2008 Signing Day at West High School.

National Signing Day being around the corner (February 4th) means that the recruiting season is in full effect. In this month’s best practice section we will be taking a look at how some of our veteran schools and academic coaches handle the recruiting process. We have a range of perspectives from smaller schools working to find opportunities at all levels of play, to a program that has seen a marked increase in Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision) opportunities, and a well-established school with large roster numbers and a proven history of producing top Division I (FBS) recruits.

As with all of our best practices, Play It Smart recognizes that each individual member school can be different. Our aim is to provide you multiple perspectives and tips from the field so that you can look into what is working and what may work for you, your school, and your student-athletes.

Please keep in mind with any of your approaches with your student-athletes, we strive to recognize those teachable moments, and take advantage of those by empowering our student-athletes to take responsibility and ownership of their futures . . .

We would like to thank Academic Coach Dustin Butcher (Wayne High School, IN), Academic Coach David Giles (West High School, TN), and Head Coach Raul Lara (Long Beach Poly, CA), for taking the time to share some of their experience with us.

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West High School, Knoxville, TN
David Marcus Giles, Academic Coach

Some of an Academic Coach’s most meaningful memories and successes with their student-athletes can be attained in the recruiting process. This is a crucial part of our job and can be significant in changing the student-athlete’s course in life. A large majority of football players or aspiring student-athletes may desire to some degree to play at the next level. It is part of our job to help the ones that do have that desire to get there; first, in helping to oversee their academic success, and second, to help fight for our kids to help create more opportunities and options to be recruited.

When Play It Smart first came to West High in 2006, there were only two student-athletes who had received an athletic scholarship in the last 8 to 10 years. One of our goals was to become a team that produced scholar-athletes which would go on to receive athletic scholarships. Since Play It Smart arrived, we have had 13 kids receive a scholarship to play football at all levels.

Some of the first things I started doing were sending out information on all of our kids from the junior year. I would get together with the head coach and begin drafting a recruiting list of juniors and seniors so I could send their names, along with a brief stat sheet, to over 260 schools (colleges and universities) nationwide.

Now, we (West High School) are on the radar of almost every school that has a football program in the nation, and we have become more efficient in sending out the recruiting lists to various schools each year. Here are some basic tips to help in the recruiting process based on a 2009-10 time-line:

Tip #1 – May 2009


• Get every rising Junior and Senior transcript. It is a good idea to make multiple copies of their transcripts to keep them on file in your office. Also, they need to be updated each semester. Have them ready so that you can send a copy to a college coach when they come on recruiting visits.


• Meet with your head coach regarding who are your top recruits and type-up a list of stats on each player. Include their GPA, 40-time, weight room stats, football stats, weight/height, etc.


• Send the sheet to numerous schools at all levels: D-1, D-1AA , D-2, D-3, NAIA, JUCO, etc.

Tip #2 – August 2009


• Talk with school guidance counselors about each student-athlete.


• Highlight any issue or things a student has to address, especially when it comes to scheduling classes to meet graduation requirements, NCAA Clearinghouse requirements and/or NAIA eligibility.

Tip #3 – September 2009


• Individual goal setting meetings with Juniors and Seniors about their GPA, graduation status, clearinghouse or NAIA eligibility, what they need to accomplish and what to maintain, and sign-up for ACT testing.

Tip #4 – December 2009


• Make individual meetings (again) with Juniors and Seniors.


• Go over transcripts with the student-athletes and talk about their options.


• Make sure student-athletes are on track to graduate and meet eligibility requirements.


• Discuss classes and courses for the next semester.


• Talk about overall GPA and its importance.


• Sign-up for the ACT (or SAT) again, if needed, and Juniors for the ACT (or SAT) next semester.


• Talk about what college they want to attend.


• Do they want to play football?


• At what level can they play? Don’t destroy any dreams but help them to be realistic!



A 5’ 10” student that weights 185 lbs., but runs a 4.7 40, is probably not going to go D-1 even though he is a great football player. But there is maybe some D-1AA, D-2 or even some really good NAIA schools they could play for. Help them to see not going D-1 is not the end of the world. One can still play great football at another level. Also, it is good to emphasize that very few people get to play at the next level, let alone a big D-1 school. Talks with your student-athletes should be gentle but with a focus on reality, your honest assessment of their ability, and the humility to understand that if you’re good enough – the big schools will find you.

Tip #5 – December 2009-January 2010


• Start getting highlight videos done for your kids after the season has ended.


• Send them to any recruiting school or anyone the athlete might be interested in.


• Meet with the head coach and let him know you want to be at every visit by recruiting college coaches. This way you can have transcripts on-hand and highlight videos ready, which will help the student-athletes get noticed. When the college coaches visit, they are looking for the head coach. I have found that many come to my office first because they know I have the academics, but it has also helped me and the head coach to work more closely together when it comes to getting them recruited.


