When college coaches evaluate you, they try to predict how you’d perform at the college level. And usually your key stats alone aren’t enough. So, here are some of the ways college coaches will gauge the potential of each recruit.
Can you make an impact right away?
Many times, the biggest struggle for coaches isn’t evaluating the individual recruit, but knowing how to interpret their performance related to their competition. Most coaches would rather watch 10 plays of a recruit against another legitimate college recruit, than 100 plays of that recruit against normal high school competition.
Insider Tip: If you know you’re playing an elite team with other athletes who are getting recruited, this is a great reason to email a coach. Any time a coach can watch multiple college-level athletes in a single game, they are more likely to take notice.
Does your highlight video catch their attention?
Coaches need a short and simple video that gets right to the point. This is one of the most important ways they evaluate you. Here is what they want to see:
How fast do you look on film? Many recruits love to put a big play on a breakaway as their first clip. An experienced coach is watching you, but also keeping a close eye on how quickly the people behind you are catching up.
Decision-making skills. Just because you scored, doesn’t mean it is a highlight. You want to identify plays where coaches can evaluate your decision making that lead to a big play. This is a great opportunity to ask your high school or club coach for help in picking clips, as they can usually help you select plays coaches would be interested in.
Show the play not just the player. Resist the urge to zoom in for highlight video. Coaches need to see the whole field so they can tell how the athlete moved within the context of the play, not just what they’re doing individually.
Read more: How to put together a standout highlight film
How good can you be?
For many sports, evaluating a recruit’s training is just as important as their current ability. Many recruits will move up or down the recruiting board based on the amount and type of training they’ve done in high school. For example, imagine you have two runners with the exact same best time. One runner has been training seriously for 3-plus years, while the other runner has only trained part-time because they played multiple sports. Coaches will look at the under-trained athlete as someone with more potential. Here are a few of the way coaches evaluate an athlete’s training:
How much training are you doing? When athletes step up to the college level, it almost certainly comes with a step up in training volume. If a recruit has already been doing high volume training, make sure the college coach gets a detailed explanation of the program.
Are you strength training? As part of a more serious training program, most coaches will have some sort of weight training. If you haven’t started strength training, it doesn’t mean you have to. If you are lifting weights, make sure to detail out your program.
What has your progression been like? Did you run/swim/row your best time as a sophomore or senior? Coaches not only want to know what your personal record (PR) is, but whether you’re improving or plateaued. Make sure you give coaches a list of your top 5 best times, not just your best time, as well as the date when each was achieved.
Read more: Are you ready for college sports? How to gauge your talent level
Will you fit in with the program and adjust to college life?
Beyond your athletic skill set, coaches want to determine how you’ll handle life away from home. The transition from high school to college is a big one, and they want to make sure that you won’t require any hand-holding along the way.
This is when they turn to aspects of your life outside of your sport to determine your character. Are you responsible on social media? Are you respectful to authority figures, including your parents? Your grades matter to them, too. If you’ve exceled in the classroom, you’re showing coaches that you have the work ethic and leadership abilities required to succeed at the college level.
Your job as a recruit is to work as hard as you can on the field and in the classroom, and juggle your responsibilities. If you do these things, you’re going to give yourself the best chance you can of being recruited.
Read more: How to coaches recruit athletes?
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