The athletic recruiting process can be stressful for student-athletes to manage the do’s and the don’ts. Whether you are just starting your recruiting process or you are headed into your senior year, here is your checklist to help guide you along the way. 

Freshman year

• Go speak with your high school’s counselor and express your interest in playing colligate sports. 
• Ask your counselor for a list of your school’s NCAA core classes list to ensure that you take all of the required classes
  • Typically these include English, Mathematics, Sciences, Social sciences, and a second language.
• Go speak to your coaches and mentors, letting them know that you are interested in playing at the next level.
• Look at schools that you may be interested in attending and write down a list of five schools that you are interested in.
• Build your Signing Day Sports profile and begin filling it out. The sooner you have a completed profile, the sooner college coaches will be able to see your profile.
• Keep track of important dates on the recruiting calendar. 
• Look into financial aid options and get familiar with the types of aids schools offer and the difference between equivalency and head-count sports. 

⏺️ Record video
🥎 Perform position-specific drills
📲 Upload to the Signing Day Sports app
👀 Get discovered by college recruiters

It’s that simple.

Download the app for free 👉 https://t.co/Krj4XMhiiC pic.twitter.com/UHoOIlYDTq

— Signing Day Sports (@SDSports) November 30, 2021

Sophomore Year

• Register at the NCAA Eligibility Center at eligibilitycenter.org.
• Continue to look at colleges that you may be interested in attending: Not only for athletic teams, but also look into a school’s academics and the location of the school.
• Upload your freshman year transcript to your SDS profile.
• Register to take the PSAT.
• Create a free profile page with NCAA.
• Determine your family’s estimated financial contribution (EFC).
• Start looking into what type of athletes coaches want to recruit, where are they recruiting, see what measurables and stats you need to achieve to get recruited.

Junior Year

• Check with your counselor to ensure that you are going to complete your NCAA Core Classes on time.
• Checking with your counselor that you will graduate on time.
• Take the ACT and/or SAT and use code 9999 to submit scores to the NCAA.
• At the completion of your school year, ask your counselor to submit your official transcript to the NCAA Eligibility Center.

Senior Year 

• Complete all of your NCAA Core Courses.
• Make sure your SDS profile is up to date.
• If necessary, take the ACT or SAT again to achieve the desired score.
• Complete your FAFSA starting Oct. 1. The FAFSA determines your eligibility for federal grants, loans, work-study funds administered by the U.S. Department of Education.
• Complete your NCAA Eligibility questions on your Eligibility Center Account.
• Continue to keep track of important dates on the recruiting calendar.
• After you graduate, ask your counselor to submit your final official transcript that shows your proof of graduation to the NCAA Eligibility center.

It’s important to remember the recruiting process looks different for every athlete and their family. Following this checklist will help make sure you stay on track to play college sports.