However, don’t forget that athletes can reach out to coaches at any time (although some times are better than others).

Contact Period 

The contact period allows coaches and athletes to have direct contact with each other. This includes phone, snail-mail, email (initiated by a coach or student-athlete), and in-person meetings. Coaches are allowed to visit high schools to see an athlete compete, and they are allowed to host athletes on unofficial and official visits.

Quiet Period

During a quiet period athletes and coaches cannot have any face to face contact, except on the college’s campus; athletes can still go on official and unofficial visits. Coaches and athletes can also communicate via phone, snail-mail, and email, but coaches cannot go visit athletes, or watch them compete or practice.

Dead Period

Coaches and athletes cannot have any in-person contact whatsoever during the dead period. Coaches and athletes can still correspond with each other and talk on the phone, but that is all they are allowed to do. Coaches are not allowed to scout athletes live during this time.

Evaluation Period

Coaches are allowed to watch athletes compete live during the evaluation period, but they can have no in-person contact with athletes. Not all sports have an evaluation period, so make sure you double check the recruiting calendar for your sport.

Signing Period

The signing period is the time when a senior athlete can sign a scholarship offer, or National Letter of Intent, from an NCAA Division I or II school. The signing period is different for most sports, so if you want to sign a scholarship you have to know exactly when you are allowed sign. Otherwise, you may have to try walking on to a program.

Do you have any questions about the NCAA Recruiting Calendar for your sport? Leave a comment below, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Below you will learn 3 easy ways to move forward in your recruitment and how to become a knowledgeable and successful recruit.

Step 1: Understanding Recruiting terms

If NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA are not familiar acronyms to you, then you will need to make it your priority to be familiar with them; especially if you are not sure which college division level you will be aiming for. Depending on athletic ability, student-athletes will be a better fit for one division level over the other.
When choosing a division level recruits will need to consider what each division level has to offer; for instance an ‘average-to-good’ athlete may be asked to try out as a walk-on for a division I school, but may also be offered a full athletic scholarship with an NAIA school. The same student will most likely see very little playing time with the division I school, while on the other hand they may be able to be a starter as a freshman for an NAIA College. Having the opportunity to make these decisions will be up to the recruit to decide.

Step 2: The most important step

After you have been evaluated and understand the division levels, you will then need to begin to create your school list. A school list is exactly what it sounds like. A listing of all the colleges you are interested in attending. This list should be fairly large at first; you will want to consider all schools which meet your needs, such as; division level, majors offered, tuition costs, and location etc. Make your list easy to follow so you won’t be confused when you review it at a later time.

Step 3: Getting your name out there

The final step in creating your college lists is to, put the list to work. You have taken the time to narrow down your searches and locate programs which will help you find the best college for you, now it’s time to get your name out to college coaches and see what they think. Keep in mind; you will not always get the responses you want to hear from them and sometimes you won’t even receive a response, whatever you do, don’t get frustrated, by patient and persistent when reaching out to them.

If you are set on attending specific colleges, than you should not be willing to give up easily, if a coach does not reply to you on your initial email, don’t be too quick to delete the school from your list, you should at least try to reach out more than once. Also remember, college coaches at the NCAA DI and DII levels are restricted from contacting athletes until specific time periods, depending on the sport.

Remember: To be successful in your recruitment you will need to be proactive from beginning to end.

If you have more questions about steps to take in your recruitment than leave a comment below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+

At this point in the year, these 375 schools are likely the only option for student-athletes looking to attend a four-year college. If you are holding out and hoping to get a scholarship offer to your dream school, odds are it is not going to happen. The aforementioned options (these 375 schools included) are all better options for athletes than sitting around for another year hoping you can find a scholarship. The NCAA will begin to take away years of eligibility one year after your high school graduation (depending on your sport). Also, it can be hard to get recruited by a college coach after taking time off from your sport after high school graduation.

It may be relieving to hear that there are schools still accepting students, but there is still much work to be done by the athletes. If you want to have a shot at attending one of these schools, you will need to simultaneously start the admissions process and contact coaches. These opportunities can dry up fast.

