Two coaches debate whether soccer players should get recruited from high school or junior college. High school is better 95% of the time because coaches prefer molding younger players and value academics, but a new NCAA rule giving junior college transfers four years of eligibility changes the math. If you go the junior college route, ID camps are essential since coaches rarely watch those games.
Is it better to be a transfer student in order to get recruited or be a high school student? I think it's better to be a high school student 95% of the time, and I'm going to explain why in a minute here, so watch this video.
They only get 2 years out of them, and I know the moms and dads, especially with the new NCAA rules, are worried that all the coaches are going to do are click, pick, transfer. And in another video you guys will see, if you're not following, is we just interviewed the Cal Berkeley coach and he said, well, I do like transfers because they're there to win soccer games, They want somebody for 4 years. Having said that, as a transfer, which was very smart of you, I picked you out because you are more mature than the kids here.
So it's important to note that with the new NCAA rules, if you go from junior college to a Division I school, you actually get 4 years of eligibility, which is a brand new rule which could change things for the side of transfers. But even still, I do not recommend trying to go to a D1 program or D3 high academic or or Division II as a transfer, and here's why. First of all, there's no guarantee getting out of junior college. It's like a quicksand. You could play there, you could get injured, a lot of things could happen. Number two is academics come first. So you should always be prioritizing academics. If you have really good grades and you're like, I wanna play Division I, you do not go to junior college just so you can go play soccer. So academics must come first. So for that reason, you can get recruited in high school. Are you competing with transfers? Yes. Does it mean you have to start earlier? Yes. You have to make more video? Yes. Transfers are older, and that kid in that video, I picked him out not knowing he was a transfer, and I said to him, you're really good, what's your deal? And he was a transfer, which shows that he was older and more mature, and he was better than the other kids there because he was a transfer. But he was a transfer going to an ID camp. So if you are a transfer, you should be going to ID camps because that is really the best way for you to get seen, because they don't often watch your games unless you win the whole thing. But even still, high schoolers have a greater advantage for this reason: coaches can mold you as a student. Number 2, You have really good grades, hopefully, so they want you, right? If you have bad grades, you know, it often is hard to get you scholarship and they wonder what's wrong with you. And the most important thing is, and this is really the, the big one, if you went to junior college, every coach is gonna go, what's wrong with you? Why did you not go to a 4-year program outta high school? There's plenty of schools, plenty of good ones. Were you not good enough? Were, did you have bad grades? Do you have a behavior issue? So junior college is a last resort. Always aim for a 4-year first, specifically because academics come first. Comment the word Division I if you want a bunch of lists of Division I schools that are really good that you should consider. Division II if you want Division II, and Division III if you want Division III schools to consider. Do not focus on junior college.
