Over the years I've read many suggestions in response to college recruiting. There are many experienced posters who have gone through this and at many different levels. Many of the suggestions and advice is excellent.
However, I'm always confused when the topic of marketing one's son is brought up. There are many different situations and I suppose some could involve a little marketing. I know the recruiting services all claim... If you want to be a scholarship player, you need to market yourself. Of course, they mean market yourself through the service they provide. I suppose that is OK, especially if you are NOT a high level prospect.
Here are some things that I believe to be true. Some people might not like this, but what the hay. What is below pertains to those interested in the highest level of college recruiting.
1. GOOD players do not have to market or sell anything; they just need to play in the right places whenever possible. Some might not even have to do that. There are many people who do that marketing for the talented player. When we get a call from someone we trust in California and he says there is a player here that is outstanding... He is doing a better job of marketing that player than the players family could ever do. On the other hand college coaches see thousands of emails and videos each year from parents and players and they are impossible to manage.
2. If we say the player is selling something, then we have to assume the recruiter is buying something. Player sells, recruiter buys! Players can only truly impress a recruiter into offering based on what the recruiter has seen and wants. So we could say that all marketing efforts should be geared towards getting the recruiter to see the player. The major job for all recruiters is to see as many talented players as possible.
3. This is where many get confused. Truth be known, college recruiters are actually the ones involved in marketing and selling. The players they want are nearly always wanted by other colleges. This means that one of the college recruiter’s main jobs is to sell the recruit on going to the recruiters college. The player being recruited does very little other than be wanted. More often than not, any marketing efforts made on behalf of the player can be a waste of time. The recruiter is the one trying to market/sell his college to the player he is trying to recruit.
4. Most college recruiters work very hard and see hundreds if not thousands of players each year. These recruiters know what they are doing. They see more players that they actually would love to have in their program, than they have room for. If they can't get a commitment from a player they want, they simply go to the next player they want. They do not recruit players based on how good a marketing job someone has done. This is not to say they never go to personal websites or look at videos, but most often only when it's a player they are interested in. Some college coaches are bombarded by emails, packets of information, newspaper clippings, telephone calls, etc., No one can recruit that way, they simply do not have the manpower to do things that way. Not when they need to spend so much effort in recruiting the player they really want.
5. Being recruited means exactly that. When the college coach wants to make an offer and sell you on going to his school, you are being recruited by that school. It just doesn't work the other way around. If it did, then the player would be recruiting the college to make the commitment to the player.
The stuff above is not the gospel. There is nothing wrong with trying to gain the interest of college recruiters. Anything that might work is OK. I just wanted to add some realistic views into the topic. There have been many who have worked hard and spent much time and money marketing their player to a high level college program only to see nothing in return, except maybe a camp invite. You can be the best, most professional salesman on earth and see some other talented kid that did nothing but play the game get all the offers.
Finally, I do think if the goal is a smaller academic college, marketing can be a more effective approach. Just don't plan on a high level DI recruiter who travels all over during the summer and fall seeing potential student athletes to get excited about your players information on his email or laying on his desk. And don't expect any valuable information if you happen to get him on the phone, unless he wants you!
I've heard the stories... We talked to the UCLA coaches, they want his schedule. In most cases (not signaling out UCLA, could be any high level program) they just want to free up the phone. In many cases, they have no interest at all, yet next thing you know the word is out, sometimes this has been called being "heavily" recruited. We have talked to college coaches and mentioned what we heard and the college coaches have said things like... "No, we are not recruiting him" or even, "We don't know who that is, who is he?" Guess they forgot about the phone call or email.
Now that I think about all this, not sure why I brought it up as I’m not sure it will help anyone. Still a big believer in people doing what they think is right. Maybe I'm talking more on behalf of the college recruiter’s view in some ways and on the player/parent view in other ways. I think it's fairly well known that most parents are the very worst scouts/evaluators when it comes to their own child. Heck, we know outstanding Major League scouts that are great evaluators except when it involves evaluating their own kid. Marketing material from parents would not carry the most impact.
I apologize if any of this has offended anyone.
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