CHIP KELLY WANTS COLLEGE GRADUATES FOR HIS TEAM

It’s a term we hear daily – in the paper, on the news, all over the internet – and around All Access Athlete, a term we use thousands of times a day; “student-athlete”.  For the majority of student-athletes at the collegiate level, senior year means their last snap, last serve, last at-bat, or last free-throw as an elite competitor.  It also means, and most importantly means, the year that student-athlete receives their college degree.  As a young man or young woman going out into the world after college, nothing is more important than that piece of paper.  Record-breaking seasons and MVP stats are incredible fetes, but not even comparable to earning a college degree and putting it to use.

We often equate the need for a degree to those student-athlete who won’t be going pro.  Why is a degree important if you’re next step is getting paid to play your sport – having nothing to do with what you studied in school?  The average career of a pro football player – 6 years.  The average career of a pro baseball player – 6 years.  The average career of a pro basketball player – 6 years.  This means, for the majority of student-athletes going pro, by the age of 28, it will be time to find a new career – to find what you’re really going to do with the next 40 years of your life.  How you’re going to support yourself, maybe support a family, and contribute to society.

The Wall Street Journal took this notion a step further in an awesome article published last night.  A college degree is not only necessary for life after college or life after the league in order to get a job, but NFL stats indicate strong study habits and degree-earning prospects produce more successful pro football players, hands-down.  There is a trend amongst some of the most decorated coaches and franchises in the league to seek out and consider first and foremost those football players on track to earn their degree heading into the draft.  This is a really interesting, really great read, only further emphasizing the “student” in “student-athlete” is the real word to be valued – even in the NFL! :

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Personnel Strategy: Targeting College Grads

Six of the Seven Players the Team Drafted This Year Are on Track to Graduate

By KEVIN CLARK

The rookies whom the Philadelphia Eagles drafted this month can recall the same odd occurrence: the time an NFL team grilled them on whether they opened any books—besides their playbooks—during their years in college.

Armed with science and a bit of logic, the Eagles have quietly scoured the college ranks for something that has little to do with 40-yard dash times or bench-press abilities. They want players who have earned college degrees.

“When you look at people who are successful in any profession, it always goes back to college graduates,” said Eagles general manager Howie Roseman. “We found NFL players are no different.”

When Beau Allen, a 325-pound nose tackle from Wisconsin, toured the country before the draft to visit with teams, he got a question or two about academics. Most teams didn’t ask much more than just what kind of student he was. Then he sat down with Chip Kelly, the Eagles’ radical coach.

Kelly began peppering him with questions about why he chose his major (business), what his hardest class was and why (“I’m not much of an accounting guy,” he said. “I always struggle with it”) and how he learned in the classroom—that is, what professors needed to do to get through to him. Allen pegged himself as a visual learner, someone who likes to write everything down in a notebook to memorize it. A computer won’t do.

After the Eagles drafted him in the seventh round, Allen arrived in Philadelphia to see that every player was given—uh oh—a tablet computer in which to see the playbook. Players were taking screenshots to better memorize plays. Allen was slightly panicked until he saw his stylus had a pen on the other end, and that the team gave him a notebook, too. Yes, Allen thought, the Eagles cared about how he learned.

Allen, who made the Big Ten Conference’s all-academic team while at Wisconsin, is one of six Eagle draftees to be on track to graduate out of the seven players they selected. In today’s game, that is unusual: This year, 98 college players went pro after their junior season, a record that marks a 34% increase from 2013 and an 85% increase from 2010. (That total doesn’t include players who had playing eligibility left but had already graduated.)

Philadelphia’s philosophy of pursuing graduates was born when Roseman, the Eagles’ general manager since 2010, and Kelly, the team’s second-year coach, each discovered that teams with the most college graduates are overwhelmingly successful. Kelly learned this late in his coaching tenure at Oregon, when former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, whose son played at Oregon, mentioned in a talk to Oregon players that in the 2000s, the two teams who happened to have loads of graduates were the Colts and New England Patriots. Those teams dominated the first decade of this century.

“I didn’t know he’d take it this far,” Dungy said, jokingly.

In a private conversation later, Dungy, now an analyst for NBC, told Kelly that his research showed players with degrees were more likely to earn a second NFL contract and make more money. He told Kelly “the guys with degrees have what you are looking for. They are driven. If it’s between two players, a degree might tip the scale. But at the time, I don’t think he was even thinking of the NFL.”

But before Kelly even arrived in Philadelphia, Roseman was doing his own research. Each year, Roseman and his lieutenants take the last four teams left in the playoffs and do reports on them—studying their players’ height, weight, background and virtually everything else. Through those reports came evidence that the most successful teams had many college graduates on them. When Roseman and Kelly joined forces, the plan was clear.

