Official Visits can begin on the first day of your senior classes.
Refer to your NCAA Guide for the College-Bound StudentAthlete to be certain that you are complying with the NCAA
Recruiting Guidelines.
Too many seniors believe that if they haven’t been recruited
early in their senior year that the opportunity for successful
recruitment has passed them by. Drawing this conclusion is
a colossal error! Remember the section on Recruiting Depth
Charts? You may well have been on some depth charts. As
coaches determine which prospects on their individual depth
charts will (or can) be offered financial aid, it causes others on
the depth chart to fall lower or even off the chart completely.
If you know that you are on one or more depth charts (you did
ask when you were speaking to coaches, “Where am I on your
recruiting depth chart?” didn’t you?) and have fallen too low
to be offered athletic financial aid, ask the coach this question:
“Coach, do you know of a lower level program that might be
interested in me?” After signing day, Division I-AA, Division
II, and Division III coaches inundate higher level programs
in all sports, asking if they know of an athlete who would be
a prospect for their program. Most Division II programs and
some Division III programs are populated by athletes who were
at one time on Division I depth charts. If you were holding out
hope for a Division I offer that didn’t come through, contact
the Division II or III programs that appeared to be a good fit
during your research. In most cases, you can anticipate posi-
tive results. While you should begin your personal exposure
recruiting activities suggested in the previous chapters early in
your high-school career, that certainly doesn’t mean that you
can’t or won’t be recruited during your senior year. The truth
is that 80 percent of all college recruiting decisions are made
How Do I Contribute to My Future Success? 165