PLUS COLLEGE RECRUITING GAME PLAN
As a Student Athlete and home team, you are embarking on your own to try to obtain college recruiting opportunities. In order to
assist you, ATHLETIC QUEST® has developed this STEP BY STEP DO IT YOURSELF GUIDED PROGRAM to provide essential tools, steps
and resources to help you in your quest. Follow in order, if you would like to increase opportunities to get recruited to college.
1.
IMPROVE and PREPARE ACADEMICALLY and ATHLETICALLY.
A. ACADEMICALLY - Increase your GPA, take both the SAT and ACT at least 2 times.
B. ATHLETICALLY - Design Daily Workouts to help improve your sports skills and athletic skills. 30-90 Minutes Daily.
College Athletes are referred to as “STUDENT ATHLETES” for a reason. The better college prospect you become, the more
college prospects you will have! Have Academic and Athletic Goals. Improve yourself, improve your Opportunities!
2.
BUILD A QUALITY PLAYER PROFILE FOR YOURSELF. Use the AQ Player Profile.
College Coaches don’t want to guess or mess with having to wait for information. It is vital to have key Academic Data,
Athletic Data, Statistics, Photo, Video Footage, etc., ready and available to provide to each college coach.
3.
REGISTER WITH THE NCAA ELIGIBILITY CENTER at www.NCAAELIGIBILITYCENTER.org
If you are serious about wanting opportunities to play at NCAA Div. I or NCAA Div. II and are not registered with the NCAA
Eligibility Center, you cannot take Official Visits or be offered Athletic Scholarships. *Use NCAA D-1 Academic Requirements
/ Core Courses and scores because they have the highest required academic marks, if you meet D-1, you will meet all others.
4.
FILM and EDIT GOOD GAME FILM and HIGHLIGHTS. All College Coaches are going to ask for Game Film.
Send them highlights via the internet initially. Have it ready. Then (ONLY if they request it) send a full game film in the mail.
Good Game Film can make an Average Player look good, average Game Film can make a Good Player look average. Without
Game Film, a college coach will just go to the next athlete on their list. No Game Footage? Film a workout or practice!
5.
OBTAIN AN ACCURATE EVALUATION of YOUR BEST LEVEL OF COLLEGE COMPETITION.
Remember only 1 in 100 High School Seniors will be able to play NCAA Division I Sports. NCAA D-1 makes up only 10% of
ALL the College Athletic Programs in the country. 90% of all opportunities for H.S. Athletes are still out there – REALLY!
The ATHLETIC QUEST® Website is a million dollar data base designed to find all opportunities and all colleges at all levels.
6.
MAKE A LIST OF 45-50 COLLEGES YOU HAVE INTEREST IN AT THE LEVEL OF COLLEGE
COMPETITION YOU HAVE BEEN EVALUATED.
Have a balance of NCAA Div. I, II, III, and NAIA colleges. Don’t waste your time and efforts or a college coach’s by trying
to contact only NCAA Division I colleges. If no DI’s have called, chances are none will. Be Realistic. Be open to all options.
7.
CONTACT COLLEGE COACHES DIRECTLY.
College Coaches do NOT want to hear from or talk to your Coach, your Father or your Mother. They will want to talk to you
directly. You, as the student athlete are the one that will help them to keep their job. They need to know that you have
serious interest in them, and what you are all about. A phone call is 5X more impactful than an e-mail. PICK UP THE PHONE.
CONTINUE TO MAINTIAN CONTACT WITH ANY COLLEGE COACH THAT RESPONDS TO YOU. Contact and keep Contacting!
8.
NARROW COLLEGE CHOICES TO 10 COLLEGES OR LESS (After Completing Steps 1-7).
After doing your homework, narrow your list. (Lists will get narrowed very quickly, as more than 50% of all colleges have
just recruited your position /event last year OR this year and don’t need you). Get commitments of funding and serious
interest from a College Coach or don’t put them on your short list. A commitment is not a “walk on” offer or form letter.
9.
MAKE VISITS TO COLLEGE CAMPUS’.
College Coaches will take you 10 times more seriously if you step foot on their campus. If you don’t, it is much harder to be
on the top of a College Coach’s recruiting list. This will also give you a good opportunity to know if you really will enjoy
spending the next four years of your life at that college!
10. NEGOTIATE FOR FUNDING, THEN MAKE A DECISION. College Coaches won’t wait too long. The sooner
you complete steps 1-9, the more colleges and funding options you can potentially receive. START LATE, FINISH LATE.
BONUS TIP: FIND OUT WHAT FUNDING AVENUES ARE AVAILABLE.