The trends over the last five drafts are startling. Studies show that teams who select players who spent five years in college—and thus almost always have a degree—win big. Of the three teams with the most fifth-year seniors drafted, two of them met in February’s Super Bowl: the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who went 4-12, took the fewest.

The team that drafted the most players who stayed just three years on campus? The New York Giants, who have missed the playoffs the past two seasons. The Colts, Patriots and Washington Redskins, who have five total playoff appearances in the last two years, have taken the fewest three-year players, who rarely have college degrees.

Kelly said a degree is more than proof of intelligence. “It’s also, what is their commitment?” he said. “They set goals out for themselves and can they follow through for it? A lot of people can tell you they want to do this, this and this. But look at their accomplishments.”

The Eagles say they want players who are prepared, and a degree confirms that. Take wide receiver Jordan Matthews, a Vanderbilt economics major whose study habits translated perfectly to the NFL.

Before meeting with the Eagles ahead of the draft, Matthews slipped into Vanderbilt’s film room and watched a few Eagles games from last season—which he did with every team he met. Matthews was able to have an informed conversation with Kelly about the intricacies of his offense, something seldom done in the slog of pre-draft interviews, where some players meet with dozens of teams. The study habits paid off: The Eagles took Matthews in the second round.

Those close to Kelly say the degree is largely valued for one reason. “Coach Kelly is an offensive genius,” said former Oregon receiver Josh Huff, whom the Eagles took in the third round this month. “You have to be on the same level as him because you have to know why he’s doing what he’s doing.”

Huff said Kelly’s offense can be so complex, and understanding every nuance of it is so crucial, that uninitiated players can’t be tolerated. Kelly’s offense often relies on a no-huddle approach in which the ball is snapped quickly to catch the defense off guard. But it can catch the offense off guard, too.

“In this offense you have to know absolutely everything,” Huff said. “If you have to think about it for a second, the ball will be snapped and you’re going to be looking dumb.”

No wonder the Eagles are going after the cap-and-gown crowd.

RECRUITING ADVICE

RECRUITING ADVICE AND ANALOGIES

Like any kid that is obsessed with sports growing up, I wanted to be a professional athlete. My dad would take me to baseball games, basketball games and I knew for a fact that I was going to make it in the pros. I was a point-guard who spent hours in my front yard shooting hoops every day. I was ahead of the competition at a young age and had a father who stood 6’4” in stature. I was told since a young age that the doctors predicted I would be 6’6”, so when all was said and done, for a kid to hear that they would be that tall and have an exceptional skill set, who is going to tell them they can’t make it?

I ended up falling between my parents in height at 6’0”, and by the time I had reached my junior year of high school, many of my priorities had changed. My mom was sick and my dreams of playing in the NBA or even at a Division I school were starting to sit on the back-burner. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the game of basketball and I wasn’t even sure if I still wanted to play in college. I ended up walking on at a Division I NAIA school after being convinced by the head coach to try out for the team. Four years later, I can hang my hat on being a big part of the best team in the school’s history, becoming a captain my senior year and even played a year of soccer as I missed the balance of the two sports that I had excelled at in high school. But I was naïve in that I thought it was such an honor to play, I never thought about taking care of myself financially by earning scholarships.

Here I was a walk-on, playing two sports and never received a penny in scholarships, merit or any type of aid towards school. I was clueless on how early recruiting began, ignorant towards the importance of contacting schools in a timely matter, and can remember wishing my high school coach had done more to help me find a school where I could play. I received letters from coaches as high as NCAA Division II while in high school, but I didn’t know how to respond, what to say and assumed that if I was good enough, a coach would find me.

What I have learned after spending years in a Division I Athletic Department, time coaching and now studying and working in athletic recruiting and development is that there is endless opportunity for young men and women wanting to compete at the college level if they are empowered with education and knowledge on the steps necessary to attain that goal. In this world of technology, the resources for up-and-coming athletes are endless, but having those resources and not utilizing them is like hoping to get hired for a job, having a great skill set, but never sending anyone your resume. Why would you do that?

In speaking with hundreds of families each week, what I have found is that there are families who do not understand that there is a process to recruiting (which I would have been guilty of in high school). There are other families that understand that there is a process to recruiting, but don’t know where to begin.  Some that think if my athlete is good enough, they will be found and of course families who have some correspondence from schools and think they are on the right track. The question I always have to ask is what are you trying to accomplish? If what you are trying to accomplish is to find any old school to compete for, perhaps waiting to see what happens is right for you, but I do not recommend this approach with how important your choice of school is.

