Do You "Like" Me? A Recruiting Tidbit
Mates,
I have said it before, but if your son/daughter has a passion for a sport, be it football, softball, cross country, whatever, do not be locked into thinking that because they might not be a D-I athlete that you just forget about it after high school. If your athlete has the desire they can almost certainly catch on and have very good and worthwhile college experiences - team work, camaraderie, maturation, focus and improvement - at a junior college, at a D-III school, or a D-II or NAIA type of school. With that said, let's start.
Football camps are beginning to start and you'll be surprised at how the time flies. Freshmen, unless they are pretty exceptional, are probably too young to go to many camps. But, but, but, maybe take him or her to one to get a feel for it, to see how it works, to put some parameters around what to expect. However, your sophomores should be signing up for camps, maybe even a couple that are a reach. Got to the school's athletic website, see when they run, and sign them up. It is important to note, too, that some schools won't hold camps but will attend other school's camps. A great example of that is Grand Valley State's camp. We have been there and had a great time, I reconnected with Harbaugh a few years back and there were a ton of D-I coaches there....but also D-II and D-III. Do your homework, sign up for a few and see how your athlete does.
So what do you do as a parent? First and foremost, make sure that college sports are your athlete's passion, and not just yours. Second, do a little homework and see what camps your athlete might be interested in, what other schools might be attending, and of course do the basics of registering your athlete and scheduling accordingly. Take a few minutes to look up the various coaches profiles so you and your athlete will know who they might end up talking to.
Next up, figure out what types of drills that the camp might be running, especially things that might be timed or measured in some objective fashion. For football you can count on running a couple of timed 40 yd dashes and pro-agility drills. You might do a vertical leap, too. I don't know what other sports might do, maybe for baseball/softball it'd be 'turning two' or hitting the cut-off from the outfield, pitch speed or something along those lines, but whatever it is take some time to have your athlete practice that if they don't do that on some kind of regular basis.
Parents have a job at camp, too. Not just to get your athlete there and properly equipped, on time, etc. but also to probably film some of when your athlete is out there going through the paces. You need to make sure you have a *Momager* who will then take what you've filmed, boil it down to 20-40 seconds worth of highlights.
But what do you do with that highlight film? Decision time. You figure out who you need to 'tag' on the tweets. For football, maybe it's the head coach, and the OC/DC on your athlete's side of the ball. Maybe the position coach. And what does your tweet say? It might be something as simple as 'Had a great time at X University/College camp. Thank you coaches', and you append your highlight. And you send it out. And....
You wonder who might notice. You wonder who saw it. You wonder if they'll 'Like' you. And if and when they do, you hope that's some genuine encouragement for your athlete to keep pressing on. You hope that dedication is rewarded with an offer, with some affirmation of 'Yep, we want you on our team'. If your athlete has the passion and you don't mind investing some time, I bet your athlete does indeed have a college team that would love to have him/her on it. Get to work and good luck.
XM
*Momager = dear wife/significant other (can be dad, can be anyone who cares; 'Momager is just the name in our house) who will track which coaches and schools are relevant and important, run the twitter account, edit any and all video, tag coaches, and keep track of any 'likes' and who/when/how for your athlete to respond.
I never understood why on kids' HUDL videos they put on teenager background music that only annoys coaches and makes them just turn the sound down.
What kids should be doing is narrating each play . . . "Here is what I was seeing on this play, here is what I was trying to do, here is what worked, here is what could be improved on." Just like a coach.
The maturity alone to do this, versus just putting on background music to impress your friends, is enough to get the attention of coaches that are looking at a hundred videos a week.
i have never heard/seen of a kid narrating a HUDL play. i am told that you would have to take it outside of HUDL and basically re-record it with the added audio. maybe magnus or seth have seen that, but not me. not saying it's some type of devil worship, but i also think that'd be tough for your typical 15-17 yr old to have much to say that would impress a coach. it'd be more of the old latin phrase, 'res ipsa loquitur', meaning, the thing (video) speaks for itself.
I have not seen that, either, and I don't really think it's that relevant. It would require some technical expertise to record over the video. I'm sure lots of kids and their friends/parents could make it happen, but I don't really see much upside there.
