NCAA Football Recruiting: The Players, the Scorecard
“Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.” Rounders, 1998
Like it or not, the recruiting game is an adversarial process with lots of moving parts, negotiations, bluffs, with promises made and promises broken. So it is so important for new sports parents to study and understand all the moving parts - this includes recruiting season (what is a quiet period, dead period, contact period, evaluation period), what are eligibility requirements, “core course” GPA’s, sliding SAT/ACT scales, academic redshirts, qualifiers, non-qualifiers, non-binding verbal commitments, binding letter of intent, letter of intent releases, and on and on and on it goes.
I’ve been practicing law for 13 years and I still find the NCAA bylaws baffling sometimes. It’s not quite the federal tax code, but the NCAA Division I Manual weighs in at a robust 432 pages of rules, exceptions to the rules, and exclusions to the exceptions…to the rules. And no pictures.
Yes, it’s exciting to see that very first recruiting letter in the mailbox. But that is just the start. Like it or not, busy sports parents grinding away to keep a roof over their heads should spend time getting familiar with all the different recruiting rules and restrictions involved. It’s not simply about running a 4.40 and becoming first team all-state. That won’t get it done.
As your family prepares for recruiting season, one way to protect your interests is to understand the cast of recruitment characters involved and their motivations. Don’t be the sucker at the table.
“Selling Mom”: when a recruiter steps into a living room they have one job – and that is selling mom. Recruiters know that if mom isn’t on board chances are they are not taking her son away for the next 4-5 years. What this means: if your son is on the academic/athlete bubble, don’t be overly-flattered by the attention. The recruiter might be overselling to hedge their bets on possible recruiting fall outs. On the other hand, if your son is a top prospect, use this knowledge as leverage – athletic financial aid packages are negotiable. Knowing where you stand is so important when there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in educational expenses, and future salary opportunity, at stake. Moms need to figure out who has the leverage at the table. And leverage can be a moving target in negotiations.
