GREEN BAY — The college landscape is changing. There is the image and similarity of names, the transfer portal, coach arrivals and departures, and so on. Many say it is not as it was said 4 years ago.
I spoke with top athletes from across the Fox Valley to find out what it’s like to go through the recent recruiting process.
“I think it was the biggest decision of my life so far,” said Xzavion Mitchell, Oshkosh North junior forward and Iowa State commit.
Before you decide where to go to college, there is first a recruitment process. Karly Meredith, a Kaukauna junior and softball star, called her from school as the clock struck midnight on the day the junior season softball recruiting could begin.
“It was definitely a little stressful because you were trying to schedule all the calls and missed calls,” Meredith said. “Luckily we didn’t have school that day, so that helped a lot.
As high school athletes narrow down the list of schools they are interested in, they take visits.
“You’re usually up bright and early,” junior running back Grant Dean, who recently joined the Badgers, told Neenah. “I remember driving after football matches on match days and sometimes we would leave between 1 and 2 a.m. to get to the venue.”
These visits can be a bit of a hassle time-wise, but once the athletes get there, they say they are special.
“I obviously enjoyed the wine and the food,” Meredith said. “It’s like they take you everywhere and it was really fun.”
Traveling across the country can be a lot of fun, but throughout the recruiting process, athletes, parents and coaches told me the same word: pressure, like the pressure to make a choice that will change your life.
“It still has to be teenagers, it still has to be high school students,” Kaukauna head softball coach Tim Roehrig said. “I think there is added pressure to say well, I still have to make that decision. It’s always in the back of your mind.”
Then there’s the pressure to feel bad about the schools you don’t choose.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Mitchell said. “Obviously I don’t want to feel sorry for these schools because you want to do what’s best for you, but you have to because they’re still with you, going to your games, calling and texting you.”
Added to this is the pressure of dealing with a changing college landscape, such as the transfer portal. Schools may not value high school students as much as they did in the past.
“Now with the transfer portal, a lot of schools are looking for a proven product,” said Steve Meredith, Karla’s father.
And with college players now moving from team to team, Kaukauna head coach Tim Roehrig says that when programs talk to him, coaches who call him to recruit players ask him one question: How committed are they?
“They want to know if this kid will stay,” Roehrig said. “If they say they are committed, are they going to stay here and play for me through the ups and downs?”
He also says that now the commitment schedule also adds to the pressure.
“It was never really a big deal, and now we have to find out about it before that date,” Roehrig said.
Now athletes can now benefit from their image and likeness (NIL). College coaches are getting used to this…
“You can’t be naive about the changing landscape, knowing that it’s going to become more and more important,” UWGB women’s basketball coach Kayla Karius said.
Players like Xzavion Mitchell are also getting used to it. He says being part of a recent generation of recruits where players can control where they go and also have a chance to make money is special.
“I just think that being able to save money and find ways and best figure out how to use the zero percent contract and the NIL money not only for me but for my family as well,” he said.
But for Mitchell, potential money isn’t everything.
“I’m there to win and compete, and NIL is just a sideline,” he said.
And when all these athletes take all these different things into account and decide on college, there’s a huge burden on them.
“It was really nice to just get it off my chest, think about the future, get it over with and play in the here and now.”
