Check out these important terms that will help you get that edge you need while navigating the college recruiting process…
Contact: A contact happens any time a college coach says more than hello during a face-to-face meeting with you or your parents off the college’s campus.
Dead Period: A college coach may not have any face-to-face contact with you or your parents on or off the college campus at any time during a dead period. The coach may write and call you or your parents during this time.
Evaluation: An evaluation happens when a college coach observes you practicing or competing.
Official visit: During an official visit, the college can pay for transportation to and from the college for you, lodging and meals (Division I allows for up to three meals per day) for you and your parents or guardians, as well as reasonable entertainment expenses including three tickets to a Division I home sports event or five tickets to a Division II home sports event.
Before a college invites you on an official visit, you must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center and although not required, they may ask for a copy of your high school transcript and SAT, ACT, PSAT or PreACT score. Official Visits to Division I campuses can occur as early as August 1 before a prospect’s junior year of high school.
Recruited: If a college coach calls you more than once, contacts you off campus, pays your expenses to visit the campus, or in Divisions I and II, issues you a National Letter of Intent or a written offer of financial aid, you are considered to be recruited.
Unofficial visit: Any visit by you and your parents to a college campus paid for by you or your parents. The only expense you may receive from the college is three complimentary admissions to a Division I home athletics contest or five complimentary admissions to a Division II home athletics contest. You may make as many unofficial visits as you like and may take those visits at any time. Beginning August 1 before your junior year of high school, you can talk/meet with a coach and athletic staff member during an unofficial visit anytime other than during a Dead Period.
Verbal commitment: A verbal commitment is a verbal agreement between a prospective student-athlete and a coach to play sports for a college prior to the PSA signing or being eligible to sign a National Letter of Intent. The commitment is not binding on you or the school. June 15 following a prospect’s sophomore year is the first opportunity for any recruiting interaction.
Walk-on: Someone who is not typically recruited by a school to participate in sports and does not receive a scholarship from the school, but who becomes a member of one of the school’s athletics teams.
National Letter of Intent: This is a one year contract that binds the student-athlete to that specific college. Once that document is signed, it ends the recruiting process for that student-athlete.
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