Getting a College Football Scholarship - Part 1

This is part one of a, more then likely, four part series on college recruiting and scholarship acquisition. This is a topic that is widely misunderstood and complicated. Every year, I know of several players who could have received money for college though football but could not because they were not educated on the recruiting process.

 

It has been asked, debated, and partially answered on Bluegrasspreps many times over the years - what needs to be done to get a player recruited by a college. Many parents, and player, think their high school coach will take care of the recruiting process for them. Some use the tiresome argument, “if you are good enough, the colleges will find you”. And, still some think, “it will just happen”. For the most part, all these are wrong. Simply put, most high school coaches do not have the time to devote to helping each of his players to get recruited. Coaches, coach practice daily, coach games on Friday, start breaking film down Friday night that continues into Saturday, then they start breaking film down of their upcoming opponents on Sunday and start over on Monday. All that on top of teaching all week and attempting to spend some time with their families. Making highlight videos, phone calls, and emailing coaches for each of their seniors just does not fit into the equation, in most cases. Plus, a high school coach’s job is to win high school games, who has more vested in a player getting a college scholarship, the high school coach, or the player and his family which are going to save thousands of dollars on college education?

 

Colleges don’t, “just find you”. Some will argue that it does happen, but that is for a very small amount of players, and players who are so dominate that they can’t be ignored. Not all players who can get a free education by playing football are those kind of players. There are well over 400 football playing colleges in the United States that can give your son a free education in exchange for their ability to play football. With an average roster size of 100 players per team, that is 40,000 football players at the college level. Are all 40,000 players the next Tom Brady? Are all those players, “just found”? Do you want to take the chance that those colleges may “miss” your son? Why not help them out a little, just in case?

 

After we realize that the recruiting process is on us, the parents and players, and not the coaches, where do we begin? What do we do to get the ball rolling? The first obvious question is, when do I start working on getting recruited? You will find people who give different answers to this question, but the answer I like is, the freshman year of the player. Like I said, some will give different answers, like junior high school, or before. I think the freshman year is appropriate.

 

Next, we need to get familiar with some trade terms. The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has several different levels. Everyone knows Division-I, but not all Division I football is equal. We used to have D-IA, now known as Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). These are the big named schools that we all see on TV on Saturdays. There are 120 FBS Schools. Each FBS school has a total of 85 scholarships, assuming they are not on probation or sanctions that limit their total scholarships. FBS Schools can have a total of 85 scholarship players on their roster at one time and generally can have an incoming total of 25 scholarship players per year. These FBS schools can only give full scholarships or no scholarships. There is no “partial” scholarships at this level. All or nothing.

 

Next, we have the old D-IAA, which is now known as Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). There are 125 schools in this division. Each FCS school has 63 equivalents. Notice I did not say “scholarships”. An equivalent is similar to a scholarship, but equivalent can be split among multiple players. For example, an equivalent can be split between two or three players giving each of them a partial scholarship. This comes in handy for a college that is recruiting a player with exceptional grades. The program can give the player a partial football scholarship knowing that that player will also receive a partial academic scholarship, giving them a a free education and allowing the program to use that other half of that equivalent on a player that may not qualify for an academic scholarship. Schools in the FCS can distribute the 63 equivalents as they wish, but generally they can only admit 30 scholarship players per year.

 

The third devision is, Division II. There are 156 D-II schools in the country. Each D-II school has 36 equivalents. Obviously, all D-II schools want more then 36 players, so the likelihood of a player getting a full scholarship to a D-II school is less, because for a D-II school to have 80-100 players, they are going to have to split those equivalents up and even have some walk-on players to fill the roster.

 

The last NCAA Division is, Division III. There are 239 football playing schools in this division. D-III schools are not allowed to give any athletic scholarships. All players are either paying for their own education, or receiving academic money. No athletic money is available.

 

That is all the NCAA divisions, but their are other options. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Most would agree that the NAIA level closely resembles the NCAA D-II level. There are 92 schools in the NAIA that play football. NAIA schools have 24 equivalents. The NAIA schools can, and often do, split equivalents among several players to spread their money, so once again, academic scholarships become more important to augment what football money is received.

 

One topic that many, many people do not know about, or misunderstand is the Clearinghouse, or Eligibility Center. The NCAA has a Clearinghouse and the NAIA has a Clearinghouse. To receive, or accept a scholarship, a player has be registered with the Clearinghouse by the end of their junior year. With the only exception being NCAA D-III. Division III players do not have to use the Clearinghouse, mainly due to the fact that D-III schools have standards that supersede those of the NCAA, and due to the fact that D-III schools can not offer money in exchange for playing football. To register with the NCAA and/or the NAIA Eligibility Center you have to go to their respective websites and provide personal information and pay a fee of sixty-five dollars. After registration, all test scores (ACT and/or SAT) must be sent to the Center and a high school transcript during the student-athlete’s senior year and another at the conclusion of their senior year. This takes some of the burden off of the college football program and college in determining eligibility of a potential player. You may think, it doesn’t benefit the player, only the college, which is partially true, but it is required and non-negotiable.

That concludes Part 1 of Getting a College Football Scholarship, take some time and digest this information and keep a look out for Part 2 next week.

 

NCAA Eligibility Center

 

NAIA Eligibility Center

Great information....generally speaking, the only time it "just happens" is when the athlete is consistantly a "head-liner" in the media...playing for a prominant school that receives constant attention. A Head coach can do a lot for the athlete also...by just making a "call" or two and putting a kid on the "radar". Being on the "radar" as a Freshman only solidifies the athletes chances...as long as he improves as forcasted. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Great article for parents and athletes.

Great information....generally speaking, the only time it "just happens" is when the athlete is consistantly a "head-liner" in the media...playing for a prominant school that receives constant attention. A Head coach can do a lot for the athlete also...by just making a "call" or two and putting a kid on the "radar". Being on the "radar" as a Freshman only solidifies the athletes chances...as long as he improves as forcasted. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Great article for parents and athletes.

Absolutely correct. The truly great players will get attention. What many players, and parents, may not know is: just because you, or your son, is not one of those players, doesn't mean he can't get college money for playing football. The colleges have to know about a player before they can get a scholarship.

 

And, the future segments of this article will outline what a parent, or player, has to do to let colleges know about them.