I'm also not even sure I would love it as a high school coach, because players talking over the video might get into specific play calls, reads, etc. that I wouldn't want floating out there on YouTube or whatever. I could definitely see a kid saying over the video, "Yeah, the call here was Patriot, which is supposed to be a high-low read on the corner. But depending on where the safety is aligned, I have to decide whether I'm going to read the corner or the overhang defender. Since the safety has outside leverage on the #2 receiver, blah blah blah blah" and then your whole play is out there on the internet for your opponents to watch.
I like you. I really like you.
Appreciate these XM.
I'm curious about the expense that must go along with some of these young athletes who are trying to get recruited. Between camps, which I imagine charge fees along with the regular travel expenses, unofficial visits and potentially private coaching, how might a family of limited means who's child isn't a Rashan Gary level freak get the attention they deserve?
good question and the answer is that i think it is much more about hustle than money. football camps are in the $30-50 range. gas money and pack some food from home and you're set. twitter is free. so is HUDL. i'm sure some families have the private coach stuff going on but i've never seen it? there are folks you can pay to get your athlete's profile out there on social media but i don't know how much that costs or how effective that is. i had one local dad tell me that they paid someone $500 to do that for them and he thought it was worth it, though i don't know the details of the services provided.
I think the other thing is important is the recruiting infrastructure in your area. I have a friend who is plugged in and parents in the area know it, so his blessing (in the form of a "hey, this guy is good enough for your team and has interest) can get the attention of coaches. Also there are some good trainers in the area (I live in VA in the DC suburbs) and they have relationships with coaches as well. It can give a leg up in getting tape in front of someone. Thing is, some of the big name kids are easy, coaches will find them and my friend has played a part, large or small in the recruitments of a number of players including Hand, Ricky Slade, Corum, etc. But he has good relationships with G5, FCS, and D2/D3 coaches, and they are always looking for players on a limited recruiting budget. And that's where a majority of kids end up.
Hey XM, saw you were just shy of 60,000. I fixed that for you.
Crazy monkey. You know, your kids might be all-world in gymnastics given your, you know, simian super powers
Good stuff, as always, XM. Thanks for the insight!
Fascinating....
Dripping with sarcasm…..?
Most parents right now are thinking: Why would I ever let my kid play football?
Just in the past week I've found myself very suddenly and surprisingly on the doorstep of college recruiting. I have a 10th grader who just started playing lacrosse a year ago. He's doing pretty well and seems to have the desire and ability to continue playing in college...at some level still TBD.
We just signed him up for a summer league here in NYC (definitely not a hotbed for lacrosse -- unlike Long Island just a few miles to the east), checked a box to learn more about college recruiting, and found ourselves besieged by an organization called NCSASports, a recruiting service that looks like it might be helpful.
I am inclined to rely on my son's coaches for whatever guidance and support they can offer and manage the rest of the process ourselves. I am wondering if anyone on this thread is familiar with NCSASports or similar organizations. At this point we are very unlikely to pay for their services, and I am most interested in understanding if there might be any downside in setting up a free profile on their website.
some thoughts on this. first, i wrote a more detailed article about recruiting about a year ago. that has some particulars in it.
[EDIT: i found that diary post. it sent the mgoserver into fits but seth was able to make it work by splitting some in the diary and the rest in the first couple of posts to the diary. the part that you might find helpful is the part that is, in effect, the first two posts which would've been part of the diary if the server hadn't panicked. anyway, link here: https://mgoblog.com/diaries/aau-and-how-get-college-offer-your-sondaughter
second, the only real downside to signing up with them is they send a ton of email. i think they handle the signups for many schools for free, but then use the contact information to prospect for recruits. so i have simply 'unsubscribed' and no big deal.
third, not ever having used one but having heard from others, you might go as far as seeing what you get for the $X they want to charge. maybe you give it a shot? we haven't used one for the first four kids, all who have/had multiple college offers at schools appropriate to their abilities, but all credit for that goes to dear wife, our 'momager', who is nails at this stuff.
it is cool that your son is developing like that and has the passion for it. and i'd say that LAX out east, in general, is much better than LAX in most other parts of the country so even being in NYC is still probably a big leg up in terms of competition and coaches seeing your son.
Thanks so much for your response XM. Really appreciated.
Much of what I know about college LAX has come in the past two weeks -- my son and I spent the weekend before last in Philadelphia watching the NCAA finals for divisions I, II, and III, and it was an absolute blast.
