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The Parent's Recruiting Checklist

College recruiting starts earlier than most families think — and a lot of it is simply being findable. This is the year-by-year checklist we give parents: what to do, when to do it, and what coaches are actually looking for when they find your athlete.

How to Use This Checklist

Find your athlete's year and start there. Nothing below requires a recruiting service — it's the same work, organized. If you're starting late, don't panic: senior-year opportunities still exist, and the junior-year list is where to focus first.

Freshman Year — Build the Foundation

• Treat grades as recruiting. GPA counts from freshman year, and academics are the first filter coaches apply.
• Track core courses. Make sure they are NCAA-approved, and keep a running record of them.
• Start an achievements file. Stats, awards, camps — while they're easy to remember.
• Focus on fundamentals and coachability. Playing multiple sports is a plus, not a distraction.
• Keep social media clean and positive. Coaches look.

Sophomore Year — Gain Momentum

• Aim for varsity minutes and start keeping detailed performance stats.
• Begin collecting game footage. Future highlight video starts as raw clips saved now.
• Build a first college list. 20–30 schools that fit athletically and academically.
• Create a recruiting profile so everything lives in one place.
• Visit a few campuses informally when you travel for tournaments.

Put the Checklist to Work

VarsityBio turns this list into one link: your athlete's stats, highlights, video, and story on a polished profile you can send any coach. Free to start.

Get Started →

Junior Year — The Critical Year

• Take the SAT/ACT, with time to retake.
• Cut a highlight video: 3–4 minutes, recent game footage, game speed, position-specific plays up front.
• Narrow the school list to 10–15 serious targets.
• Begin systematic outreach to college coaches — professional emails, sent by the athlete.
• Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center and submit transcripts and test scores.
• Keep the recruiting profile current — this is the season coaches actually evaluate.
• Start the money conversation as a family: FAFSA prep, real costs, what aid actually looks like.

Senior Year — Decision Time

• Submit college applications to target schools.
• File the FAFSA — it opens October 1.
• Take official visits to top choices and keep performing in the senior season.
• Compare offers on total cost and fit, not just the headline scholarship number.
• Keep grades up through graduation — commitments still depend on final transcripts.
• Sign during the appropriate signing period, submit the enrollment deposit, and celebrate — you ran a four-year process well.

What Coaches Actually Look For (The 30-Second Version)

Coaches often spend less than 30 seconds on a first look at a profile. What survives that scan:

• Recent game footage at game speed — not just practice clips.
• Current stats with context — season and career, level of competition.
• Academics that clear the bar — GPA is the first filter, before film.
• Character and coachability — leadership, team-first signals, professional communication.
• A clean, current, easy-to-scan profile — one standout element that earns a deeper look.

That's the whole case for keeping everything — stats, film, academics, story — in one polished link instead of scattered across emails and PDFs.

Your Role as the Parent

Help with the system, not the spotlight: keep the calendar and the records, proofread the emails, drive the visits. The communication itself should come from your athlete — coaches are evaluating them, and professional communication is part of what they're judging.

Go Deeper

• The College Recruiting Timeline (Freshman to Senior Year) — the full year-by-year roadmap behind this checklist.
• What Coaches Look for in a Recruiting Profile — the complete breakdown of how coaches evaluate profiles.
• Parent Planning Calendar for Recruiting Season — the season-by-season companion to this checklist.