Some of the coaches at these schools may have scholarship money still available, but many will not. That does not mean you shouldn’t contact them though, because you can still earn a spot as a preferred walk-on. Basically, preferred walk-ons are given a spot on a team for their first year of college. It is up to them to play well enough and work hard to earn a spot on the team the following seasons. Preferred walk-ons can potentially go on to more playing time and even earn scholarship money. Regular walk-ons are forced to compete for a spot on the team and are not guaranteed anything.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy wrote a great article for CBS News about the colleges that are still accepting students. You can also view the full list here. According to O’Shaughnessy, there are more schools looking for students right now than in any year since 2000.

If you have any questions or concerns about what your options are this time of the year, leave us a comment in the section below, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.

A walk-on athlete is one that makes the team but does not receive any athletic scholarship money; walk-ons are still eligible to receive academic aid though. Athletes can choose to walk-on to a program for a variety of reasons. In some cases coaches already have all of their scholarship money allocated for a student’s graduation year. Other times athletes may try to play slightly above their competition level, or they have started the recruiting process too late.

If you are considering walking-on, spend some time researching the program and your prospects of making a particular team. Look at the athletes that are set to graduate and what athletes a program has signed in your class. Contact the coach to get more information about a program and to see what your prospects are of making the team. Just because you walk-on to a program does not necessarily mean you just show up for try-outs one day. Walk-ons regularly communicate with coaches prior to applying to a college. These athletes are called “preferred walk-ons.”

A great example of a non-scholarship athlete making a big impact on a team is Stanford’s Brett Michael Doran. He was not technically a walk-on because he was a non-scholarship athlete, but the process is very similar. He entered Stanford without any aid, knowing he would have to work extra hard to compete with the scholarship athletes for opportunities and playing time. Now, in his sophomore season, he has taken over at shortstop and is the leadoff hitter for one of the top teams in the county- and a team that he dreamed of playing for his entire life. He is also likely to receive scholarship money in the future if he continues to succeed in his new role.

There are no guarantees for athletes when they walk-on, but if you take the right steps and work hard you could end up like Doran, playing your sport for your dream school.

Do you have questions about the process of walking on to a team? Leave your questions in the comments below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Below are 3 myths recruits fall subject to, if you are aware of these myths and know the right way to approach them, then you can be more prepared during your recruitment.

College coaches will find you

Most high school players are under the understanding that they will get recruited just by being an outstanding athlete at their school.

The reality is, unless you are part of the top 1% of recruits in the nation than, you will not be actively recruited by college coaches. Recruits outside of the top 1% will need to be proactive and put in the time to make themselves a known recruit. In order to gain an athletic scholarship or a spot on a college team, coaches will need to know who you are. The easiest way to connect with college coaches is to send them an email telling them about yourself and why you want to be a part of their program.

Registering with the NCAA eligibility center or the NAIA eligibility center will get you recruited to a college.

Registering with either eligibility center requires athletes to submit their academic material, including grades, test scores, schools attended and sports history information. Completing the NCAA or NAIA eligibility registration will allow college coaches to recruit athletes who have completed and passed eligibility standards.

Many athletes are under the impression that registering with eligibility center will get their information out to college coaches faster, but in reality, your eligibility center information will only be requested by the college coach who knows who you are and has decided to offer you a spot on their team.

Being a part of a club or travel team will ensure that athletes will get recruited to play college sports.

This is not the case, college coaches and their assisting staffs do not have the capability to view all club and travel teams’ tournaments and games. Not all club and travel teams are known on the national level and most college coaches will not be aware of the teams unless they had a previous recruit come from the team or they are in the same area as the team.

If you are thinking about playing on a travel team, than be sure to do your research; find out how many alumni athletes have gone on to play at the college level. You should also find out the type of exposure the team will provide, and if the team competes at any national tournaments.

If you have more questions about how to move forward in your recruiting process or what you need to avoid during your recruitment than leave a comment below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+

Base Your College Decision on More than the Coach

Think about what academic services and opportunities a college has. Most high school athletes dream of one day turning pro, but unfortunately the odds that will happen to you are extremely low. Take a deeper look at the academics a school can offer you. Do they have majors that interest you? Do they have good support services? What resources does the library provide? You should research and visit the campus to see if it is what you are looking for. A coach may change their job, but the athletic and academic facilities are not going to change. If you choose a school for more than just a coach, a coaching change won’t have as big of an impact on your collegiate experience.

