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| PHOTO BY CHUCK LIDDY - THE NEWS & OBSERVER |
With National Signing Day exactly four weeks away, February 1, 2012 and the new year upon us, I wanted to post a small bit on the college recruiting front that will hopefully be of some help to those out there that have recently completed their senior season or are an underclassmen thinking about what's next in the process.
During this past season I had a number of informal conversations with student-athletes and parents of student-athletes regarding the college recruiting process and unfortunately it seems that in may ways the knowledge gap still exists - something that quite frankly isn't positive for the student-athletes or their high school programs. I've always thought that the more the high school student-athlete knows about the system and the more their family understands about how it all works, the higher the probability that the student-athlete will end up in a situation that matches not only their athletic pursuits but also the academic side of things.
Rather than go into anything too in-depth, I'll throw just a few things out there:
Current Seniors:
For the seniors that are out there that are 'in-the-process' at the moment and haven't made a decision. A few things to keep in mind. Most D-IA or FBS schools at this point in time have the guys they've offered for this class and in many cases they have verbal commits. Point is that in many cases unless you have been actively recruited by one of these schools, it is not the most realistic position to assume that an offer is still going to materialize. I would add that as with most things, this isn't a 100% statement. I can recall a tight end from the RDU area being offered by a major program in the ACC about a week prior to signing day. As in he didn't have an offer from the school and then he did and it appeared that just weeks prior that the school had little interest in him. So as I said, it's not impossible, but unlikely. If you think a school is recruiting you at this level and you are 'waiting to hear from them'...point being that you are uncertain of their intentions, then do the following. Pick up the phone, or have your high school coach pick up the phone and find out. You'll get an answer and depending on the answer you can have some peace of mind however the conversation goes.
FCS or D-IAA schools are a bit of different story. With just about a month to go until signing day, it is very possible that even if you have only been slightly on the radar of an FCS school to this point that the possibility of getting offered may still exist. Now, I would add that in most cases as with the FBS schools, these D-IAA schools have boards and offers extended, but I've seen many area student-athletes pick-up offers throughout January and February from FCS schools. I would add that those offers came with a ton of work - in other words - film to lots of schools, checking on the status of film and inquiring with FCS coaches at schools that had interest on a consistent basis. D-II schools were somewhat similar to the FCS angle and although signing day has meaning - I would suggest that the meaning is probably most appropriate for the D-IA or FBS level. No doubt that at every level student-athletes will 'sign' on National Signing Day, but one should not assume that once February 1st rolls around the recruiting process for this year's class is completely over. On the FBS level this is pretty much the case, but at all other levels - this may or may not be the case depending on the school. If your interest is the D-III level then you have the opportunity of completing the process even later into the spring semester.
Take home point is that if you have questions - namely, you are uncertain about your status with a certain school that you have interest in attending - then get in contact with the coach that recruits your area and get an answer. At this point, especially at the higher levels of play, you should know whether a particular school is or isn't interested, but if you've sent film and had at least a limited amount of recruiting from a specific school and simply feel like you don't know where you stand, then again, contact the coach you've worked with at that school or have your high school coach help you out in contacting them so you can know where you stand.
Current Juniors & Sophomores:
First - get your film out - NOW!
Second - give it about two weeks from when you send the film out - and then call the coach at the college that recruits your area and inquire about interest. Check to see that the film has been received, check that it's been evaluated. I would suggest that if you call them prior to signing day that you make the conversation short to simply inquire on whether they received the film and let them know that you understand they are busy finishing up the current class and would look forward to talking with them when they have more time after signing day. Big point here is that once you get your film out, you want to start figuring out what type of interest there is based on the film. If you have a high school coaching staff that can assist you that is ideal. Primarily because most high school coaches will present a realistic portrait of you as a student-athlete to the college coach. Everyone is busy - and simply flooding college programs with tape of a student-athlete that is D-III material at a D-IA program doesn't help the college or the student-athlete. In most cases high school coaches have a good idea and can help in getting the film to correct level of play.
Closing Comments:
Hope that the above information was helpful and I wish area student-athletes the best as they continue down their chosen road. If you have questions and think I might be able to help you can always email me at durhamfbfan@gmail.com. If I can answer your question, I will and if I can't, then I'll do my best to point you in the correct direction to hopefully get you where you are going. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like and if this was helpful I encourage you to use the +1 button at the end of the post. Thanks!
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