The "Backdoor" to College Recruiting (Every School Has a Backdoor)

Hey, how you doing? Alex here. Thanks for joining me. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about the back doors to college athletic commitments for high school athletes going through this recruiting process. And when I say back doors, they're really just levers that athletes and parents can use to best position their son or daughter to play at the next level, to play in college. College for me was a life changing experience and I'm just trying to get that back to as many athletes as I can. And we should be using these levers as we go through this and not just sitting back and hoping to be found. And I hear from parents all the time that tell me, I saw this athlete commit to this school and good for them, it's great. But man, how did that happen? My son or daughter is just as good or better than them. And there's some scenarios that we're going to talk about today that probably is likely one of these going through. And a lot of parents and athletes just sit back and hey, it's all just going to work out all this. Hopefully if I'm good enough, they will find me. Don't go with that strategy. Hope is not a good strategy going through this. And if you're new to my channel, my name is Alex Swenson. I'm A former Division 1 college coach, scout and recruiter with 11 years of experience. And now what I do is help high school athletes and their parents navigate this college recruiting process and get interest and offers from schools that they are interested in through the right exposure process, getting seen, getting on the radars of these college coaches to the right communication, to the right showcases and camps, there's a lot out there, a lot of them are not worth going to, to highlight videos and all that good stuff as we go through this. Ultimately, until the athlete commits to a school that's going to be a good fit for them not only athletically but, but academically as well. So with that being said, if you get anything from this video, please smash that like, button right down here and subscribe. And if you're listening to the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review. Now with that said, let's get into number one and one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful lever or back door, if you will, is personal connections with a college coach. I use this all the time when I was a college recruiter in SK Scouts of using my connections and talking to coaches or people like me, like, hey, I'm looking for this position in this class. Do you got anybody that you would recommend that I can go see, that is massive. That is a backdoor in and of itself. Somebody recommending your son or daughter going through this is massive. All right. And that's why having good relationships with your coaches or having a good advisor helping you through this, that has connections at that particular sport can go a long way. So that is the biggest backdoor in recruiting. The next one is academic leverage. This is a huge separator. I coached at a high academic school in Georgetown University, D1 Big East High high academic. And a huge separator was GPAs and test scores. And then other reasons too is schools that are recruiting athletes with high GPAs. It saves the athletic scholarship money, the program money, if you have a high gpa. Because as a recruiter and as a school, we can give you academic money that sometimes far outweighs the athletic money, but it can be saved for somebody else that might need it, that might not have as high a GPA as you. So that is a lever and a backdoor there. So be focused on on those grades. It helps in so many different ways that you just don't see. Number three, positional urgency. Are those schools in need of your position target the schools that are in need of your position in your class. That is a backdoor. Don't go just blindly at this who's in need of what in your class. And if you don't know, reach out, talk to these college coaches or have your coach or travel ball coach figure that out or help you going through that. Having somebody help you go through that, a big deal. Number four, the right showcases and camps. Go to showcases and camps where you know the college coaches are going to be there and which ones they are. Meaning is it the recruiting coordinator or is it the position coach or is it the head coach, the decision makers. Don't go to showcases in camps where just the volunteers there, typically the volunteer or intern if you will, has no say in recruiting. You need to make sure that you are getting in front of the decision maker. So if you're just going to random tournaments and things like that, or random events and you don't know if college coaches are going to be there, that's a red flag and it could be a waste of time. And then number five, smart social proof. This could be through a good highlight video. This can go a long way. And think about it. You can get exposure and start communication via a good highlight video. Or if you're doing it right on social media, it can be a big lever, a big back door. If you will to get attention and garner attention, because a coach can see a good highlight video or a good post and be like, oh, I like what I see here. I'm going to reach out, get the athlete's schedule, come watch them play. Next thing you know, you're on campus, and next thing you know, you have an offer and you are committed. So those are the five big backdoors that you want to use as leverage going through that. Go through each one of those because every one is accessible to you. Especially starting off strong in high school with the GPA and keeping it up, shooting for that 3.5 and as high as you possibly go, 4.0 and higher as you go is just a massive separate. If you have any questions, please comment down below and I will see you in the next video. Take care.