Playced: Recruiting Column: Wish I would’ve known then, what I know now

Someone who has already gone through the recruiting process can provide advice to recruits today. Playced recruiting breaks down what recruits should know.

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the recruiting process. This isn’t about where just the top five-star athletes are headed but rather a guide to the process and the pitfalls for student-athletes nationwide. This week’s article is written by Ross Hawley, the president of Playced Athletic Recruiting. Playced.com is an industry leader in college recruiting. Their technology-based recruiting service identifies the right colleges for potential recruits to pursue and provides a recruiting platform for student-athletes of all talent levels and ages.

Twenty years ago, I was an 18-year old senior in high school. Twenty years ago, all I wanted to do was play college baseball. In fact, twenty years ago, playing baseball was the only thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Twenty years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to study in college. Heck, I had no clue where I would even go to college. Twenty years ago, I was the same recruit as you.

If only I could have known then, what I know now about college recruiting and being a college athlete. This week, I sat down with my past to give myself the best advice I never got.

Then: Why is doing well in school so important to my future? 

Now: Taking pride in getting good grades and being a great student are far more important than your success as an athlete. Listen, I know you don’t want to hear that because you love the game you play more than anything and you want to believe that you’ll sign a huge million-dollar contract, someday! But statistically speaking, being a good student sets you up for a much better chance at long-term success, than being a good athlete. I’ll never tell you to not chase your dreams and go for it, that’s what life is all about. I’m simply advising you to make sure you put an equal amount of importance on both your academic career and your athletic career.

Here’s why:

  • You’ll be more appealing to many more colleges, thus giving you many more options during the recruiting process. And, more options will lead to a better chance at being happy with your college selection. A lot of recruits out there have to accept a scholarship offer because it may be the only one they get. No recruit should ever limit their scholarship options because they aren’t willing to work in the classroom.
  • Being a good student speaks to your work ethic and character. It’s not necessarily an easy thing to do, but it is worth the effort and grind. Every college coach in the country would tell you that if they were deciding between two recruits with the same physical abilities, they will take the recruit that is the better student. Why? Because the better student is likely to have that same work ethic on the field as they do in the classroom. They can be trusted with expectations, and getting good grades is an indicator of self-discipline.
  • No matter how good of an athlete you are, your career will end! Even if you end up in the 1% of athletes that make it professionally, you still have the great majority of your work life to live. The worst feeling about your career ending is not knowing what you will do next. On the flip side, there’s nothing better than to have a career waiting for you when the other one ends. Understand something… you’re in total control of what career awaits you!

Then: How can I get the most out of my college recruiting process?

Now: You drive the bus, no one else. You have to know exactly what you want out of this process and you have to be willing to put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid of rejection from college coaches and don’t be scared to take risks. Know your strengths as an athlete and know what colleges are looking for a player like you. Have an opinion on what you want to major in and what career path interests you, after college.

Above all else, you have to understand that if you’re going to stand by and let destiny take its course, you will no doubt miss some amazing opportunities. If you think your college recruiting process is mom and dad’s job, your coach’s job or anyone else’s job, you are 100% wrong.

Then: When I’m 40, what will have meant the most to me about my college career?

Now: The relationships you create and the fact that you can say you were a college athlete on your resume will be gold to you. Your work career will most likely be a direct result of your college athletic career, so treat your coaches, teammates and opponents with respect. Your batting average won’t get you a job, your ability to treat people right, will.

Don’t concern yourself with winning and losing, so much as you concern yourself with the process. Winning and losing are emotional events that you cannot control. Practice and hard work are rational events that you can control and apply every day for the rest of your life.

Playced recruiting column: You’ve signed. Now what?

You’ve signed your National Letter of Intent. Congratulations! But this is just the beginning. What comes next? Tips from Playced:

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the recruiting process. This isn’t about where just the top five-star athletes are headed but rather a guide to the process and the pitfalls for student-athletes nationwide. This week’s article is written by Ross Hawley, the president of Playced Athletic Recruiting. Playced.com is an industry leader in college recruiting. Their technology-based recruiting service identifies the right colleges for potential recruits to pursue and provides a recruiting platform for student-athletes of all talent levels and ages.