Interestingly, it appears that the level of play is higher for division III and division II. I don't believe there are LAX scholarships offered at the division III level, but I imagine schools find a way to offer better financial aid packages to those students/athletes they really want in their programs.
As for paying for a recruiting service, I'm inclined to hold off and save the funds for other uses unless/until I get more info from other parents/coaches. The aggressive sell is a major turn off for me, particularly implying to a 16 year-old who just picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time a year ago that he is already behind in the recruiting game (even if this is true, it's not very helpful).
Got to watch 2 NYC city league (PSAL) championship games yesterday -- while there are fewer people in attendance than for football or basketball, the level of intensity among the fans rivals both sports.
D-III has no athletic scholarships, it simply based on GPA. there might be some fudging here and there, but i wouldn't count on that.
i am in 100% agreement re: high pressure sales of any type. it is a near certainty that i will do a 180 and go in the opposite direction.
like my two posts mention, i'd suggest you figure out what schools you/your son are interested in, making your decisions on criteria that make sense for him - geography, academics, likelihood of seeing the field, etc. then set up to go to some camps this summer - maybe one or two schools he might have strong interest in, but also one or two where a lot of schools might be there to see him. learn the ropes of how the camps are run, what drills they might have, see the competition, etc.
i don't know diddly about LAX, but maybe a 40 yd dash and pro-agility are done there, too? you have to think stick strength and accuracy might be drilled.
and don't forget to enjoy the time with him doing the planning and the actual trips. i still have vivid memories of doing this for hockey with my father nearly 45 yrs ago, going out east to harvard and dartmouth. i may have ended up at michigan, but i wouldn't have traded that trip for anything.
Thanks XM. My son is looking at attending 1 or 2 camps in August.
It'll be pretty interesting for him as the only time so far he's faced competition from outside of NYC was last fall, when his team entered a tournament on Long Island. His coach was the only one on the team who knew what a rude awakening they were in for -- in 3 matches they didn't score a single goal and gave up about 50. My son maintained a really positive attitude and kept hustling to the end -- which wasn't always the case in other sports when he was younger.
If there are schools in session near where the camps are, we'll organize a couple of visits around them.
going to be a junior? any idea how close he is to his full height?
He just turned 16 about 6 weeks ago, but I think he is pretty close to his full height. He's right about 6' now and might grow another inch or two. He's a reasonably good athlete; and I think he has a frame that makes him look more athletic than he actually is -- people who aren't paying close attention tend to overestimate him.
At this point he just needs to keep playing in order to find his level and figure out how hard he wants to work at getting better. I'll do my best to help him get connected with schools, coaches, camps, etc., and I trust that things will work out.
August 21st, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
Quick follow up to this old exchange with info and potential insight on Michigan recruiting -- information being provided from the school to high school student-athletes that may inaccurately represent NCAA rules to discourage contact with coaches.
My soon to be high school junior son just sent emails to the coaching staffs for the lacrosse teams at 3 schools he'll visit next week. He would like to get a few minutes with a member of each staff to introduce himself and ask a couple of questions about each team's lacrosse program. Hopefully he'll get a better understanding of what college coaches are looking for in high school prospects who are not likely to be scholarship athletes.
The email he sent to Michigan's coaching staff (one of the 3 schools we'll see) was the only one that was met with an automatic reply -- Michigan's reply informed him that "per NCAA rules we cannot have contact with student-athletes until September 1 of their junior year". However, this appears to be incorrect. According to this article, prior to Sept 1 of the student-athlete's junior year coaches cannot initiate contact with student-athletes, but students can initiate contact and even meet with coaches.
I'm fairly agnostic about Warde as AD, but if the information in the email my son received is incorrect, he should definitely get 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Full content of the email below.
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Thank you for your interest in the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Men's Lacrosse program.
**Please note, that per NCAA rules we cannot have contact with student-athletes until September 1 of their junior year.**
If you are a potential recruit, please complete the questionnaire in the following link so that your contact, athletic, and academic information is on file and up to date. To ensure that your information and upcoming camp/clinic schedules are accurate, please revisit the questionnaire and update your responses directly.
For Michigan Lacrosse camp and clinic information please visit the link below.
If you are a high school or club coach, please contact Jim Rogalski, Associate Head Coach.
If your business is not recruit related, please contact Joe Hennessy, Director of Operations.
Thank you and Go Blue!
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