How Often Do Coaches Change Jobs?

College football is notorious for coaching changes. Position coaches want to become coordinators, and coordinators want to become head coaches. There is also an intense pressure for coaches to keep their jobs. Football is the only sure-fire revenue sport for most colleges, leading to increased pressure for football coaches to get their teams to perform.

However, coaching changes are not limited to college football. 20 percent of NCAA Division I volleyball coaches change jobs every year. That number is even higher for Division II and III. After four years, over 60 percent of coaches have left their current position. That means there is only a 40 percent chance the coach recruiting you as a high school sophomore will still be there after your freshman year in college.

What Are Your Choices After a Coach Leaves?

Coaches can pick up and leave at a moment’s notice, but the process is much more difficult for a student-athlete. If you have already signed an NLI and committed to a school then you must get a signed release from your school’s athletic department, even just to be allowed to speak to another coach.

If you have not yet signed an NLI you can still talk to other coaches. Start contacting the coaches that were previously recruiting you. This is why we recommend looking at a wide range of schools when you are starting out. Exploring as many options as possible can ultimately help you out in the long run.

If you have questions on coaching changes and what to do, leave us a comment in the comment section below or connect with us on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

To set the record straight, you must actively market yourself to college coaches to get recruited. Most sports outside of football do not have the recruiting budgets to go out there and find you. If you want a scholarship you will have to be responsible for calling and emailing college coaches. You will have to keep them updated, provide them with video and your playing schedule so they can come see you play, and ultimately keep them interested in you so you can move up their recruiting board.

A perfect example of this is New Jersey senior Jose Martinez. Martinez has done something that not many other high school baseball players have done (or baseball players on any level for that matter). Last year he had a .745 batting average, and this year he is batting .733. To give you some perspective on how incredible that is, according to Cameron Smith at Yahoo’s Prep Rally Blog, he would rank 10th all-time in high school batting average.

You would think that Martinez’s phone is ringing off the hook with scholarship offers, or that he won’t even end up with a scholarship offer because he is bound straight for Major League Baseball. I mean come on, Martinez could potentially finish in the top ten all-time for batting average in high school; surely more than ten high school baseball players will be drafted by MLB teams this year alone. But Martinez has accepted an offer to play at Harford Community College. In fact, Martinez’s coach had to argue just to get him selected to his conference’s all-star team because other coaches could not believe his stats.

Jose Martinez’s story highlights the necessity of contacting coaches and taking your recruiting into your own hands. Ask us how and we can help. Leave a comment below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

If you have any questions for next weeks recruiting corner, leave them in the comments below or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Joshua: All right guys. After a long break we are back with The Recruiting Corner. As you see a new face here. This is Ashley Lawrence. She is our Creative Director and a recruiting expert. I see you are donned out in your Giants Gear.

Ashley: San Francisco. Hey, we’re in the new office. You got to rep the team. Grew up with the Giants. I absolutely love them.

Joshua: Yep. So we have season tickets to the Giants. Everyone’s enjoying some games. Obviously, she’s really excited. Guys we are here in San Francisco, coming to you from our brand new offices. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy everything that the new Athnet is able to bring to you.

For myself, I am donned in my Miami Dolphins jersey. NFL draft was last night, first round. The rest of the rounds are finishing out this weekend. For the first time in my life, thank you, thank you, thank you, the Miami Dolphins selected a quarterback in the first round.

Ashley: It’s about time.

Joshua: First time since Dan Marino, 1983. So yes, I am not that old.

Ashley: Don’t date yourself at all there.

Joshua: We definitely have some news to bring to you guys. Also, we’re going to learn a little bit about Miss Ashley. So she’s got some great tips for you as well as college recruiting.

First up, we’re going to jump into Business of College Sports. So we’ve talked about their blog. Alicia Jessop wrote an interesting blog about the number one pick of the NFL draft, Andrew Luck, and basically what his playing for Stanford meant for Stanford athletics and Stanford overall, how much money he brought into that program.

So, what do you think? I mean $15 million in donations have come in since he played for them.

