68 The Sports Scholarships Insider’s Guide
how Many Colleges Should
Receive My Credentials?
The greater your exposure to college coaches, the greater your
chances to be successfully recruited. Depending on your sport
and your realistic appraisal of your ability, you should be exposed
to a minimum of 50 colleges; 100 is better. Even if your realistic
appraisal causes you to conclude that you are a D-I prospect, you
should send many profiles to D-II and D-III institutions. Thirty to
each is good.
“But I want to compete in a glamorous or prestigious program,”
you say, meaning of course—Division I. You truly may be quali-
fied to compete at Division I, but the truth is, if you were a solid
Division-I prospect, a Division-I program probably would have
recruited you by now and it’s likely that you wouldn’t be study-
ing this book.
Fifty or more colleges? Absolutely. Here’s why: coaches recruit
prospects that fit their coaching philosophy, system, and style of
play. Your abilities and objectives may not fit the coach’s require-
ments. Also, coaches just aren’t recruiting for every position or
event every year, so there may be no need for a prospect in your
position or event.
Even if you interest coaches with your credentials and they
make contact with you, you may be low on the recruiting depth
chart. You may not move up high enough on the chart to be
recruited. Conversely, the more depth charts you are on, the bet-
ter your chances to move up and eventually be recruited.
If you follow the suggestions in this guide, your credentials will
be in the hands of 50 or more coaches in the various divisions.
This will produce the results you want and deserve. Very often,
this part of the recruiting process is a numbers game. So you must
generate sufficient numbers to overwhelm the odds.