Here is a great article that I found on the NCSA website written by JC Kibbey, that talks about the "6 Signs You’re Behind in the Recruiting Process."
I think it's a great article that is worthy of your time to read. There is a lot of valuable advice here. A 7th point that I would like to note is that YOU and your Parents need to be active in the recruiting process. YOU need to reach out to college coaches to express interested in their program too. YOU need to take the initiative too. Don't just expect that since you "kicked the game winning field goal" that colleges will be knocking on your door. Yes that might still happen, but you need to be proactive in the process as well.
Also from a Specialists perspective it is important to attend evaluation camps, and even 'College Kicking Camps.' At evaluation camps, you are being evaluated by kicking experts, which many college coaches reach out to for leads on top kickers, punters and snappers; and at 'College Kicking Camps' you'll kick in front of the college coaching staff members themselves that have some control over recruiting you. In June, I posted about the upcoming "2012 College Specialist Camps" to find out when some of the bigger camps will be going on. Hopefully you were able to attend a few of them.
I've reposted JC Kibbey's article below and the link to it online so you can read more about other recruiting tips with NCSA.
http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2012/06/27/6-signs-recruiting-process/
"6 Signs You’re Behind in the Recruiting Process."
by JC Kibbey
You’re naturally confident.
Right?
As an athlete, you have to be. When you’re sitting down at halftime,
warming up in the bullpen, or on the blocks, you can’t afford to ask
yourself: what if I’m doing this wrong? You just go.
Here’s the problem: that same kind of thinking that works great when
you’re competing – no doubting yourself, no matter what – can
kill you in recruiting.
You’ve got to admit to yourself when you make a mistake. Here are six of the most common ones.:
1. You get recruiting advice from people you know
Friends and family are great. None of us – especially those of us who
eat, sleep and breathe sports 24/7 – could do what we do without them.
Why are they great? Partly because they’re nice to us.
And that’s exactly why they should
not be giving you recruiting advice.
People who are close to us, especially parents and even sometimes our
coaches, can look at us with “love goggles” on – see the pair on the
left? They are rose-colored. “You’re fantastic! You’re Division I
material! The coaches will come running!” Truth is, probably 90% of
athletes hear this from their friends and family, but only 2% of high
school athletes go on to college. See the problem?
When it comes to recruiting, you need somebody who’s going to give
you the honest truth. If you happen to know a college coach (who’s not
in your family), maybe ask them. If not, talk to an
NCAA-certified recruiting expert. Feel-good talk about where you can go won’t get you ahead – real talk will.
2. You don’t have a highlight video
This is pretty basic. Athletes get recruited because coaches
want them. Coaches want those athletes because they think they will make
the team better. Coaches find out that you can make a team better by
seeing your highlight video. If they don’t know what you can do, how can
they know they want you on their team?
To be fair – runners and swimmers, this is a
little less
important for you, because your times are so important. But not much –
you’ll still need skills tapes, and meet footage won’t hurt. Think of it
this way: you’re not the fastest runner in the country, which means
there’s someone else with the same times as you. If a coach is looking
at both of you, do you think they’ll pick the one with a video (whose
form the coach can see), or the one without it?
3. You make athletics an excuse for bad grades
Think you can skate by with weak grades because you’re an athlete?
Everybody knows (or knew) one star athlete in their high school that
thought so. Any parents reading, take a second and ask yourself: where’s
that athlete now, who didn’t care about grades?
Did they go to college? Are they successful now? Do you even know where they are?
Even if you want to go pro – you have to have the grades, get into a
good college and get exposure. If you were the next LeBron James, you’d
know already.
4. You don’t have any letters
If you aren’t getting some kind of letters and you are in high school,
this is not a good sign. Athletes who are in demand get letters from
coaches, period. Maybe you need to step up your game. Maybe the coaches
don’t know about you. But if there aren’t letters, there isn’t interest.
5. You only have letters
At the same time, letters don’t mean much without the follow-up, the
coach communications, and the attention. NCSA’s founder, Chris Krause,
had a boatload of letters as a high school student, but he almost missed
being recruited altogether because he didn’t follow up. Letters are a
step in the process, and they’re only as good as the coach
communications, visits, and ultimately, the offer that you get out of
them.
6. You think everything is going well
That last point – that letters are only as good as the offer that they
get you – is true about everything in recruiting. It doesn’t matter if
you’re All-State, getting letters from the top colleges in the country,
taking visits, or appearing on
SportsCenter and the cover of
Sports Illustrated. Recruiting
is over and done once you sign on the dotted line at your dream school.
Until that point, everything is just an opportunity. And after you sign
that letter – well, that’s when it really gets hard.
Avoid these mistakes and get elite recruiting advice from an NCAA-certified recruiting expert – click here or call 866-495-7727 to join the network.