Ashley: You know, that is an awful lot of money, and he obviously worked hard, being the star quarterback, doing, bringing them to tons of wins over his career at Stanford. My experience and my opinion has been, as an athlete, you sign up to be in an ambassador for the school and you do work hard, but you are a student athlete and you are earning a free education. In Luck’s case, he was earning a Stanford education for free, and as much as he’s bringing in to Stanford and the donations and the ticket sales, everything that he’s been able to contribute to there, I’m still not agreeing with the idea that athletes should get a cut and get an extra paycheck or whatever else. I think that just needs to stay out of that.

Joshua: You know, it’s a tough side, and I really do see both sides. $15 million in donations alone, again, not counting ticket sales, not counting concessions, not counting any merchandise, $15 million. They’ve probably made hundreds of millions beyond that. It’s hard to say he doesn’t deserve a cut, and for you athletes out there, maybe you would be in this position someday, maybe you’re never going to be, but it’s a huge controversy surrounding college sports. It’s one of those situations where there is no right or wrong. You are receiving a free education. He did get a Stanford education, which is worth its weight in gold. But at the same time, that’s a lot of money.

Ashley: Yes. Yes, it is. But, you know, that degree is going to carry him for the rest of his life and obviously past the NFL experience, however long that may be.

Joshua: I definitely agree.

Ashley: Good for him though. I grew up near Palo Alto. So he’s a local hero around here. So it’s good.

Going next into Coach Thurman’s blog, we had a couple great questions come in. The first one was, a student athlete recently played in a golf tournament, didn’t do as well as he had planned or had hoped, should he still tell the results to the college coach?

Joshua: You know, I really like what Coach Thurman did with this. And as we’ve told you in the past, Coach Thurman is a great outlet to answer your questions, but so are we. Coach Thurman’s advice was this. You know you’re building a relationship with a coach when you’re contacting them, and coaches understand that you have a bad day. It’s okay to let them know that sometimes things just don’t work out in your favor. It actually shows the human side of your recruiting, because too often coaches only hear from athletes when, number one, athletes want something, or number two, athletes are trying to tell them how great they are. For a coach to hear that you are human and you do make mistakes and you’re admitting those mistakes and maybe trying to fix those mistakes, it’s actually a really good thing. So I am all for an athlete admitting to a coach that maybe they didn’t have the greatest game or maybe they didn’t get all the playing time in the world or they didn’t shoot the greatest sport.

Ashley: Absolutely.

Joshua: I think it was great advice.

Ashley: And there’s a good chance he’ll find out anyway. So it’s best to just kind of bring it up to him in the first place.

Joshua: Yeah, come directly from the source. Next up, another Coach Thurman question because again, some great stuff this week. A kid wrote in: How often should a recruit call or email a coach who they’re talking to?

Ashley: That is obviously a great question. It depends on, what Coach Thurman discussed was where you are in the recruiting process. So, early on you probably won’t be talking to the coach as often. It’ll be just a phone call here, an email there. But as you start to develop that relationship with the coach and you get to know them and you really start becoming interested in their program and you really want to show them what you can bring for them, the emails and the calls will come more frequently, and the coach will reciprocate. A good way to go is to ask the coach exactly, “When’s the best time to contact you and how often can I do that?”

Joshua: Definitely. And another question is, “Which way do you prefer your contact to be had as well?” Some coaches only like to email in the very beginning, while some coaches are okay with phone calls. So you really have to feel them out. Guys, it’s all about creating a relationship. You can imagine, if you’re in high school and you’re into relationships with boys, girls, whatever, in the beginning you’re probably not talking to that boy or girl as often as you are once you get into a relationship with them. So if you can think in terms of that, maybe in the beginning it’s a little slow, but towards the end when you’re in that relationship, you’re probably talking 30 times a day. You may not talk to a coach that much, but you get the idea.

Ashley: Same idea.

Joshua: So next, we’re turning our attention to you. So guys, Ashley was a former D1 athlete. She rode crew. No, I can’t say that.

Ashley: That’s not nice, Josh.

Joshua: She was a crew athlete at UC Davis, and I just want to kind of have her explain to you folks her experiences as an athlete. So, for you, being a walk-on, tell me about your experience as a walk-on, how that worked out, how you sort of viewed walk-ons after your experience.