The goal of every serious high school athlete is to sign a National Letter of Intent at a big-time school.

For most athletes, this means hard work both on the field and in the classroom starting as early as sixth grade. We all know that participating in athletics while attending high school is difficult. Throw in practice, lessons, camps and tournaments and it becomes a sacrifice. Heck, you will miss a party to play in a game, or you might miss a trip to the lake because your summer team has a tournament.

When you’re in high school, those are big deals, but you make the sacrifice because the reward of a college scholarship is worth it.

The signing of a National Letter of Intent is a tremendous accomplishment and very few athletes ever make it to that point. If you’re one of the few, one thing you have to realize is that signing is only the beginning! 

You’ve only just begun

Once you sign a National Letter of Intent, the recruiting process is over, but your collegiate career has just begun. It’s not time to hit the brakes — it’s time to accelerate. You don’t just want to show up to college; you want to be ready to go from day one.

Some athletes might be content to just have a uniform, but most athletes want to play and not just sit on the bench. In order for that to happen, you have to be ready once you step foot on campus.

College coaches want you to show up strong and well-conditioned. You should arrive in the best condition of your life to reaffirm to the coaches signing you was a good decision, and it helps build respect and trust. You have one shot at being a college athlete. There’s no excuse to not be 100% physically prepared.

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Many scholarship athletes come to college expecting to have significant playing time immediately, but the truth is, there are no guarantees. Newsflash… You’re not the only player the coaches have signed.

In addition to competing for playing time with the new crop of signees, you will also be competing for playing time against current players on the roster, the proven veterans. That gives them an advantage. You need to be ready to compete at the first practice.

Know your competition

Once you sign, if you really want to play as quickly as possible, then it would be a great idea for you to know the current roster:

  • Determine who you’ll be competing against for playing time. If they’re upperclassmen with game experience, do your best job to find out the secret to their success within the program. There is a reason they play, so figure out what they do well and commit to doing it better.
  • How many players are there at your position and how do you stack up against those players? You might want to spend additional time in the weight room or refining your skills before you hit campus.
  • Talk to the coaches and ask them what you need to do to contribute to the team. Be specific and ask for specific answers.

It’s no fun to sit on the bench, so work hard before you leave for college and be as prepared as possible once you move into your dorm room.

Adjusting to a new life

Let’s face it: Playing a sport in college is not like a full-time job — it is a full-time job. Scholarship athletes can spend as many as 50 to 60 hours per week at practice, watching game film, lifting weights and preparing for games. Being a college athlete will be one of the biggest commitments of your life. Be prepared for the grind.

College coaches understand that there’s an adjustment period for incoming athletes that is caused by a dramatic increase in classroom and athletic workload. However, most athletes don’t realize the effect that these new changes in lifestyle will have on their performance.

College life is an adjustment for all students. You’re on your own for the first time, you need to learn how to manage your time and if you add the requirements of being part of a team, it can be overwhelming. The athletes who take the time to plan their class schedule, take advantage of the tutors offered by the team and work hard generally adjust much faster and play sooner.

Earning a college scholarship is a great moment for any high school athlete. However, you don’t want that to be the end, but rather the beginning of one of the greatest experiences an athlete can have. Take care of your body and outwork everyone because someday instead of watching the national championship, you might be playing in it.

Playced Recruiting Column: Assume Nothing

High School athletes can’t assume they know where they stand as a college recruit. Playced has more.

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the recruiting process. This isn’t about where just the top five-star athletes are headed but rather a guide to the process and the pitfalls for student-athletes nationwide. This week’s article is written by Ross Hawley, the president of Playced Athletic Recruiting. Playced.com is an industry leader in college recruiting. Their technology-based recruiting service identifies the right colleges for potential recruits to pursue and provides a recruiting platform for student-athletes of all talent levels and ages.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of the word assumption is; the act of taking for granted or supposing. In many instances, assuming is not something you want to find yourself doing because when you assume, there’s a great chance you’re not accounting for every detail. In other words, you’re simply not seeing the whole picture.

