Ratings of recruiting, scouting and consulting services

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Recruiting usually involves a college program offering an athletic scholarship (Full or Partial) to an athlete who is playing sports in junior college or high school. Sometimes at Division 3 programs no scholarships can be award just financial aid. During the recruiting process, colleges try to follow the recruiting rules set forth by the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) recruiting guidelines. The guidelines/rules tell you exactly what you can do during the recruiting process, such as when to call, text, write, send brochures, emails, visit, watch games, ,or talk to the athlete player or coach.

While you're being recruited, a college coach may ask a prospective athlete to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI). The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to the institution college and student athlete. No student-athlete is required to sign a National Letter of Intent, and no college is required to join the NLI program. By signing a National Letter of Intent, a student-athlete agrees to attend the college or university for one academic year. According to the conditions of the National Letter of Intent program, institutions participating in the program agree to provide athletic financial aid (scholarship) to the student-athlete, provided they are admitted to the college or university and are eligible for financial aid under the rules. An important condition of a National Letter of Intent is that you can not keep recruiting a prospective student-athlete after they sign a NLI with another college program. The National Letter of Intent (NLI) has many advantages to both potential student-athletes and participating college or universities:

(1) When a National Letter of Intent is signed, players are no longer recruitable by other institutions.  

(2) Student-athletes are assured of an scholarship for a term no shorter than one year.

(3) The NLI program in mainly focused on a student athletes educational development. 

Most student athletes are recruited by athletic departments which include staff, alumni, and prominent friends of the institutions. An athlete normally signs a NLT but if he chooses to transfer he's in jeopardy of losing a year's eligibility. All of the major conferences and almost all the independent universities and college are part of the NLI program. 

A teams recruiting class is one of the best ways to judge how successful a team will be. Fans follow a teams recruiting as closely as the team's actual games, it provides a way to be connected to the team all year. Fans' desire for recruiting information has spawned a multi million-dollar industry, this industry was started in the early 80s. Before the Internet, most recruiting companies used newsletters and pay telephone numbers (900 numbers) to disseminate information. In the 90’s, most recruiting websites have offered athletic profiles, videos, photos, statistics, and player evaluations including rankings of both an athlete and a team's recruiting class. Most of these websites have subscription fee.

College Football Recruiting is followed by more fans than any other sport. This is because most of the universities students are fans of their respective football teams. The Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS Division 1A), Division I FBS have the most scholarship athletes (eighty-five). NCAA D1 football teams can add up to twenty-five scholarship players a year, the total number of scholarship athletes must not go over eighty-five.

Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), colleges can only have sixty-three athletic scholarships. Football Champion Subdivision schools can give partial athletic scholarships, the total number of scholarships combined cannot exceed eighty-five.

In Division II schools scholarships are limited to a combined thirty-six full scholarships.

In the summer high school athletes attend football camps at colleges across the country to get evaluated on measurables that include the vertical jump, agility shuttle and the bench press. The most important measurable of them all is the 40-yard Dash. If the athlete performs well at this combines he will usually begin to be recruited.

letters of intent are binding for both the college and student athlete for one year as long as the athlete is eligible to play college sports at the institution.

Recruiting for Division IA basketball is very exciting, enthusiasts love following the top high school prospects. Basketball programs in the NCAA are allowed only thirteen scholarships for boys and fifteen for girls.  The Football and basketball recruiting processes are almost identical. There is a big difference in the amount of games played between the two. Basketball players can play all year long because they have an AAU season football players mainly play games during the season. With the advent of 7 on 7 football can now be played in a modified way all year long. Because basketball can be played all year, the basketball players’ high school team is not as important to him because he can get discovered on his AAU travel team. Most elite basketball players are discovered during their ninth grade year or earlier.

There are other differences between the two sports such as:

(2) The early signing period for football is in December and January most JC transfers sign on this day.

The basketball-signing period starts on the 3^rd Wednesday in April, the high school basketball season has concluded at this time.

More Recruiting and Scholarship Earning Information

Things to Know About Recruiting:  You should start your athletic recruiting as soon as possible preferably your freshmen year. There are hundreds of college prospects all over the internet that started early.

Recruiting Definitions: We have compiled a list of definitions so you can understand the intricacies of recruiting. When you understand the lingo it increase your chances of getting an athletic scholarship.

Academics in the recruiting process: The student athlete must focus on his academics, if you don't have the correct GPA that corresponds with your SAT/ACT scores you won't be eligible for a scholarship. All of the athletic talent in the world doesn’t mean anything if you don't have the academics to back it up.

NCAA information breakdown: The NCAA originated in 1906  it was created to look out for the welfare of football players at the college level. The NCAA  makes sure that all NCAA athletes participate in a fair and safe environment. It also supervises 89 championships in 23 sports.

What about College Recruiting Services: We are not a recruiting service we are a consulting service, for the right athlete, sports recruiting services can make sure coaches know who you are, see your highlight video and get important academic information about you.  Some of these services have the expertise to tell you what would be your best level of play in college i.e. what division.

What Athletic Recruiting Services Don’t Want You to Know: The number of ‘Recruiting Services’ are reaching the hundreds. Most services are small but there are some large one out there. The main problem with recruiting services are lack of experience, they just haven't been in the business long enough. The problem with the large ones are they have to many clients, it is impossible to give every one of their clients individualized attention.

Positives Of Scouting And Recruiting Services: Most scouting and recruiting services specialize in recruiting, and marketing high school athletes to college coaches. Their main goal  is to help athletes receive athletic scholarships and save money on college tuition. College education comes first, “Playing the Sport” makes this possible. Never leave the college recruiting process to chance be proactive and do your research.

Athletic Consulting Services: Consulting services evaluate and advise athletes on the entire college searching process. They evaluate and project a prospects  athletic ability,  academic strengths and weaknesses. Consulting services advise on financial aid matters and partners with the student-athlete and his/her family to find the best college environment. Athletic Consulting Services combine the resources and expertise of many highly respected and qualified sports professionals to maximize your college search. Through research, film study and extensive fact finding, they develop a complete understanding of the student athlete’s ability, specific skill level, academic standing and financial recourses. It is the comprehensive study of the athlete that college programs recognize as being credible, professional, and objectively thorough.