Ashley: Well, basically, as a walk-on, I wasn’t very involved in the recruiting process at all. My only experience in rowing at all before I got to Davis was a brief summer camp at, actually Cal-Berkeley, and they just taught me the basic techniques and all this great stuff. Once I got to Davis, I saw that they had a women’s crew program, and I decided to try out. I did really well, not even having that much experience. So they asked me to come on, and I eventually was able to earn a partial scholarship, which helped immensely.

But essentially, being a walk-on is quite different than actually going through the entire recruiting process. Those athletes who go through the recruiting process are very interested in the program. They know what they want, and they’ve sought out this school to become a rower at Davis. So, meeting all the girls and getting to know them, a couple of them were recruited pretty heavily, a couple local girls actually, and it was interesting to hear their experience having known so much about the program, knowing the coaches coming into the thing versus me who I hadn’t met any of the other girls. I hadn’t met any of the coaches. So it’s an interesting dynamic, but I still had an incredible experience. You get to know everyone. It’s a huge time commitment, but I definitely, absolutely loved every part of it.

Joshua: Guys, couple of things I picked up just from that little story right there. Number one, Ashley realized that maybe she wanted to recruit once she was at UC Davis, although never having much experience in it, she found out that they were looking for crew athletes. So she actually sought that out, and as a walk-on that’s important. You have to figure out when tryouts are and all that. She tried out and she got a partial scholarship. Now eventually, you did get a full scholarship, correct?

Ashley: Yes.

Joshua: But in the beginning, partial scholarship, which means sometimes you will get a partial scholarship. Other times you are paying for tuition on your own until you earn that scholarship opportunity. So just a couple of things there. Walk-ons are tough, but they are also great opportunities. And you ended up as a D1 athlete because of it.

Ashley: Absolutely.

Joshua: Fantastic. So next up, you mentioned the workload was a little tough. Tell us about your balance between academics and then having to get up at 4:00 in the morning to row.

Ashley: Yeah, it’s quite an adjustment having never been up that early, probably ever, before going to Davis. Essentially, you really have to be organized with all of your schedules. You really fall into a routine, especially with the crew because you are up so early. You go to practice. You go to class. You have to take the time to schedule out your assignments and what’s due and when tests are coming up. But another great thing that I learned at Davis was all the resources available to athletes. So there’s study hall. There’s free tutoring. You really have to take advantage of what the school will offer athletes in order to help you balance the school workload and the crew workload, or whatever sport you’re doing. Really, you need to take advantage of it, and that’s just one of the ways that will help you not get burnt out on everything.

Joshua: Fantastic. Do you have any other tips for any athletes that are watching that might either want to become a walk-on or are just sitting there trying to figure out if they are going to be able to have the maturity to balance both work and sports?

Ashley: You really never know. It was an adjustment, obviously coming from high school, never having that kind of sport commitment time schedule before. You really just kind of have to give it a try and go for it. I am so glad that I went and tried out that one day. I made great friends. We had a great time and competition was fierce. It was a lot of hard work, but I don’t regret any part of it. So I suggest if you’re really on the fence about it, go and give it a try. I mean, there’s nothing that’ll hurt you, and you’ll learn something from it.

Joshua: Definitely don’t want to play the what if game later in life. So, if you want a shot, you got to take it. Appreciate it, thank you.

Ashley: Yes. Glad to share. So, last part we have a Facebook question from Malcolm. He asked: The NCAA gave me his ten digit ID number, but he hasn’t been cleared. So can he use it? What’s he supposed to do with it?

Joshua: Malcolm, listen, here’s the way the NCAA works. All right, millions of students every year are applying for NCAA ID numbers. Unfortunately, the NCAA doesn’t do as much with those numbers as you might think automatically. What has been done with your number so far, it’s been put into a computer system. The only way your information is ever going to be accessed is if you are put on what’s called an institutional request list.

Now that request list is made by coaches once coaches have contacted you or you’ve contacted a coach and that coach has asked for that NCAA ID number. Until that point, your stuff sits in a computer system and will never be accessed.