So, I have a question for you high school athletes looking to play at the next level: Do you know the truth about where you stand as a college recruit, or are you just assuming you do? I sure hope you know exactly where you stand! Because, one of the worst things you can do is to trust something is happening, when in reality it’s not. In fact, not knowing the truth just might cost you the opportunity of playing in college. Here are a few assumptions you need to absolutely avoid as you navigate your recruiting journey.

 Don’t assume someone else is handling it for you

For the record; college recruiting is all about you. If ever there was a right time to be selfish and opinionated, now would be that time! You have to decide what you want out of your college career, both academically and athletically. This isn’t just a decision that will affect you right now, this is a decision that will impact the rest of your life. If you think that someone else should take care of that for you, you should probably reconsider whether you really want to play in college, or not.

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Now, you might be fortunate enough to have a helpful coach or play for a really good team. Even then, never assume that someone else is doing the heavy lifting for you. Be involved in the process and express to your support system what you want and need. If someone is helping you, know exactly how they’re helping and what they’re doing. Bottom line: you should be driving this process, regardless of the amount of help you are getting, or not getting.

Don’t assume getting attention is going to lead to an offer

Of all the assumptions you can make, this might be the most dangerous of them all! Why? Because when you land on a coach’s radar, even if it is just one, recruits tend to put it on cruise control. They think that the scholarship offers are going to come pouring in and they can just sit back and chill. Don’t let that happen to you. If a college coach takes notice of you, the process is just beginning.

The difference between a coach noticing you and a coach making an offer is like the difference between dating and marriage! There’s a fact-finding, getting-to-know stage and there’s a ready-to-settle down, commitment stage. Just because a college coach is paying attention to you, doesn’t mean they’re going to offer you roster spot or scholarship. Mutually, you and the coach should be figuring out if you’re a good fit for that program. Until you’ve received and accepted an offer from an interested coach, don’t assume it’s going to happen.

Don’t assume it’s just going to happen one day

This one’s especially intended for you high school juniors and seniors. If you haven’t been seen yet, how is that going to change now? That’s not meant to sound sarcastic, trust me. But it should serve as a dose of reality. With every passing day, your recruiting window is shutting, and as frightening as that can be, it’s the truth. If you have the desire to play in college and you think that eventually the college coaches will notice you, you might be right. But, are you willing to bet a college career on it?

Stay away from this assumption by understanding the most basic principle of recruiting: you have to be noticed to be wanted and you have to be wanted to be offered. It is on you to do whatever it takes to get a coach to see you. Make it happen!

Playced Recruiting: Do this to get a coach to reply

Playced gives high athletes trying to get recruited to college tips on how to get coaches to reply to emails.

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the recruiting process. This isn’t about where just the top five-star athletes are headed but rather a guide to the process and the pitfalls for student-athletes nationwide. This week’s article is written by Ross Hawley, the president of Playced Athletic Recruiting. Playced.com is an industry leader in college recruiting. Their technology-based recruiting service identifies the right colleges for potential recruits to pursue and provides a recruiting platform for student-athletes of all talent levels and ages.

Make an introduction. Build a relationship. Come to an agreement. When you break it down, that’s how the recruiting process works.

  1. Regardless of who finds who, an introduction is how this all starts.
  2. Once a coach knows who you are, just like any relationship, it’s time to get to know each other.
  3. And, after some time building a relationship, well it’s time to figure out how serious this is going to be.

If college recruiting sounds a lot like dating and marriage, well, it kind of is! Whether we’re talking about an elite Division I basketball recruit, or an “under-the-radar” NAIA football recruit, makes no difference. Because when it comes to landing a roster spot at the next level, you will experience each one of these stages in that exact order.

Today, I’m going to focus on good old No. 1: making the introduction, by way of an email. Because for the unknown recruit, email is one of the most effective ways to get on a coach’s radar.

Here are a few things you need to do if you want the coach to hit reply.

Make your point

It’s important, for you to understand that college recruiting is seriously competitive. Simply sending an email makes you no different than the other 100 recruits that are doing the same thing, each day. That said, don’t waste a coach’s time by sending a 20-page explanation on why you’re so great.

