4 Things the NCAA Eligibility Center Needs from Every Athlete

I found a great article written by JC Kibbey of NCSA about the "4 Things the NCAA Eligibility Center Needs from Every Athlete" that I thought was worth reposting for you to learn from.  

Here is the link to the article: http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2012/06/20/4-things-the-ncaa-eligibility-center-needs-every-athlete/

 

The NCAA Eligibility Center (formerly called the NCAA Clearinghouse) checks every athlete who want to play sports in college to make sure they’re eligible (except at the NAIA and junior college levels). If they don’t pass you, you don’t play. So making sure you’re set with them is a key first step for anybody who wants to get recruited.

What do they look at? What can you do to comply?

Relax – it’s all here. NCSA is one of the first recruiting education and scouting groups ever to be certified by the NCAA, so we have a lot of experience with this day-to-day. We’re spilling everything we know to you, so read on to find out the four things the NCAA Eligibility Center needs from you.

1. Good grades (in the right classes) and good test scores
Maybe you’ve heard this one before – you need good grades and test scores to play in college. Like your coach telling you to hustle, you can’t say it enough. But don’t take our word for it, or your coach’s word, or your parents’ – the NCAA Eligibility Center will check .They have a specific sliding scale of what makes the grade and what doesn’t, and a list of classes that every student athlete must have taken in order to compete. Click here for more details about the academic requirements for the NCAA Eligibility Center.

2. Amateurism status
What’s amateurism? Basically, it means you’ve never gotten paid to play sports, so you’re qualified to play in college. You can see why the NCAA might not want Dwayne Wade, Tom Brady, or Serena Williams playing at the college level. It wouldn’t really be fair.

You have to prove you really are a “student-athlete.” Here’s the list of things that can potentially disqualify you from competing in the NCAA:
1. Contracts with a professional team
2. Salary for participating in athletics
3. Prize money
4. Playing with professionals
5. Trying out, practicing or competing with a professional team
6. Receiving benefits from an agent or prospective agent
7. Agreeing to be represented by an agent
8. Delaying initial full-time collegiate enrollment to participate in organized sports competition
9. Getting financial assistance based on athletics skills or participation (athletes at Ohio State and USC have gotten in trouble for this in the last few years)
If you want to be a college athlete, don’t do any of this, is the bottom line.

3. Following the rules
Besides grades and amateurism, there’s a whole list of rules the NCAA Eligibility Center has for student-athletes. And all the rules need to be explained to the smallest detail so there’s no confusion.
Lucky for you, they put all this stuff in one place: The Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete. You can see or download the latest (2011-2012) version of this guide by clicking here. It’s a must-read if you want to play sports in college.

4. Register
This is the easy part. You actually have to contact the NCAA Eligibility Center and register so they can verify your eligibility. Registration costs $65 if you live in the U.S., and $95 for international student-athletes – but considering the amazing benefits of college sports, this is next to nothing.

UPDATE: Effective September 1, 2012, the registration fee will increase to $70 for U.S. student-athletes and $120 for international student-athletes.
There are several ways to reach the eligibility center:

Online:
www.eligibilitycenter.org

By phone:
877-262-1492 (if you live in the U.S.)
317-223-0700 (if you don’t live in the U.S.)

By mail:
NCAA Eligibility Center
Certifications Processing
P.O. Box 7136
Indianapolis, IN 46207-7136

More questions about the eligibility center? Call NCSA’s NCAA-verified scouting team at 866-495-7727 or click here to create a free recruiting profile.

Read more: 4 Things The NCAA Eligibility Center Needs from Every Athlete http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2012/06/20/4-things-the-ncaa-eligibility-center-needs-every-athlete/#ixzz20ozYiy2h

I hope you enjoy these articles on Recruiting. 

Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
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651-353-2660   

What should I be doing this summer to help my recruiting?

Here is a great Video with Coach Randy Taylor from NCSA discussing the steps you can take over the summer to get your name in front of college football coaches.

It's a great short video giving you tips on summer football recruitment.

Take a look and I hope you are able to learn a few things.  Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Train hard this summer and have no regrets entering your fall football season.

For more information about summer recruitment steps, or if I can help in anyway, please contact me at 651-353-2660 or CoachHusby@gmail.com or NCSA directly.

For more information about Special Teams Football Academy, check out our Website.
Like us on Facebook... Get $10 off your next lesson.  Become a "Fan" of our Facebook Page, post on it that you "just read the blog" and we'll give you $10 off your next lesson! (limit 1 per person)
Follow us on Twitter.... Tweet at us and say hi, and we'll give you $10 off your next lesson!  It's that easy! (limit 1 per person)

 
Thank you
-Coach Husby

2012 College Specialist Camps- Kicking, Punting, and Snapping Camps

Here are a list of most of the prominent College Specialists Camps coming up for the summer of 2012. (We don't have every school).  **If you know of another camp that we don't have listed, please post below and I'll update the list

***MOST OF THE SCHOOLS HERE ARE LOOKING FOR A KICKER, PUNTER, AND LONG SNAPPER***

All camps are available to any specialist (of almost every grade level 9th-12th) that would like to showcase their abilities and get noticed by the college’s coaching staff.

