In the past 15 years, the process of Recruiting Rankings has become more competitive and it has dominated athletes scholarship at the elite NCAA colleges. Bigger companies that create these recruiting rankings have turned the rankings into a money-making machine. Companies like rivals.com, 247Sports.com and others have influenced the recruiting process at all of the top colleges.
High school athletes attend college recruiting football camps to get the opportunity to be noticed by elite colleges. Many of these rankings are determined by writers that attend these recruiting football camps. The recruiting rankings are published by publications such as rivals.com, ESPN 100, and 247Sports.com, which ultimately impacts the process of college coach hirings. A BCS level school football coach can practically promise himself a short job tenure if his school isn’t at the top of recruiting class rankings. All of this said, don’t be alarmed if you are not a five star or four-star athlete attempting to get into your favorite school.
To our surprise, if we check the list of players in the NFL and NBA, they consist primarily of three-star and four-star athletes. This information should encourage athletes, who have a chip on their shoulder, because they were not recruited based on a five-star ranking. Fortunately, work ethic and relationships can still help athletes get further along in the recruiting process. Recruiting Rankings help provide a general understanding of how good a recruiting class of athletes is, but many times it consists of flawed data, since more often than not, top athletes are overlooked.
Don’t let the Recruiting Rankings cause you to lose your hope in attending the top college of your choice. If you look at the top professional athletes in the world, then you will learn many were not listed in the fancy recruiting rankings, and to our surprise some of them did not even receive college scholarships. If you look at the history, Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher, who played for the University of New Mexico Lobos, did not receive a scholarship for his spectacular play. It was not until his junior year in college, that he received an athletic scholarship.
The college recruiting process has significantly changed in recent years because it has become more of a money game, with the entry of big brands like Nike and Adidas. If you ever feel that you are overlooked in the recruiting game, don’t lose hope and keep working hard because hard work and connecting with the right people will help your chances.
If you are a defensive back, The DB Lab may be able to help your recruiting chances. Sign up online to try some of our free services to determine if you want to pursue the defensive back position at the next level.