The reality is, they aren’t going to read it all anyway. Instead, send a brief overview of why you should be considered for their program. Ask them for their valuable feedback and what you can do to learn more about their program. Get to the point where that coach can make an easy, early assessment of you and do your best to create a conversation.

Make that happen in no more than two paragraphs!

Link a video

If a coach could only make an evaluation of you based on video, what would you want them to see? Send that.

The reality is, most college coaches will see a recruit for the first time on video. It’s the world we live in! Whether it’s game film or a skill-specific workout, college coaches can watch a video and tell whether a kid can play or not. You don’t have to break the bank making some elaborate “Rocky” themed video, either. Remember, they aren’t going to watch the whole thing anyway. Just make sure they can clearly see your athleticism and what you have to offer.

Oh, and if a coach doesn’t know who you are, and you don’t include a video link, don’t expect a reply to your email.

Be decisive

College recruiting is about you, the student-athlete. It’s about what you want. It’s about your education, your playing experience and the college life you ultimately want to live. That is the fundamental idea you need to build your recruiting foundation on.

If you can’t make decisions about what you’re looking to accomplish, you’re leaving your future in someone else’s hands. Additionally, your indecision is a loud, ringing bell to college coaches and quite frankly, they aren’t interested in that kind of athlete.

In fact, they handle impersonal emails the same way you handle your spam mail. Delete.

So, dig in, figure out what you want and express it to the coaches you’re sending emails to. Communicating why you want to be a part of their program drastically increases the odds of a coach hitting reply to your email.

Playced Recruiting Column: Spend your recruiting dollars wisely

From necessary to optional costs, a recruit and their family should know the right choices to make throughout the process.

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the recruiting process. This isn’t about where just the top five-star athletes are headed but rather a guide to the process and the pitfalls for student-athletes nationwide. This week’s article is written by Ross Hawley, the president of Playced Athletic Recruiting. Playced.com is an industry leader in college recruiting. Their technology-based recruiting service identifies the right colleges for potential recruits to pursue and provides a recruiting platform for student-athletes of all talent levels and ages.

In today’s world of competitive athletics, many well-meaning parents spend a small fortune helping their athlete pursue a college scholarship. Skills coaches, professional highlight videos, travel teams and elite showcase tournaments can all be extremely expensive. It seems like the college recruiting process has become nothing but expensive!

Before you pull out your wallet, consider these facts:

  • Most college athletic scholarships are partial scholarships ranging from 25% to 60%.
  • The average Division I athletic scholarship is approximately $18,000 and if you don’t consider football and men’s basketball the amount is significantly less.
  • According to U.S. News & World Report, “the average tuition and fees at ranked public schools for out-of-state students was $21,629, and the average cost amounted to $35,676 at ranked private schools.” You can do the math.

To put it simply, if you’re lucky enough and talented enough to earn an athletic scholarship, it probably won’t cover the entire cost of your college education. Don’t get me wrong, $18,000 is a lot of money and I am certainly not trying to discourage anyone from pursuing an athletic scholarship. In fact, I believe the life lessons learned, relationships made and overall experience of participating in college athletics are invaluable. Additionally, participating in any sport at the collegiate level is a tremendous accomplishment every college athlete should be proud of. However, if the scholarship you’re pursuing won’t cover your entire college cost, then you should factor that into how much you spend to find that scholarship.

There are many costs to consider when an athlete is serious about playing in college. Some are necessary, but many are not. Simply put, you shouldn’t break into the college fund to play on the best summer team, or to hire a private skills coach. In my opinion, there are two categories of expenses that serious high school athletes and their parents should consider – the necessary costs and optional costs.

Necessary costs

If you’re really serious about being a college athlete, then you need to take advantage of the fact that summer is when college coaches can attend games and tournaments. Most of them don’t have the time during their season. Whether it’s select baseball, club basketball or participating in showcase events, summer is the time when you have the best chance to be seen and evaluated by college coaches.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to play on the very best summer team. In fact, the right team for you probably isn’t the best team. The right team is the one with a good schedule, a good coaching staff and one where you will have an opportunity to play a significant role. You don’t have to be the best player on the team, but you don’t want to sit the bench either. Your off-season team should be about exposure, but it should also be about getting better. When deciding on a summer team, keep this in mind: You have to play to be seen and you have to play to get better. You will accomplish neither if you’re sitting on the bench even if you’re on the best team in the country.