 

June

Texas A&M - June 3rd
http://www.aggieathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=27300&SPSID=632660&SPID=93232&ATCLID=205238449


University of Louisville - June 9-10th
http://www.uoflsports.com/camps/lou-camps-m-footbl.html


Texas Tech- June 9th
http://www.tubervillefootballcamps.com/


Georgia Tech- June 9th
http://www.ramblinwreck.com/camps/football-camps.html


University of Nebraska- June 10-11th
www.huskers.com


Utah University- June 11th
http://www.utahfootballcamp.com/


Ohio State University - June 12-13rd
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/camps/m-footbl-camp-summer.html


University of North Carolina- June 13rd
http://www.danornerkicking.com/Camps.html


Oklahoma State- June 13rd
http://www.coachgundy.com/camps.html


Iowa State- June 13rd
http://www.iowastatefootballcamps.com/index.cfm


Appalachian State- June 14 & 15th
http://www.danornerkicking.com/Camps.html


University of Minnesota- June 15th
http://www.camppros.com/register/detail_new.aspx?ListingId=2029&OrgId=124


Clemson- June 15th
http://www.daboswinneyfootballcamp.com/Default.asp?ID=234&pg=Kicking+Academy


Wildcat Kicking Camp - Kentucky- June 8th and June 15th
High School Seniors To-Be ONLY; Two Sessions:
http://www.ukathletics.com/camps/


Rice University- June 16th
http://www.riceowls.com/camps/rice-camps.html


University of Florida- June 17-19th
http://www.gatorzone.com/camps/?id=140


University of Maryland- June 18th
http://www.danornerkicking.com/Camps.html


University of Wisconsin- Madison- June 21th
http://www.uwbadgers.com/camps/camp-football.html


Tulane- June 21st
http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/camps/tul-camps.html

Rutgers- June 28th
http://scarletknights.com/football/camp/ 

July

University of North Dakota- July 13-15th & July 21st
http://www.fightingsioux.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=204781192


Chuck Priore Football Camp at Stony Brook University - July 14-15th
http://www.goseawolves.org/camps/ston-10-football-camp.html


Baylor- July 18th
http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/camps.html


University of Texas at San Antonio- July 19th
http://www.goutsa.com/evt/Event.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=13100&_MODE_=CHOOSE_EVENT&FRM_EVT_EVENT_ID=83297


University of Virgina- July 20-22nd
http://www.danornerkicking.com/Camps.html


Ole Miss - July 20th
http://www.olemisssports.com/camps/ole-camps.html


Louisiana Tech on July 27th
http://www.latechsports.com/camps/latc-footbl-camps.html


Western Kentucky Kicking Camp - July 28th...Looking to scholarship a Kicker & Punter!
http://wkufootballcamps.com/


University of San Diego- July 28th
http://www.usdcamps.com/Camps/Football.htm

 www.SpecialTeamsFootballAcademy.com

From everyone here at Special Teams Football Academy, we'd like to wish Good Luck to everyone that attends these camps.  Stay Focused and do your best!

For more information about Special Teams Football Academy, check out our Website.
Like us on Facebook... Get $10 off your next lesson.  Become a "Fan" of our Facebook Page, post on it that you "just read the blog" and we'll give you $10 off your next lesson! (limit 1 per person)
Follow us on Twitter.... Tweet at us and say hi, and we'll give you $10 off your next lesson!  It's that easy! (limit 1 per person)

 
Thank you


--  
Coach Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
Join our Facebook Fan Page!
Follow us on Twitter.
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CoachHusby@gmail.com
651-353-2660

High School Kicker Recruiting Experience & Advice

I found this great article on MaxPreps.com about Kickers and the Recruiting process and their experiences.  It is a few months old, but there are some great recruiting tips from a kicker going through the recruitment process.

You can read the article here, or below:
http://www.maxpreps.com/m/article.aspx?articleid=dbdaa559-777b-40ce-8b02-ecd6884e7f8b

High school kickers are earning keep, signing on dotted line

By: Mitch Stephens Feb 14, 2012
Garland (Texas) kicker Josh Lambert lined it all up and felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. This was overtime.

The 5-foot-11, 205-pound senior focused keenly, pored through the paperwork one more time, grabbed a pen and split the dotted line perfectly with a clear and legible signature.