Utilizing a recruiting network is something for all athletes – and when I say all, I mean all. Everyone uses them differently, but then again everyone’s recruiting process will be different. A top athlete that utilizes a recruiting network to gain leverage by showing schools the other coaches that are interested will typically win the race to the scholarship package they are seeking. If an athlete wants to play Division I or II, has the ability to do so and is only getting D III looks, there is a large benefit in just getting on coaches radars at a higher level. Lastly, for those who may not have made a roster otherwise, the resources available through a recruiting network, can open doors to compete in college that simply would not have been there otherwise.

Not every athlete will go on to compete in college, and every individual will experience the process differently. Some will have instant success, but less than 1% of high school student-athletes will go on to compete at the Division I level each year. You have to be patient and persistent.  An amazing analogy to the recruiting process can be found in a video linked here with a message from a motivational speaker named Les Brown. Stop reading and watch this two and a half minute clip.

Now that you have seen this video, you can compare it to the recruiting process and listen to what he says. “We live in a world that wants instant gratification, but are not willing to put in the work.”  As is the case with recruiting, those who put in the work will find success, whatever that means to you. For some, success is just making a roster. For others it is finding a full-ride scholarship to compete in college.  Make no mistake, competing in college is one of the greatest honors and individual can have.  But if you are going to put in the work in athletic development, spend money on going to showcases and tournaments, but you are not corresponding with colleges, you are most likely going to become very frustrated when you see teammates, or even worse, opponents receiving camp invites or official visits. It is not because they are necessarily better, but are probably going about their recruiting in a more intelligent, streamlined way. They are corresponding with the right schools because they have direction.

Your high school coach and club coach may be your best friend in the recruiting process and a great ally, but use them correctly! If you leave your college future up to your coach and you’re okay with only speaking to the connections they have, be aware that it will be a limited search and you are taking an approach of ‘I’ll go to college wherever I can play’. Remember, student comes first in student-athlete and the idea is to find the right fit school for you, where you can graduate with a meaningful degree while competing in college.  Too many families get hung up on looking for “athletic” scholarships.  Less than 2% of athletes are going to receive these, however, if you are targeting the right programs and a coach wants you to compete for them badly enough AND most importantly you do well in the classroom, your financial aid package to go to school will greatly increase. Your package may be a collaboration of academic scholarships, merit scholarships and then a small percentage of aid from your sport, but the more aid you can find from an institution that wants you, the less debt you will be in coming out of college. The process goes quickly, so be proactive!  I can tell you first-hand a lot of us who didn’t receive aid, or know how to attain it, are very jealous of those who did and a proactive approach sets you up for success right out of college, which is crucial in our current economy.

So again, use your resources; use your college search tools to identify what coaches are looking for an athlete like you, what part of the country you may want to compete in, who offers the major you are looking for, and begin correspondence with those programs.  How do you identify what level is a realistic starting place for you to begin reaching out? The answer is by setting up an evaluationwith a trusted source in the recruiting process.  All Access Ahlete’s scouting force is compiled of former college and professional athletes and coaches.  We have been there and we know the amount of pressure that there is in finding the right school. Remember that priorities change and if you narrow your search from an early age and limit yourself, you may be letting the mindset that you are a Division I athlete prevent you from becoming a collegiate athlete all together.  Cast a wide net of schools who know who you are and, know that you are serious about competing so that they are anticipating your upcoming high school and club season. Start when you are able to, which in a lot of cases is middle school, but no later than freshman year of high school. Lastly, put in the work and be patient!

5 TIPS TO GET AHEAD AT CAMPS

Camps are important for an athlete’s development, and anybody bound for college sports will probably spend a lot of time at them.

It’s easy enough to register and show up – but what can you do once you get there to help your recruiting prospects?

1. Get Great Coaching
Good camps will have good staff, and it can be an opportunity for you to work with talented coaches and trainers in your sport. Instead of just sitting there while they talk, ask good questions and improve your technique. They’ll appreciate it, and so will college coaches when they see you stepping up your game with moves you learned from a veteran.

2. Don’t Make the Camp Into Something It’s Not
There’s a myth out there that camps are a way to get “discovered” by college coaches – that’s just not true. When a coach goes to a camp, he or she is going there to check out athletes they know about and have been in touch with. There are a lot of great opportunities to improve your game and your recruiting prospects at a camp – getting “discovered” isn’t one of them.

