By Tom Kovic
A New Year is upon us and opportunity lurks. Those who organize best, execute well-developed plans, and beat the bushes will maximize their success in college recruiting. You can create change, make new commitments, and clean the slate and kick-off the New Year on a high note. Below is a list of recruiting tips that current prospective student-athletes can use in maximizing the college search in 2021.
Seniors
The early admissions and early signing periods are behind you. If you were not picked up in admissions or offered an athletic scholarship you now have new life in the regular decision and regular signing periods.
Will the regular recruiting period be competitive? Yes. Will there be plentiful opportunities? No. Avoid focusing on recent missed opportunity. Instead, re-group and control your playing field between now and May 1. Cast a narrow net in selecting the colleges you will pursue and focus on the following:
Your strategy should be vigorous. Provide the coaches with the unique resources to help them see you in a new and unique light that will convince them to recruit you more earnestly.
Juniors
College coaches are now in hot pursuit of junior prospects. Now is the time for dedication, action, and building momentum. Junior prospects should remain highly visible on the college coach’s radar. Provide coaches with regular updates (both academic and athletic) and make the job of evaluation simple for the college coaches.
If you are that blue-chip kid that many of the college coaches are pursuing, you are not going to run into too many college recruiting hurdles. If, on the other hand, you are the kid in the “B” file of prospects, you need to go above and beyond to remain competitive with the other prospects in that file. Focus on the following:
Re-assess your recruiting strategy and look at the “end game.” Identify your primary goal in the recruiting process and use it as your catalyst. From here, work backward and identify working targets, each building from one to the next until you reach your present point of reference. Now start from your new “launch point” and surge forward and work the plan, one brick at a time.
Sophomores
Sophomore prospects should continue to learn the new language of college recruiting. The college search for athletes has accelerated to a mind-bending rate and one way to keep pace is to embrace and understand it.
Also, the education of the prospect and family is crucial to the rate of success in college recruiting. Lift-off is the most demanding part of any worthy project, where time and energy are used at a premium. Focus on the following:
We remain hampered by the current pandemic. Recruiting momentum has, in many cases stalled, yet the start of 2021 presents new opportunities. Developing a positive mental approach will serve you best in the college search. In the final analysis, you want to create a clean slate and kick-off the New Year with a well-designed college recruiting plan of action.
Tom Kovic is a former Division I college coach and Founder/Principal of Victory Collegiate Consulting, where he advises prospects and families on college recruiting. For further information visit: www.victoryrecruiting.com.