Patosha 'Coach Po' Jeffery

20 year IT Geek to 5 year D1 WBB College Coach | Now helping girls basketball players through the recruiting process

Category Archives: College Preparation

Do You Understand Your Level of Recruitment?

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recruitmentfunnel

Basketball season is almost here. This means you have went through the spring evaluation period, the summer evaluation period and now the fall evaluation period. (Or have you?)

During this time of the year, college coaches are hosting high school seniors (and other classes unofficially),  taking trips to high school gyms, and homes of high school juniors and seniors. So this is a great time to evaluate your recruitment level. Especially, if you are a junior or senior and have not been involved in any of these activities.

NCSA Athletic Recruiting created a good tool to help you assess your level of recruitment. When NCSA released this on their blog, in-home visits to juniors was not active. So, I added in-home visits in red.

Remember, this is just a tool to give you an idea of recruitment levels and give you a perspective on where your recruitment is.

Heavily Recruited
Athletes are top-tier recruits who will likely go on to compete at the Division I level. The recruiting process for these high-level athletes is outlined below.
Freshmen – At least one scholarship offer. Receive an abundance of letters from coaches, questionnaires, camp invites and admissions information, and generous amounts of letters asking you to call or email.
Sophomores – Several scholarship offers and unofficial visit invites. Overflow of letters and evaluation at high school games and spring/summer/fall tournaments.
Juniors – 10 or more scholarship offers and 10 or more unofficial visits. Pre-evaluation from admissions. Multiple calls from coaches and askings for a verbal commitment.  Several In-home visits.
Seniors – A lot of In-home visits. National Letter of Intent signing during the early signing period.

Seriously Recruited
Athletes are high-level recruits who will certainly play sports at the college level.
Freshmen – Receive a fair amount of letters from coaches, questionnaires, camp invites and admissions information, and some letters asking you to call or email.
Sophomores – At least one scholarship offer. Abundance of letters, questionnaires and letters inviting you to call or email. Evaluation at high school games and spring/summer/fall tournaments.
Juniors – 5 or more scholarship offers and 5 or more unofficial visits. Handwritten letters from coaches. Pre-evaluation from admissions. A few calls. Some In-home visits.
Seniors – 10 or more offers and at least one official visit. Several In-home visits

Moderately Recruited
Athletes may not end up at the Division I level, but there’s a good chance that they’ll find the right fit at Division II or Division III.
Freshmen – Some letters and questionnaires from coaches, a few camp invites and some admissions information.
Sophomores – A generous amount of letters, camp invites, admissions information, and questionnaires.
Juniors – A few scholarship offers. A few handwritten letters and some calls. Evaluation at spring/summer/fall tournaments. Possible In-home visits.
Seniors – Less than 10 scholarship offers and less than 10 official visit invites. Pre-evaluation from admissions. Some In-home visits.

Lightly Recruited
Athletes need to draw more attention to themselves, if they want to earn scholarship offers.
Freshmen – A few letters from coaches and a few camp brochures.
Sophomores – Several letters from coaches. Some camp invites, admissions info and questionnaires.
Juniors – A couple of handwritten letters and a few questionnaires. A few evaluations at spring/summer/fall tournaments.
Seniors – 3 or more offers and 3 or more official invites. Some unofficial invites and some invitations to walk-on. An In-home visit or 2.

Not Recruited
Athletes aren’t on the radar either because they haven’t reached out to college coaches, or they don’t realistically have the athletic ability to play at the collegiate level.
Freshmen – No recruiting materials.
Sophomores – A few camp brochures.
Juniors – Some camp invites, admissions information and questionnaires.
Seniors – Camp and tryout invite, admissions packets and unofficial visit offers only.

 

COMING SPRING 2017:
Girls Basketball Recruiting Workshops by Patosha Jeffery
If you would like to be updated on the recruiting workshops, submit your
info in the form below:

If you do not see a form below, click here.

10 Things I Wish I Had Known As A College Freshman

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“No matter how smart, resilient, or talented you are – you will always be better when you do it together and allow people to help you. Adjusting to new situations is hard but is especially tough when you try to do it alone.”

—Imani Boyette

I thought this was a good list for graduating seniors about to embark on their first year of college courtesy of former Texas basketball player Imani Boyette.

Check it out here

Ask Po Po #13: What are the Requirements to be Academically Eligible to Play College Basketball? New Eligibility Standards start in 2016

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NCAA Eligibility Center Quick Reference Guide

NCAA Eligibility Center Yearly Checklist

2015-16 Student Athletic College-Bound Guide

Use this site to search for your high school’s list of NCAA courses

If you do not understand the the initial eligibility requirements, visit with your guidance counselor at your school or contact the NCAA Eligibility Center at 877-262-1492.

 

Here is the release from the NCAA on April 26, 2012 explaining the change that went into effect: 

The Division I Board of Directors today voted to allow more time for high school students and those who guide them to become familiar with higher initial eligibility standards, which now will go into effect in 2016. The class entering college in 2016 is currently in eighth grade and now will have all four years in high school to work toward the new standard.

The Board adopted the increase in initial-eligibility expectations last October, with an effective date of 2015, to ensure prospects are more academically prepared for college coursework. Since then, some administrators, coaches associations and secondary school administrators expressed concern about the implementation schedule.

“We want to give young people a fair chance to meet the new standards by taking core academic courses early in their high school education,” said Board Chair Judy Genshaft, president at South Florida. “The presidents have every confidence that future student-athletes will do the work necessary to be academically successful in college.”

The new initial-eligibility requirements create a higher academic standard for freshman to play. That standard is higher than what will be needed to receive aid and practice, creating an academic redshirt year.

Student-athletes who achieve the current minimum initial-eligibility standard will continue to be eligible for athletically related financial aid during the first year of enrollment and practice during the first regular academic term of enrollment. Student-athletes could earn practice during the second term of enrollment by passing nine semester or eight quarter hours.

For immediate access to competition, prospective student-athletes must achieve at least a 2.3 GPA and an increased sliding scale. For example, an SAT score of 1,000 requires a 2.5 high school core-course GPA for competition and a 2.0 high school core-course GPA for aid and practice.

Prospects also must successfully complete 10 of the 16 total required core courses before the start of their senior year in high school. Seven of the 10 courses must be successfully completed in English, math and science.

The new requirements are intended to ensure prospective student-athletes are as prepared to succeed in the classroom as they are in their sport, a message NCAA President Mark Emmert underscored in his Final Four press conference.

“When a young person is growing up, everybody knows exactly what they have to do to be prepared to play college ball,” Emmert said. “People are constantly saying you have to work on this part of your game, you have to work on that part of your game.

“Academics are vitally important and demand just as much attention as athletics, especially in college.”

Emmert said he wants more people talking to prospects about academic preparation in the next year as the enhanced eligibility standards are broadly communicated.  NCAA staff are fanning out to youth events starting this weekend to communicate directly about the increased academic standards.

Thursday’s action does not minimize the Board’s commitment to academic success, Genshaft said, but acknowledges a need to give prospective student-athletes time to meet the higher expectations.

NCAA research indicates student-athletes in football and men’s basketball will feel the most significant impact from the higher academic standards. Those sports regularly post the lowest Academic Progress Rates and Graduation Success Rates.

The impact is expected to decrease over time as prospective student-athletes adjust to the changes and improve their preparation.