• *Editors Note: Play It Smart schools have been building a solid reputation around the country over the last 10 years among college coaches, work to further that solid reputation, it can help give our kids an edge.


• Sell the student-athletes to the recruiter. Talk about their character, growth and what they are capable of doing both on and off the field.

Tip #6 – February 2010


• Have a big school meeting on signing day for any of your students who sign with any school. Make it an exciting event because it will inspire your school and get more people to want to come and play football at your school. Finally, make sure it makes the local newspaper. People notice progress and they want to be a part of the success.


• Start the process all over again for next year!

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Wayne High School, Fort Wayne, IN
Dustin Butcher, Academic Coach

If someone gave us a dollar for every time one of our student-athletes told us that they wanted to go play Division I or to the Pro’s in their respective sport, we wouldn’t be academic coaches. Now there are a few, small few, Play It Smart schools that produce Division I talent on a regular basis. For most of us, we are battling and emailing coaches from small schools, JUCO’s, DIII’s.

We are sending DVD’s to schools that our kids have no idea exist. Why? We do it because we know that if we can find one school that will take a chance with our kid, they might be able to do something with themselves. How I go about helping our kids get recruited may be different than how someone else does it, however, hopefully some of these tips will help you.

I personally love it when one of my student-athletes responds that they want to go D1 because that gives me an open invite to push them toward their academics. Prep 48 is a tremendous tool to use when our student-athletes have these “BIG Dreams”. There are a lot of classes that our kids have to take to become eligible through the NCAA Clearinghouse. This program (Prep 48) does an excellent job of breaking down the core classes, core GPA, Division I/II policies, and test standards that our kids need. I would utilize this program to help chase dreams or if you need to find some extra motivation with your student-athletes.

In order for us to help our student-athletes get recruited, we have to understand how scholarships work for the respective sport that they want to play in college. For scholarship purposes, Division I college football and college basketball have an all or nothing standard. You are either getting everything for a scholarship or you are walking on. However, in other Division I sports, the scholarship money is broken up and the coaches divvy it up however they see fit.

For instance, in track they have set time standards that generally guide how much money they will offer someone. In concern to Division II and NAIA, scholarships are divvyed up, regardless of sport, to be handed out in the way the coach sees fit. There are other rules that NCAA and NAIA have concerning scholarship money, but this is a general rule. You could write a book on how scholarships are given out. Most of the time, the amount of athletic scholarships at each school is different based on how much their financial aid office can afford. This is evident in some of the smaller college athletic programs.

Another point of emphasis to remember is that when FAFSA starts rolling around, it is important to complete this form. If a college coach who is representing a sport that has to divvy up scholarships gives you a college cost estimator, fill it out. The reason behind this is because they are looking to figure out how much they can offer your student-athlete that will be cost affordable for your student-athlete as well as cost affordable for them.
Say for instance, the college tuition is $20,000 and your students fills out the FAFSA or College Cost Estimator and it is assumed they are going to receive $12,000 in Financial Aid and Academic Scholarship, the coach can now see what they can offer you. If a Division III school is recruiting your student-athlete, athletic scholarships aren’t available.

Over the past 4 years, I have had only 4 kids go Division I or II. However, I have had several go JUCO, DIII or NAIA. There is a school for each one of your student-athletes if they want to continue playing. You just have to do your research and call around, and empower your student-athletes to do the same. Here are some tips I have used that will help you get on your way if you haven’t done so already:

1. Understand that your reputation along with your coaches’ reputation is on the line if you recommend a certain player to a college coach.


2. College coaches love film. Recruiting budgets are small for some colleges and this allows them to evaluate talent efficiently. Assistant Head Football Coach at University of Saint Francis, Pat Donley stated that, “highlight films are fine but game tape is what we use in determining scholarships.”


3. Have your kids fill out college questionnaires that were sent to them. Regardless of what college it is.


4. Coach Donley recommended that you also fill out College Cost Estimators. Most smaller colleges or universities have something online to figure this out. These estimators help coaches put together a competitive financial package.


5. Fill out online applications and online questionnaires. This is another way of getting your kids recognized.


6. Be honest about the kid. You don’t want to jeopardize his chances but you also don’t want to jeopardize your younger student-athletes that may need the same referral. Let the coach know about the student’s grades as well.



7. Be honest with your kids. It will be easier in the long run to tell your student-athletes straight up that they aren’t going to a Division I program rather than leading them on.


8. If you have student-athletes with an IEP, get to know and understand how Prep School works, this could be an option to look into.


9. Be willing to travel and take kids on college visits. Most small schools have athletic college visit days. Some JUCO’s even have workout days.


