Recruiting coach Zev Taublieb breaks down college soccer recruiting for the Class of 2026, using a junior goalkeeper with multiple offers as an example. Sophomores need to start outreach now, and juniors who wait risk falling behind. After an offer, you typically have two weeks to decide.
We have a student as a junior who basically already has offers, and this is January 24th of the 2026 class. The reason I'm telling you this is because in this student's case, they are a goalkeeper. So coaches already knew this student when they were a sophomore, which is why they're getting ready to do a pre-read this spring, have him on a visit, and frankly, make him an offer. He will have an offer this time in April. I'm telling you this because if you are a sophomore, You need to start the process as soon as possible. And if you are a junior, you are already going to be told that there are coaches who have other players in front of you, and that is not the place you wanna be. Now, this same student has been told, hey, you're a great goalkeeper, but you're not the top of our list. You're more like number 3 or number 4. And that's because the coaches got to see them in a certain environment at that time, and it was too late. Had he even started earlier, or had he messaged them more, maybe he would be higher up on the list. On the flip side of it, the good news is, he is being recruited by other schools that really want him at the very highest levels. The Chicagos, the Tufts, the Haverfords, and he's gonna get to play college soccer. And I've told the family, congratulations, you will play college soccer. You're a junior, it's January 24th, and I already know you're gonna play college soccer. Now the question is, which school are you gonna pick, and how do you pick that school, and how do you leverage when a school makes you an offer that you go to another school, or that you buy time? Because once they make an offer, you have about 2 weeks to decide if you really want to go to that school. And that's really the most fun part of the recruiting process, and that's typically when I to people, you might need help like myself or some other expert you know to help navigate the communication that you're going to have to have with these coaches. If you want more help playing Call of Soccer, give me a call. Links in the bio.