Little fun fact, 80% of the student athletes that actually sign up for the NCAA Eligibility Center never have their information accessed by anybody, because again, it’s only for Division 1 or 2 coaches. So until a coach requests your information, it will sit in that computer system. So it’s just a couple things to know.

Normally, our advice, don’t get an NCAA ID number until you know that a D1 or a D2 coach wants your information.

Ashley: Absolutely.

Joshua: All right, guys. Thanks so much for tuning in. As you know, you know how to get a hold of us on Twitter. You can ask us questions. You can subscribe to our Youtube channel. It’s @JZimmy67, @Athnet, and a new one, @AshPlaw. Thanks so much.

Ashley: Thank you.

1. Are you ready to play college sports? Obviously, playing sports at the college level is going to be more intense and time consuming than high school. Getting to the college level is going to be work, but the real work comes with balancing, college life, academics and sports. Athletes will need to understand that there are different levels of college competition and even though they may be shooting for NCAA division I they may find a better fit attending a Junior College first. Knowing which level of competition you can compete in and having the grades to get you there, will lead to a successful recruitment.
2. Do you have the grades to be cleared by initial eligibility standards? Meeting academic requirements is essential when wanting to compete in college. NCAA division I and division II schools require their athletes to meet the minimum eligibility requirements through the NCAA eligibility center; this includes passing core courses, maintaining a passing GPA and suitable ACT or SAT test scores. All items which are mandatory before being considered for college scholarship opportunities. NCAA may have the strictest of the eligibility requirements, but some individual colleges and universities have their own standards that student-athletes must meet in order to be granted acceptance. Recruits who shoot for more than the minimum requirements will open up more opportunities because they won’t have to worry about meeting eligibility or retaking courses.
3. Do you have the drive to be proactive in your recruiting process? Eager recruits typically jump right in, without knowing how the process will go our why they are not seeing immediate results. This can lead to frustration and sometimes failure. We want recruits to succeed in their recruiting process that’s why we are here to help answer the questions, but ultimately it will be up to them to do the heavy lifting. This includes, making the grades, improving their game each year, creating a sports resume, video footage and reaching out to college coaches.
4. Are you going to be organized and confident when communicating with college coaches? Once you have all the material needed to share with college coaches, you should send it to them, no earlier than your freshman year. After a week you will need to follow-up and then keep the coach informed on your athletics and tests from there on out. Reaching out to college coaches can be stressful. Some athletes don’t think they are good enough athletically to waste a coaches time and give up before they get to this step; while others put it off too long and potential spots go to athletes that expressed more interest early on. Being on top and ahead of the game will get you noticed. Replying to coaches responses immediately will show them you are eager to learn more about their program and also that you are ready to be considered a legitimate recruit.

These are just the stepping stones to understanding the recruiting process, each step consists of even more details and processes which recruits will encounter once they put themselves in the position to be ready for college recruitment.

If you have more questions about getting started with your recruiting than leave a comment below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

How to Stay Organized

The chart below is designed to keep you on track. You can create this chart in a word document and save it to the desktop of your computer. That way you will have easy access to it and you can update it as soon as you have communicated with a coach.

Start using this chart as soon as you begin calling or emailing coaches. The first thing you will need to do on the chart is fill out the coach’s name, school (you can also add the division level if necessary) and the location of the school. By doing this you will have easy access to a list of all the schools you’ve contacted.

The next step is to research the potential majors and the cost of attending each school. It is difficult to get a full-ride scholarship for most NCAA sports, so knowing the costs of attending will help you determine if a scholarship offer is large enough for you to attend that school.

Each time you contact a coach, whether he or she responds or not, you should update your chart. If you send them an email then mark down that you have to follow up with another email or a phone call in about a week if they do not respond. If they do respond and they want you to keep them updated, mark that down as well. You can also make notes in this section of the things a coach has asked you to give them; this may include transcripts, standardized test scores, highlight videos, or playing schedules.

The last section on the chart is for your application status. You can initially use this section as a way to keep track of the things you still need to do to get accepted into the university. They may include taking a standardized test, writing an essay, filling out the application, or getting letters of recommendation from your teachers. Once you have completed the application you can fill in the date it was submitted and when you expect to hear back from the school.

If you still have questions about how to stay organized just ask us in the comments or on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.