Internet recruiting is a big success

Canfield’s Mark Porter
offers a free web site to
local athletes.

CLEVELAND (AP) — College recruiters and the athletes they are after are turning more to the Internet to get connected.

As college football’s national signing day approaches Wednesday, sites such as scoutingohio.com are getting thousands of hits.

“New Mexico State’s on right now watching Trevor Walls of Waverly. They’ve been on the site for 19 minutes,” said scoutingohio founder Mark Porter. “The University of Kentucky’s on right now and they’re watching Cody Pettit of Patrick Henry.”

Porter created the Web site after hearing about a Canfield High School student whose family paid $1,200 to feature him on a recruiting Web site. He was outraged, so he put up his site about 18 months ago to promote athletes from the Youngstown area. Porter posts player profiles, game videos and coaches’ contact information for free.

The site has more than 3,000 videos of players statewide and attracts about 30,000 visitors a month. Porter also has a company that distributes free publications, and operates the Web site on the side. He sells DVDs of the top 150 players to college coaches, but hopes to make money eventually by selling ads.

College recruiting services and Web sites offer information about scholarships and places to play for high schoolers and their parents, and, for college coaches, athletes they might have missed.

Services offer do-it-yourself marketing, posting profiles, game film and statistics provided to them by athletes and their parents or high school coaches. Others walk customers through the recruiting process. Some evaluate a player’s talent, create highlight films and profiles and pepper college coaches with e-mails and follow-up phone calls.

“A legitimate scouting organization or service can push one button and get your son or daughter in front of every school they’re qualified for,” said Jack Renkens, a college recruiting adviser in Arizona.

By NCAA rules, no service can guarantee a college scholarship. And consultants aren’t allowed to set fees as a percentage of a scholarship, because billing athletes like an agent might threaten their amateur status.

Blue-chip talent needs no introduction. Coaches already know the standouts. Well-heeled Division I programs conduct and visit sports camps. They attend combines to see how players perform in physical tests.

Marketing and exposure through a hired gun may help. With tighter recruiting budgets and limited coaching staffs, smaller schools — Divisions II and III — don’t have the time and money to scour the country.

“So,” said Vern Sharbaugh, a former high school coach and sports agent in suburban Rocky River, “if you’re not a Division I player, you sort of get overlooked.”

He created mygamefilm.com about nine months ago. Athletes and their parents complete profiles and load game film. A database of colleges can be sorted by division, region and state to help target e-mails. The service costs $99 for high school seniors and $199 for juniors — more because they’re on the site longer.

One high school coach predicted that college coaches will eventually be able to scout recruits by downloading entire high school games from the Internet.

“It’s here to stay,” said Bob Mihalik, football coach at Aurora High School.