NEED ADVICE - COLLEGE RECRUITING

[thrasherfox]

Need some help from people with the following experience in regards to students and college.



So my wife, my son and I go to this presentation that my sons high school put on.

It was named College recruiting realities.

My son is a Freshman in high school

The high school apparently paid a lot of money to get this guy to speak at out high school


This person sounded really great and really knowledgeable about the realities of student athletes getting into colleges.

Everything he said really made sense and things my wife, my son and I had never thought of before.

We purchased a magazine and a CD from this person after the presentation.

Lots of good information.

A few weeks afterward we get a call from this place named NCSA

The guy tells us the presenter at the event said he should call us.

Well it is one of those things, they make you feel like you are special and in reality everyone who attended and gave contact info is being called. so I have no dillusions

But the guy is real nice and puts us in contact with a recruiting scout from UCLA.

And still no big deal, yeah he is a recruiting scout from UCLA but still not that big of a deal, it is a business. again no delusions. While I think my son can have a very bright future because he is pretty awesome, the facts are still he is a freshman and no one can even start talking to him seriously until he is a junior and how he is now is going to change some by the time he is a junior.




My reason for the explanation above is. This NCSA organization sounds like a good thing. for a fee, they gather all of your students sports stats, they take videos that you send them and cut them down to just the meat of the plays that they know college recruiters are looking for and we have seen examples of the videos. very well done.


Has anyone had any experience with NCSA? with other scouting organizations? any advice?

Only looking for advice from people who have been there and done that. I have enough distrust and cautiousness that I can provide my own speculation. right now I am looking for facts.

Besides putting this out on the board, I am going to talk with my brother in law who is a professor at Cal-Poly which is a division I school and see if he can put me in contact with one of their college recruiters

I am also going to see if I can get a contact for Fresno state which is about 40 minutes from me and it is a division I school also.

bascially I want to talk to college recruiters not about my son, but their opinion specifically in referance to NCSA and other scouting organizations.

Do they use them? how much do they use them? etc.

If I find out that yes not only do colleges really use scouting organizations but NCSA is one of the best ones, then my wife and I have no problem putting out the money.

I just want to make sure we are not suckered into anything..

So with that, anyone have any personal experience / advice about college recruiting and what is the best way to get your student athlete on the radar?


Any and all help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Sir T Rex]

In my opinion.....NO! Dont pay any money to them. NSCA is the national strength and conditioning association. They have no say so as to who gets recruited and what not. If your son is gonna be a an awesome athlete, believe me, word of mouth is gonna be his greatest asset. You can do your own filming, stat collecting, etc. Not to mention, you could connect with a college student that can do some awesome editing for you and he may be able to get a grade out of it in the end. Stats are collected at all the sporting events and not much work has to be done to get your hands on them.

Sorry to ramble, but dont spend hard earned money on something that you dont need.

I personally have NOT dealt with the NSCA on collegiate recruiting, but it seems that there may be someone using their name to get some business...

 

[Charlesbusa]

Be extremely cautious if they want you to pay for everything up front.  I would be more inclined to spend money on a group like that if it was based on getting your son placed.  ie  they charge very little if no one recruits him.  they charge more if a top school recruits him.  Performance based pay would be better than a standard rate that doesn't promise anything.

Sounds like you are already doing it.  But I would call the top college recruiters and ask them if that company will help your son or not.  Unless the company wines and dines recruiters to sway them into picking your son, I don't think I'd hire them.

 

[pward76]

My younger brother played division 1 college football at the University of Iowa - back when Hayden Fry was taking them to Rose Bowls. In addition to Iowa, he was recruited by Nebraska, Iowa State, and others. Not bragging, just trying to establish my bona fides.

Your son's high school can put together plays from their game tapes (get some kid from the AV club to do it). Maybe your school's athletic department does it. You can make the tape yourself with a camcorder and some inexpensive video editing software.

In any case, college recruiters make a point of building relationships with high school coaches. A recommendation from you son's high school coach, and a highlight tape will go a long ways. Some kids send tapes (DVD nowadays) to the colleges they are interested in.

In any case, T Rex is correct. You do not need to pay someone else to market your son. Charles also has a great suggestion. Send an inquiry to a couple of university athletic department's recruiting co-ordinator's offices and ask - get the info from the horses mouth.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!