He is bound to be a West Virginia Mountaineer.

Lambert was one of the last kickers in the country to sign a letter of intent last Thursday. Most of the rest inked theirs on National Signing Day, Feb. 1.

There will be a whole slew of kickers from 2012 likely signing sometime - anytime - over the next year or two.

The recruiting process for them is different than that for the mainstream athletes – the quarterbacks, running backs and linemen – or as they are called around the locker room, the real players. Kickers and punters are simply specialists, pinch-hitters, designated free throw shooters.

"I've heard that my whole career," said Colby Cooke, a senior kicker from Goochland (Va.) who has secured a scholarship to Vanderbilt. "You have to block all that out. We're a part of the team like everyone else."

Try telling that to recruiters and college coaches. Most of them string along these impassioned young lads, promising them an offer is on the horizon, which more times than not turns out to be a preferred walk-on spot proposal.

"They want to see what you can do under pressure," said David Smith, whose son Jon David Smith from Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) signed a 66-percent offer from NAIA school Southern Oregon. "Unless you're a Top 10 kid in the nation, most schools are going to rely on walks-ons."

That might be changing. More kids than ever are getting full and partial rides straight out of high school.

From the Class of 2012, 45 letters of intent have been signed by kickers or punters from the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision programs. Those include two signees each to Florida State, Purdue, Georgia, Washington and TCU.

That means one out of three Division I programs are committing to kickers early and not asking them to walk-on.

That, in part, appears to be due to more specialty camps and coaching so recruiters feel confident they're getting a polished product, a more sure bet. Then again, judging by all the last-second chip-shot misses in high-profile games at every level, nothing is a sure thing in the land of kicking.

Never has been and probably never will be.

Good advice

In the recruiting process, that will always put the kickers on unfair footing, so to speak.

"It's really a hard process," Cooke said. "You get told that you're going to get offers by college recruiters, but then it doesn't happen. You just got to keep working hard. Something will break."

Cooke, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior, made the under-19 USA team that just played in the 2012 International Bowl on National Signing Day in Austin, Texas. He was fifth in the country with 17 field goals in 21 attempts in 2011 with a long of 51 yards. Remarkably, a second kicker from Goochland earned a scholarship in punter Thomas Meadows, who signed at Purdue.

Cooke said his big break came at a Vanderbilt camp.

"I just killed the workout," he said. "The next day they offered me and I jumped on it."

Shortly after accepting, more offers came in, including Virginia Tech, the school that originally asked him  to walk-on. Virginia and Richmond were also in the mix. Making his decision more complicated was that Vanderbilt already has two kickers on scholarship, thus coaches asked Cooke to grayshirt. That means he won't enroll onto the Nashville, Tenn., campus until spring of 2013.

No problem, Cooke said.

"I just felt loved there," he said. "I love the head coach, all the coaches, the school, everything."

Picking the school and education – more so than just football – is vital, especially for kickers, said Marist (Atlanta) senior Austin Hardin, who has signed to the University of Florida. In a tremendous series offered by kickology.com, college-bound kickers throughout the country offered advice for high-level high school specialists.

"If you had a career-ending injury you first year, would you still love your college?" Hardin wrote. "Make sure it's a place you love and want to earn a degree from."

Other advice offered on the site:

"My kicking coach told me to remember to look out for yourself," said Texas-bound Nick Jordan, from Coppell (Texas). "The college coaches don't care about me, just about me playing for them, so I need to remember to make decisions for my own good."

Illinois-bound Ryan Frain, of Scecina Memorial (Indianapolis), said don't expect college coaches to show up at your game and make an offer. He said he spent hours on the computer to make contact with coaches and recruiters.

"Do everything in your power to get your name in front of coaches," he wrote. "You just never know what's going to fall through."

Frain also wrote: "Enjoy every second of it. It truly is an exciting process that not a lot of athletes experience."

Connecticut-bound Bobby Puyol, of Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), put it this way.

"Go to where you are celebrated, not tolerated."

Late bloomer

All the good advice in the world won't help unless you act swiftly, Smith said. His son fell into the recruiting game very late, but jumped in head and feet first. It helped that Jon David Smith had some natural talent.

As a sophomore, Jon David, who had played youth soccer for 10 years, was messing around on the football field and almost by accident kicked a 60-yard field goal. Word got back to the football coach, and well, a football star was born – by kicking standards anyway.

He transitioned quickly into the game and booted seven field goals as a junior and 44 PATs, tying three school records. Dave helped his son get serious into the kicking process and helped him get training through nationally known Chris Sailer.

"It's not only about the training and instruction, but getting to camps," Dave Smith said.