You have to pay for college somehow. Find out what each college is offering, how much, what types of funding may be
available and then compare with the other colleges you have interest in.
IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE, CONTACT AQ® TO INTERVIEW or WORK WITH A COLLEGE COACH MENTOR
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KEY INFORMATION EVERY STUDENT ATHLETE SHOULD KNOW
COLLEGE RECRUITING TERMS and DEFINITIONS: (If you don’t know these simple things, there’s
much more you won’t know about college recruiting. What you don’t know can costs future college and funding opportunities.)
WALK ON – Any Student Athlete that is not guaranteed a Roster Spot on a college team. You must try-out for the
college team. You are promised nothing other than a try-out. Good Luck. Statistically, only 2% of all college Walk
On Athletes receive a Roster Spot on a college team! If a Coach believes in you, they will help you to obtain some
amount of funding to help pay for college. No help with funding means no fun for the Student Athlete!
PREFERRED WALK ON – A Student Athlete that will not be receiving any athletic funding from the college
program but is verbally guaranteed a roster spot. You may only end up being a practice player, but you will be on
the team in some form. Most Preferred Walk On’s are “Red Shirts” or may only be used as practice players.
RED SHIRT – A Student Athlete that may participate in practice, but will not dress for or participate in games or
competition. Many college coaches will Red Shirt athletes (especially freshmen) in order to let them: (1) Acclimate
to College. (2) Develop more maturity physically. (3) Improve their Academics. (4) Overcome medical problems or
injuries that may prohibit top performance. (5) Maintain a solid rotation in their Player Roster Depth Chart to keep a
balanced recruiting rotation by school year of player positions / events needed year to year.
NOTE: *Any Red Shirt Student Athlete will be required to take a minimum of 12 College Credit Hours.
GREY SHIRT – Many people are not familiar with this term. A Grey Shirt is a student athlete that is taking less
than 12 Credit Hours at the college or university. Grey Shirts cannot participate in team practices, games or
competitions. They cannot be on an athletic scholarship. A College Coach may Grey Shirt an athlete in order to
save a year of eligibility for participation in athletics. Grey Shirt Athletes must be part time students at the college.
ACADEMIC EXEMPTIONS – College Coaches don’t like to discuss this option, nor do they like to use it. This
is an option at some (not all) four year colleges and universities which enables a College Coach to bring into their
athletic program a very small number of athletes who do NOT meet the minimum academic requirements of the
college. Typically, only 2-6 exemptions may be available. (For example, a Football Program may potentially receive
5-6 exemptions, while a basketball program may only receive 1-2).
Coaches do NOT like using exemptions. They put great pressure on the coaching staff to have an athlete live up to
the requirements they should have met in the first place. If a Student Athlete does not conduct themselves with the
highest standards, it will back fire and reflect negatively on the Student Athlete, the Coaching Staff and the College.
OFFICIAL VISIT: An OFFICIAL RECRUITING VISIT is when a college program pays for part or all of you’re
recruiting visit. If you live within a few hours of a college campus, we recommend you only take an UNOFFICIAL
VISIT to a college campus. Why? You can only take 5 NCAA OFFICIAL VISITS to 5 different colleges, even if you’re
playing 2 to 3 different sports! Save OFFICIAL VISITS for colleges farther away if you are getting a lot of invitations.
UNOFFICIAL VISIT: An UNOFFICIAL RECRUITING VISIT means you are paying your own way to go visit a college
campus. This is what occurs in 90% of all college recruiting. Most NCAA II, III, NAIA and Junior Colleges do not have
the type of funding to fly you out for a visit. A Coach does not pay for travel or overnight expenses for you.
IF YOU ARE INVITED (Official or Unofficial) BE EXCITED. This means a college coach has some level of interest.
There are over 15.2 million High School Athletes in the United States, only 2,000 Colleges with
Athletic Programs. College Coaches have choices. You should too. . .
THE AVERAGE COLLEGE COACH’S RECRUITING BUDGET TO FIND ATHLETES NATIONWIDE IS LESS THAN $2,000.00
PER YEAR. Unless you are a legitimate NCAA Division I Major College Student Athlete, no coach is flying out to
watch you play sports. You will have to let college coaches know you’re out there.
ATHLETIC QUEST® can help. We are a group of current and former college coaches that scout,
evaluate and work with serious high school athletes that want legitimate college opportunities.
We have had 100% of the student athletes we work with receive multiple college opportunities. . .
CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION and EVALUATION OF YOUR BEST LEVEL OF COLLEGE COMPETITION
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED©
Property of www.ATHLETICQUEST.net
1(800) 467-7885