10. BE WILLING TO COMMIT YOURSELF TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET YOUR STUDENT-ATHLETES PREPARED FOR THE COLLEGE LIFE.

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Long Beach Poly High School , Long Beach, CA
Raul Lara, Head Coach
Monica Kim, Academic Coach

At Long Beach Poly High School, we have a system that we believe helps us get our student-athletes exposed to as many colleges as possible. After national signing date, the academic coach and I will come up with a list of players that we believe will be prospects for the upcoming recruiting class. In choosing the players we first must look at whether or not a student-athlete is a playmaker or has the potential of being a playmaker. This at times can be very difficult. However, this is what college recruiters look for in an athlete. After we figure out who the potential prospects are, we request a transcript and review where that student-athlete stands regarding NCAA and college requirements.

Once we have established who our prospects are for the next season, we come up with a prospect list. On this list we include basic information that recruiters normally request, such as address, phone number, parent's names, parent's cell numbers, position played, height and weight, jersey numbers and at times SAT/ACT score with their core GPA. This information is vital for the recruiter. As college coaches visit our school throughout the year to see me or our Academic Coach, we give them this list. We also have a prospect board. This board informs the recruiters which schools have interest or have offered scholarships to which athletes. This information can be used to generate greater interest in an athlete. In the recruiting process, it is imperative to inform the colleges as much as possible about our student-athletes.

During the year, usually spring practice, we have a parent meeting. One of the areas we go over is recruiting. In the parent meeting we tell our parents how important it is for the parent to get involved with their son’s recruiting process. First and foremost, the student-athletes and the parents must be realistic. Not every student-athlete is a division 1 prospect. They have to be realistic about the recruiting process. Once they understand that, we ask the parent to write letters to colleges in which they may have mutual interest. In this letter they are informing the college coach they are interested in their program and would like to take part in the recruiting process.

We also ask the parents if they can create a highlight tape for their son so they send it out to colleges with their letter. What we are trying to do is create an interest for the student-athlete. So, when the recruiter comes to the school, he has an idea what kind of player a particular athlete is. It is very important the highlight tape shows the student-athlete’s playmaking ability. If not, the recruiter will not have any interest.

It is also helpful for a student-athlete to attend junior days and camps. The more exposure the student-athlete gets, the better. However, when participating in a camp, it is highly recommended that the student-athlete is in top shape to compete and do well on the testing. If not, this can do more harm than good.

The process we have in place at Long Beach Poly High School has helped us tremendously with our student-athletes. However, the two most important parts of the recruiting process are the student-athlete's academics and test score on the ACT/SAT test. No matter how good a player may be on the football field, schools will not consider a player if they do not meet the NCAA or college requirements.

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Helpful Links:

www.national-letter.org
www.ncaaclearinghouse.net
www.naia.org
www.njcaa.org
www.ncaa.org

Check www.playitsmartorbit.org under the “Forms” section for resources from the above websites regarding recruiting . . .

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With major financial support from the NFL and the NFL Players Association, and a broad-coalition of corporations, communities, individuals and organizations, the program has quickly become one of the most comprehensive and effective youth mentoring programs, achieving dramatic results that include:

• 95% of seniors graduating high school, compared to 76% of their peers;



• 80% of seniors enrolling in college compared to 63% of their peers;



• Participants completing more than 55,000 service hours annually;



• Participants earning more than $8 million a year in scholarships; and



• 270-plus graduates earning places among the elite collegiate ranks during the 2008 season on Football Bowl and Championship Subdivision rosters.

Prominent alumni include Ohio State’s Ted Ginn, Jr. (Miami Dolphins), Rutgers’ Ray Rice (Baltimore Ravens), California’s Desean Jackson (Philadelphia Eagles), Miami’s Leon Williams (Cleveland Browns), LSU’s Craig Davis (San Diego Chargers) and Super Bowl champion Jay Alford, who attended Penn State, and currently plays with the World Champion New York Giants.

Play It Smart builds on the positive peer influences of team sports and a participant's interest in football. The program's academic coaches are trained in a set of guiding principles and a variety of tactics, which are designed to make academic achievement the norm. Working closely with the direct support of a team's head coach and others in the community, academic coaches hold one-on-one goal setting meetings, career and life skills sessions, mandatory study halls, SAT/ACT prep classes, community service projects and other team building events.

ABOUT PLAY IT SMART
Play It Smart is an educational program established in 1998 by The National Football Foundation. The program's mission is to help student-athletes take responsibility for their futures through lessons learned on the playing field, in the classroom, and in service to others. At the heart of the program is a year-round academic coach, an official member of a team's staff, who serves as a direct link to the classroom by helping players and the team set and achieve their academic and personal development goals during the entire school year. Learn more at www.PlayItSmart.org.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION & COLLEGE HALL OF FAME:
With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.