College Athletic Recruitement

Overview

In college athletics, recruiting is the term used for the process whereby college coaches add new players to their roster of student-athletes each off-season. In most instances, it involves a coach extending a scholarship offer to a player who is about to graduate from high school or a junior college. There are instances—mostly at lower-division universities—where no scholarship can be awarded and the player has to pay for all of his or her own tuition, housing, and book fees.
Since success or failure in recruiting is seen as a precursor of a team's future prospects, many college sports fans follow it as closely as the team's actual games and it also provides a way to be connected to the team during the long off season. Fans' desire for information has spawned a million-dollar industry which first developed extensively during the 1980s. Prior to the internet, popular recruiting services used newsletters and pay telephone numbers to disseminate information. Since the mid-1990s, many online recruiting websites have offered fans player profiles, scouting videos, player photos, statistics, interviews, and other information, including rankings of both a player and a team's recruiting class. Most of these websites charge for their information.

Recruiting Terminology

* Blue chip - The term for someone that is among the top players (overall or at their position) coming out of high school.
* Early enrollment - The player will graduate from high school early and enroll at the college for the spring semester. This is encouraged to get the player ready for playing time that upcoming season.
* Grayshirt - The player will either be unable or chooses not to enroll in time for the fall semester and will instead enroll in the following semester or year. This may also refer to high school seniors who graduate after their fall semester and enroll in college for the spring semester. If voluntary, the reason is usually because the college has signed more players for that season than permissible under NCAA rules. The recruit can then count against the previous year's allocation. Compare: redshirt.
* Silent commitment - A player has committed to play for the University but has not publicly disclosed this yet.
* Project/Sleeper/Under the Radar- Terms that refer to a recruit who is not as highly ranked as a school's typical recruits. Often, these are players who may be athletically gifted but who may have begun playing the sport recently, but the coaches believe they may develop into at least solid players with more experience. Schools often recruit such players if they have scholarships left over at the end of a recruiting period.
* Recruited Walk-On - A player that is enrolling at the college but does not have a scholarship offer. Coaches may invite them to join the team to help on the practice squad or special teams (in football). If a player works their way up into the regular playing rotation, they may be awarded a scholarship. In football, place kickers, punters, and long snappers frequently join teams as recruited walk-ons. Coaches may also award a scholarship during the last year of eligibility to a walk-on who has been with the team for several seasons and if the team has scholarships available. While most walk-ons, particularly in football, are recruited, others may approach the coaches without invitation about joining the team. In rare cases where a team may have a shortage of scholarship players due to some having left school unexpectedly, coaches may hold open try-outs to find players among the student body.
* Star Ratings - Most recruiting services classify recruits by a number of "stars" with a higher number for more highly ranked prospects. Most services use 5 stars for the highest ranked recruits and only a few players at each position attain this rank. 4 stars is a typical ranking for recruits at elite level universities. 3 stars is a typical ranking for recruits at most schools in conferences with automatic bids to the BCS. 2 stars is a typical ranking for recruits at most mid-major level or Division I-AA schools. 1 star players typically play at levels below NCAA Division I or may be walk-ons at Division I schools.