When evaluating which summer team to play for, keep in mind that a coach willing to help in the recruiting process is important. Don’t be afraid to ask about this before you commit to any team.

Believe it or not, paying for and playing on a summer team is the only major cost I feel you have to incur. Obviously, having the right equipment for your sport is required, but that just goes with the territory. Depending on the sport, the cost of a summer teams can be as much as $4,000, not counting the travel costs to out of town tournaments and the cost of showcase events can add up quickly also. Luckily, the rest of the major costs can be managed.

Optional costs

The major optional costs include (but are not limited to) private lessons, showcase events and/or college camps, highlight videos and recruiting services. If you have unlimited funds in your recruiting budget, then you should take advantage of all these resources. However, if that’s not the case, each one of these should be managed or eliminated.

Over that last 20 years private lessons have become increasingly popular. Most instructors will charge $50 to $70 for a 30-minute session. These lessons give the athlete one-on-one time with the instructor and can help develop skills, but $50 once or twice a week, 6 months a year can get expensive ($50 x 2 days/week x 26 weeks = $2,600).

The cost of attending a showcase event or a college camp ranges between $200 and $500 (before travel costs) and for that reason, attending a few of these can get expensive in a hurry. You really need to research each showcase you are considering and do your best to attend camps at the schools that might realistically be interested in you. Don’t waste your time with showcases or camps that don’t align with your personal goals.

A highlight video can connect an athlete in Dallas, Texas with a college coach in Orlando, Florida without using up airline miles. Most college coaches can tell if they’re interested in an athlete after watching 45 seconds of video. For those two reasons, highlight videos can really be an effective recruiting tool. Just keep in mind that your video doesn’t have to be professionally produced and set to inspirational music. You can easily create an effective highlight video using your own equipment.  Professional videos can cost from $500 to $1,500, so if you commit to creating your own, you can put that money in the college fund.

Finally, recruiting services that contact colleges on behalf of athletes might be helpful, but can be very expensive. The fees can be as much as $5,000, or even more. This is one cost that can be managed by doing your homework on the recruiting services you might be considering. Understand what you are paying for up front, so you won’t be surprised by the end result.

Here’s the deal

Every family with an aspiring high school athlete should consider creating a recruiting budget. Spend your recruiting dollars wisely and keep track of how much you’re spending to land that college scholarship.

Playced Recruiting Column: Imagine you’re the coach

As a high school athlete goes through the recruiting process, they should try to put themselves in the shoes of a college coach.

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the recruiting process. This isn’t about where just the top five-star athletes are headed but rather a guide to the process and the pitfalls for student-athletes nationwide. This week’s article is written by Ross Hawley, the president of Playced Athletic Recruiting. Playced.com is an industry leader in college recruiting. Their technology-based recruiting service identifies the right colleges for potential recruits to pursue and provides a recruiting platform for student-athletes of all talent levels and ages.

Imagine you’re a college coach. What would you think about a recruit who isn’t concerned about his or her grades? What about recruits who don’t get along with their high school coach? What if you got an email from an athlete who clearly didn’t know anything about your program? Or consistently made inappropriate posts on social media? Would you be interested in any of these athletes?

College coaches have the difficult task of evaluating a recruit’s abilities and then projecting how successfully a 16 or 17-year old athlete will adapt to college life. While each coach has his or her own way of evaluating athletes, you can be that certain that a recruit’s actions and behavior in high school will be considered by every coach.

Right or wrong, college coaches assume that how a recruit acts in high school is an indication of how they will act on a college campus. If they’re foolish on social media, don’t respect their coach, and aren’t a good student, many college coaches will justifiably eliminate that recruit from consideration. So, here are four areas college coaches review when considering any potential recruit.

