sending film and emailing coaches at various schools is generally how they begin the recruiting process. The big showcase camps are often for the D1 schools, which is fine if he is good enough to get there.</p>
<p>How old is your son? If he is going to be a senior, he should have been in contact with coaches already. If he is younger, it really depends on his age if the coaches can contact him yet or not. </p>
<p>He should really start by visiting the schools that interest him and setting up an appointment to meet the coach. Have some game film on hand to leave with the coach along with a resume of his academic and athletic achievements. You can look at the NCAA rankings for D3 to find the top D3 programs, if that is a goal, and research the schools from there.</p>
<p>We have some knowledgeable people here! This is very interesting to me. My son is also skilled and passionate, but he is only a rising 8th grader. He is my youngest. He is a great student and has already told me that he likes the Florida colleges, but really wants to play football where “smart” people go to school. I had to smile at how cute this thought was…</p>
<p>This all seems like great advise. My son plays youth football (going into our last year before HS football) in South Florida and there is much talent but lots of boys lack the academic side of the coin. I can’t tell you how many of the inner city kids think that the football is enough and that studies are not crucial. </p>
<p>This thread has been interesting! Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great advice. We’ve got interviews and coach visits set up. Then he’ll complete the applications and wait and see. Appreciate all the wisdom, and best of luck to your children.</p>