3. Tell Coaches You’ve Contacted to Come See You
You saw that coaches are watching athletes they’re already talking to, right? So if you’re already talking to coaches – especially if they’re in the area of the camp – make sure you tell them to come! Highlight video is crucial in recruiting but there’s no substitute for getting in front of a coach for them to watch you live, in person. Inviting them will show them that you’re interested and on top of your recruiting process, that you’re interested in their school, and if you bring it, you can impress them with your skills.

Bonus tip: if more than one coach is there watching you, it could help your leverage by showing that you have interest from multiple programs.

4. Build Your ResumeGoing to camps shows that you’re serious and dedicated about your sport, and that you’ve been working on your technique with skilled coaches. Invite-only or highly competitive camps can really stand out on your athletic resume and demonstrate ability. Make sure you post the camps you’ve attended on your All Access Athlete recruiting profile so coaches can see the work you’ve put in.

5. Get a Feel for Elite CompetitionEspecially if you play in a smaller division, camps are a chance to go up against some tough competition. Whether you’re used to dominating everyone on the field and it’s getting boring or you just feel like you a better practice partner could help you take your game to the next level, go all-out in drills and get comfortable competing against other elite athletes – you’ll need to be if you are going to play in college.

Bonus tip: if you can, get film of you at a camp. Coaches will respect that you are testing yourself and a great play will mean more if you’re doing it against elite competition.

Camps are a big opportunity – know what they’re good for and what they aren’t, and they can be a big asset in your college recruiting process

COACH COMMINICATION

COACH COMMUNICATIONS: QUESTIONS

Prepare yourself with questions to ask before you call a coach or meet them face to face. This will help you learn more about a school and will encourage a relationship with the coach. Dig deep – don’t ask questions that you could easily find the answers to by looking at the college website. Use this opportunity to ask questions that you can only find answers to by speaking to the coach directly. Here are some examples of quality questions to ask a coach:

Academic/Admissions Questions:

• What are your most popular majors?
• Are there any majors that are most popular with athletes?
• Will my specific major interfere with my athletic schedule?
• What are the admission requirements for an athlete?
• Is there anything I should work to improve in order to be accepted to your school?
• Does your program have a full-time academic adviser?
• Are there team study halls?
• Do most of your players graduate in four years?
• Can the application fee be waived for athletes?
• How would you like me to apply?
• Do you recommend an admissions interview?

Athletic Questions:

• What are the key positions you are looking to fill in the (your grad year) class?
• Have I been evaluated by your coaching staff yet?
• How many players are you recruiting at my position?
• What type of player are you looking for at my position?
• What is your recruiting timeline? When would you like your recruiting done for the class of (your grad year)?
• What is your coaching style/philosophy?
• What advantages are there for student-athletes, in comparison to the regular student-body?
• How many or what percentage of athletes make it on your team as a walk-on?
• What type of off-season activities are expected?
• Am I allowed to participate in other sports?
• Do you intend to invite me for an official visit?
• What is a typical “day in the life” like for a member of your team during the season? What about during the off-season?
• What goals do you have for your team during the next four to five years?

Scholarship Questions:

• How many scholarships do you still have available for the class of (your grad year)?
• Am I under consideration for a scholarship?
• What determines if a scholarship is renewed?
• What type of academic scholarships are available? What about other grants and aid?
• Do I have to apply before a scholarship can be offered?
• What happens if I get injured?
• Will I be eligible to receive more money next year?

College Life Questions:

• Are your players close with each other outside of practice and games?
• Do teammates typically live together?
• What is housing like on campus?
• Do many student-athletes live on campus all 4 years?
• Is it realistic to work part time, study and play a sport?
• What are the biggest challenges for a student-athlete at your school?
• What type of orientation program is offered for incoming freshman?

Are there any questions I should NOT ask a coach?

Your conversations with college coaches will vary depending on the situation. Your relationship with each coach and where you are in the process, will determine which questions are appropriate at a given time. Always be respectful and humble and listen to the coach’s answer. Never ask if you will receive a scholarship during an initial conversation. If you are not sure if a question is appropriate to ask, All Access Athlete can help; just let us know.

What questions will a coach ask me?

You should prepare for the questions that college coaches will ask you as well. The same way you are evaluating every school, the coaches are evaluating which prospects are the best match for their school and program. College coaches are looking for student-athletes who are personable, interesting and who give more than one word answers.

Below are some common questions coaches ask prospects. Write down your answers and practice answering these questions.

• How are you doing in school?
• What is your favorite subject? Least favorite subject?
• What about my school interests you?
• What are you looking for in a school?
• What other schools are you looking at?
• What other schools are recruiting you?
• Have you visited our campus?
• Do you plan to visit?
• What is your biggest strength as a player?
• What is your biggest weakness as a player?
• What do you want to major in?
• What is your upcoming schedule?