Social Media

If you were a college coach, what do you think is the easiest way to find out a little information on a particular athlete? Well, I’d take a quick look at their social media accounts. In fact, it’s very possible that the first impression a recruit makes with a college coach is going to be via social media. And, the recruit probably wouldn’t even know about it. I can assure you that there are thousands of recruits who have been scratched off recruiting lists based just on their social media.

I get it. In today’s world, social media is a huge part of any high school student’s life. I certainly don’t think every recruit should eliminate all their social media accounts just because they want to be a college athlete. That said, consistent profanity or negative posts are major red flags to college coaches. Additionally, if it is apparent from a recruit’s posts that they don’t get along with their coaches or teammates, that they dread practice, or hate homework, it might be a sign for a college coach to steer away from that recruit. Every recruit needs to understand that their social media accounts are absolutely being viewed by college coaches.
Just think about it, if you were the coach and a recruit’s behavior on social media was at all suspect, wouldn’t that change your opinion of that player?

Communication

If you actually were a college coach, your inbox would be flooded every day with emails from high school athletes looking for a scholarship. How much consideration would you give to an impersonal, poorly worded email with fifty typos in it? What about an email that, within the first paragraph, the recruit was making excuses about why they don’t have the numbers they deserve, or why they haven’t been treated fairly? My guess is that you would delete those emails pretty quickly.

Every recruit needs to be mindful that how they communicate with college coaches is extremely important to how successful their recruiting journey will be. Negative comments about a coach or teammate will not be well-received. Also, an impersonal email, or a conversation with a coach where the recruit seems disinterested sends a terrible message to a college coach. So, before pressing “send”, do some research and personalize your email.

I have to believe that if you were a college coach each communication you receive from any athlete would affect your opinion of that athlete. For that reason alone, every recruit needs to understand that whether they’re sending an email or having a conversation with a coach, being polite, confident, and respectful will always be received better than being cocky, arrogant, and boastful.

Academics

If you were a college coach trying to decide between two recruits with similar abilities and potential, what would be the first tie-breaker for you? If you ask that question to every coach in the country, my guess is almost every one of them would say academics. Most parents and student-athletes don’t understand the importance of academics to college coaches. In addition to being able to brag on the team GPA or graduation rate, there are many other reasons why college coaches want good students on their roster.

First of all, good students often qualify for academic scholarships and in-state tuition, potentially saving the athletic department scholarship money. Second, a good academic record is an indication that a student will most likely be able to transition into college life. Third, grades and test scores are an indication of a student’s work ethic and achievement standards, for all areas of their lives. And finally, the admissions and administration offices at most universities are putting more and more pressure on athletic departments to recruit athletes that succeed once they get into school.

Based on the above, I assume that if you were a college coach you might spend some time reviewing the academic standing of any recruit you are serious about. For that reason, every recruit needs to make academics a priority. If a recruit’s grades and test scores aren’t great, it’s not the end of the world, but something needs to change. They need to find a tutor, take an ACT/SAT review course and/or spend some extra time studying. Consistent academic improvement is something a college coach will be impressed with!

High school/select coach’s opinion

As a college coach, whose opinion about a recruit would matter to you? Would you call the player’s parents? How about their grandparents? Probably not! As a college coach you would be looking for an unbiased opinion of each player’s abilities and character. For that reason, you most likely would want to talk with each recruit’s high school and select coach.

A while back, we had the pleasure of interviewing Coach Mack Brown. He was adamant when he told us “Really, we didn’t trust anyone other than our coaching staff and the player’s high school coach. Our coaching staff handled all aspects of recruiting. We didn’t rely on anyone else and if a high school coach had any hesitation about a player, we were out!”

If a coach is willing to vouch for the character, work ethic, and abilities of a particular player, as a college coach you would be much more interested in that player. An athlete’s coach sees their effort in practice every day, sees how they react to game situations, and is the best source for a college coach to gain insight on a player.

Here’s the deal 

College is not that far off. Make sure you give yourself the best chance to keep playing. Look at this whole process from a different perspective and reverse the roles. Would you, as a college coach, recruit you as a student-athlete? I’m hop