HAWKS SINK TALONS INTO GROSSNICKLE 
2 February 11

Scott Grossnickle (DT/OT) out of Watchung Hills HS (Wareen, NJ) signed
  his letter of intent with Lehigh University
  today.  Grossnickle was pursued aggressively by
  the Lehigh staff who recruited him as a
  Defensive player.
  Looking to pursue a degree in business
  Grossnickle narrowed his choices down to three
  schools (Bentley, Johns Hopkins and Lehigh).  He made his decision after his official visit to Lehigh at the end of January. 

Watch Scott's Signing Announcement HERE
Congratulations to Scott Grossnickle from everyone at Pro-Dynamix.

Grossnickle hired Pro-Dynamix to produce his Athlete Marketing DVD, handle his Mass Marketing and guide him with our Recruiting Consultation services.
Watch Scott's 2010 Highlight here. (Filmed & Produced by Pro-Dynamix)

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PLAYER IN THE GAME: MIKE DANIELS (University of Iowa)

  Mike Daniels (DT) has made an impact this season on the  
  Iowa defensive line.  AT 6'1", 275 lbs Daniels is shorter
  than your average Division I defensive lineman, but he is
  making up for that by his ability to work at one gear. 
  Nicknamed "Mike Deisel" by his teammates Daniels off-field
  work ethic has carried over into his on-field Impact.

  Named a 5th starter this season Daniels leads the team in sacks with 3.  That's one per game in this young
  season.  During the Hawkeye's game on Saturday (9-25) vs. Ball State Daniels had 6 tackles (four of those solo 
  and for a loss) and rang up another sack.

Last season  Daniels started getting interest from an unexpected source despite his limited playing time.  Our sources informed us that "They want him to be closer to 290 [pounds]".  The "They" were the NFL Scouts who have noticed Daniels ability to make an impact, even with his limited playing time.  

Our Director of Athlete Marketing, Matt Roberts, met with Daniels over the 2009 Christmas break to discuss his future, "You could see his increased motivation when he heard the news," Roberts said.  "Mike's always been a hard worker, but his passion was off the charts. With the reality that he was actually being noticed by NFL Scouts, it helped him raise his game that one step further."

Daniels focused on his off season workouts, even staying behind for Spring Break to improve his level of conditioning.  He went from 269 pounds to nearly 280 from Christmas to the start of Spring Football.  "He was ready to go," Roberts said, "He really wanted to make his impact in spring ball.  I mean the season wasn't even over yet and he was ready to keep working. He just loves the game.  That's why I won't be surprised if he gets drafted by the NFL someday.  You can't teach that kind of passion, you just can't."

 5-31-09: GRADES MAKE THE ATHLETE
Athletes compete for college scholarships across the country and in order to recieve one grades outweight athletics.  Grades are the primary determining factor in a college's evaluation of an athlete.  If you don't have the grades you won't get the scholarship that you want, or deserve.

Pro-Dynamix has worked with hundreds of athletes over the years and some of those athletes have lost Division I scholarships, or scholarships of any kind due to a poor performance in the classroom and on SATs.

The NCAA has very strict requirements when it comes to academic qualifications for student-athletes.  The guidelines are spelled out
very clearly in the NCAA Eligibilty Standards.  Athetes are expected to meet all of the basic qualificiations and excel in the classroom:

In order to qualify for a Division I college student-athletes must complete 16 Core Courses.
Divsion II colleges require 14 Core Courses.

In addition to course requirements student-athletes must also achieve a strong SAT score:
Division I colleges work on a sliding scale.  The higher your SAT score the lower your GPA can be.  However your GPA can never be below a 2.0.

More coming soon...

SO MANY LETTERS, SO LITTLE INTEREST
A common first step in the recruiting process is the obligatory letter from the college coaches.  Some athletes will receive dozens of letters, usually in their Junior year, and some will receive a handful.  While it’s nice to get letters from college coaches it is important not to get too excited because the majority of those letters…don’t mean all that much.

I know how it is as a young aspiring high school athlete to see an envelope from Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame.  I know how exciting it is to read an official letter on a college letterhead.  It means a lot to high school athletes.  We all want to go to college and dream to play for these big teams, but these letters do not guarantee any chance to play on that team.