Jon David attended a couple national events in Las Vegas and worked hard in the weight room to build his leg strength on top of his 5-11, 180-pound frame. That helped him add 10 to 15 yards to his kickoffs.

Despite that, and a terrific senior season – he kicked seven more field goals, 40 PATS, had 44 touchbacks in 62 kickoff attempts with a long of 74 yards – he was too late to garner any Division I looks, his dad said.

"You need to get going by your sophomore season," David Smith said.

That said, Jon David, with offers from Sacramento State and Butler and interest from Humboldt State, took the offer from Southern Oregon.

"Everything all worked out for the best," David Smith said. "All the process was worth it."

* * *

There are some great online resources for kickers recommended by Coach Husby.

Among them: NationalCampSeries.com (thorough rating service of kickers, punters and long snappers), MinnesotaPreps.com/Rivals.com (Great information about High School Athlete's and recruiting), kicking.com (superb expert blog and news section) and kickology.com (the study of all things kicker related).

For more information:
See our Website.
Like us on Facebook... Get $10 off your next lesson.  Become a "Fan" of our Facebook Page, post on it that you "just read the blog" and we'll give you $10 off your next lesson! (limit 1 per person)
Follow us on Twitter.... Tweet at us and say hi, and we'll give you $10 off your next lesson!  It's that easy! (limit 1 per person)

 
Thank you
-Coach Husby

Upcoming June Football Kicking Camps

We have 3 great camps coming up in June.  These camps are great opportunities to fine tune your mechanics and learn drills to help you prepare upcoming season. Two of the camps are great for you get evaluated and rated amongst your peers locally and nationally that can help with you to pursue playing football in college.   Here are a few Testimonials about why some of the area's best athletes love working with Special Teams Football Academy.

The various camp details are below.

1) June 2- at Stillwater High School- National Camp Series Evaluation & Clinic.

Cost: $150
Hours: 9:00 AM- 1:30 PM
9:00-12:00 PM- Charting and Evaluation
11:30-1:00 PM- FREE 90 min clinic following the camp for NCS Camp Participants.


Click here to find out more about National Camp Series.
Click here to read about the KIX Rating System
Register Here for the Camp
Register Here to attend the Clinic Only


Camp is open to athletes of all levels (Middle School & High School)

Please contact Coach Husby if you'd like to attend ONLY the clinic.  Clinic only is $80.

Interested College Athletes should attend the Clinic aspect of the camp.
Location:
5701 Stillwater Blvd
Oak Park Heights, MN 55082

 
2) June 24 at Rochester Community & Technical College- National Camp Series Evaluation & Clinic.

Hours: 11 AM- 4 PM
11-2 PM- Charting and Evaluation
2:00-3:30 PM- FREE 90 min clinic following the camp for NCS Camp Participants.


Click here to find out more about National Camp Series.
Click here to read about the KIX Rating System
Register Here for the Camp
Register Here to attend the Clinic Only


Camp is open to athletes of all levels (Middle School & High School)


Please contact Coach Husby if you'd like to attend ONLY the clinic.  Clinic only is $80.

Interested College Athletes should attend the Clinic aspect of the camp.


To Paraphrase NCS Evaluation events, it is an evaluation camp where your son will be run through a standardized FG, KO, Punting or Snapping Chart, that is used across the US.  It's like an ACT Test for specialists. This is open to Upcoming 6th-12th graders.  Your son will get a Profile, Bio and Chart, and it can be a great way to showcase your abilities/improvements and to send out to college coaches for potential scholarship opportunities by your Junior and Senior years.  You will get ranked amongst your peers locally and nationally.  There will be a FREE 90 minute clinic (following the evaluation) for all NCS participants.  We are also offering an option to just attend the 90 minute clinic.  To register for either the NCS Camp or Clinic alone, Click here.

*If you are going into college, or are currently in college, you may attend the Clinic.

3) June 23- at Benilde St Margarets. - We’ll be running a Kicking, Punting and Snapping Instructional camp

Cost: $200 Whole Camp
Hours: 10 AM- 2 PM
Check in: 9:30 AM


Camp is open to athletes of all levels (Middle School, High School, College)

It will be a 4 hour camp working with our team of instructors.  We’ll be working on basic fundamentals, advanced techniques and drills that your son can use and train with during the summer.  Camp is open to kids of all age and skill level.


Location:
2501 Highway 100 South
St. Louis Park, MN  55416

Register Here for the Camp


For questions about the camps, please contact me at 651-353-2660 or at CoachHusby@gmail.com


Thank you.

Chris Husby
Professional Kicking Coach and Owner
Special Teams Football Academy
Join our Facebook Fan Page!
Follow us on Twitter.
Follow us on Instagram.
Subscribe to our YouTube Videos.
CoachHusby@gmail.com
651-353-2660