WHAT COLLEGE COACHES REALLY LOOK FOR
GRADES
To most it may seem like college recruiting for high school athletes is simple. If I play my sport well, I’ll get offered a scholarship…that seems to be what athletes think. However, the reality is coaches prefer high academic achievers. With thousands of dollars in scholarship money on the line, college coaches look at much more than just box scores when building their teams.
Every college coach wants to recruit athletes capable of competing at their level and grades are a big part of that. The higher a high school athlete’s GPA and test scores, the more college doors that will open. That means more opportunities there can potentially be for the athlete. Every roster spot is precious to coaches and the scholarship money they spend on recruits is an investment in their programs. So if a college coach is looking at several players with similar athletic backgrounds, he will compare their grades and scores. The better student will more than likely win the spot.
Grades are the first step in a successful recruiting process. It’s never too early to start improving that GPA.