So why do college coaches send these letters if they don’t mean all that much?  Consider it an advertisement, an insurance policy with no commitment.  Colleges send letters to lay the groundwork for a potential future investment.  Just sending a letter gets the athlete interested in the college, but in no way obligates the college to the athlete.  The college wants to get you interested in their program, but they have to be interested in you for their program.   The letters are enough to get you interested in their program so if they happen to maintain interest in you further into your career they have already initiated communication with you.

How often do the colleges maintain communication?  The important rule to remember is “colleges are fickle”.  Colleges will like you one day and then change their minds the next.  When they really like you, you will know.  They will make their interest very obvious beyond the obligatory first letter.  However, most of the letters you receive will be the only time you hear from those colleges.  They just wanted to let you know that you were briefly on their radar, but never made it high enough on their wish list, unless their priorities change.
See:  Priority vs. Reality (coming soon)

So when you start getting letters from colleges the best advice is to take them for what they are worth.  They are just letters and should not get your hopes up.

Originally Posted 2-1-09.

PRO-DYNAMIX FEATURED ON BLUEANDGOLD.COM
Notre Dame news site blueandgold.com posted a new article on the video revolution of the recruiting process.  Pro-Dynamix is featured as one the companies on the cutting edge of the industry.
 

Everyone's Watching
by John Haynesworth
Web Editor
Instant exposure is just a few minutes away in today’s internet age. With the increasing popularity and interest in college recruiting, it was only a matter of time before high school athletes took notice of how quickly viral videos can spread into immediate stardom.

This new sensation within the recruiting industry has spawned an evolution in the video industry, and more companies such as Pro-Dynamix Sports Video Production , which has featured videos on BlueandGold.com, have turned their professional sights to the process of helping high school athletes gain further exposure, not so much in the public’s eyes, although an added bonus, but to college coaches and recruiters. “It’s made it easier for the coaches,” Matt Roberts, founder and CEO of Pro-Dynamix and a former offensive lineman at Army, told BlueandGold.com in a recent interview. “Coaches don’t have to travel as much as they used to to hunt and peck athletes. Now, the athletes can bring themselves to the coach.”

Highlight videos have helped players like 2009 commit Riddick go from relative obscurity to instant stardom.

With the new rules in recruiting that prohibit head coaches from traveling to the high school campuses during the spring evaluation period, it’s become almost paramount for the recruits to explore and even invest in new methods to market themselves as athletes. Also, recruits are gaining offers earlier and earlier, as many of the nation’s top juniors already hold verbal offers for the 2010 class. Some college football coaches have even drawn attention for their verbal offers to high school freshmen and sophomores, and the offers go out even sooner to athletes in other sports.

The immense competition for the elite scholarships has created a demand for a more complete high school resume, and with that comes a greater demand for a professional edge, which can often be obtained through video production.

“We actually have gotten a lot of athletes recruited who would not have been otherwise,” Roberts noted. “That has happened in the past with a number of athletes. We market all aspects of the athletes. That’s how we put it together. We want to make sure that the coaches can see what the player does, not just the highlights but all of the fundamental skills involved with each position. And by featuring all of the other attributes of the players, that has actually gotten a lot of athletes offers from schools.  Read More Here...

ESCAPING THE DATA TRAP
Accessible video production has changed the College Sports Recruiting landscape forever.  No longer do recruiters have to travel around the country and watch hundreds of games to find the best athletes for their program.  Now recruiters only need to request film from coaches and parents to evaluate the High School talent pool.

Recruiting Video Production (Highlight Videos) have made the recruiter's job even easier.  Now they don't have to watch full game to see that an athlete can do in a full season.  With a properly produced Recruiting Video athletes can show off their skills more thoroughly.  Athlete's can send, or have sent, their Recruiting Videos to college recruiters to market themselves. This provides recruiters with a more one-on-one introduction to athletes.  It also allows athletes to get more pointed exposure setting them out from the crowd.

While video marketing sets specific athletes apart from the rest of the pack there is a danger of this individual exposure being undone.  That is what I like to call "The Data Trap".

There are dozens of companies with websites that claim to have the attention of college recruiters from around the nation.  Most of those sites allow athletes to post their footage on the site and state that Recruiters will come to the site to find that footage.  The Data Trap is...while some Recruiters may visit those sites most recruiters don't want to spend money to pay for access to footage.  Hundreds of recruiters are barraged by spam emails from companies with recruiting websites.  With all of those websites, claiming to have access to the recruiters, the recruiters actually do not have time to sift through all of those website directories looking for specific athletes to fit their needs.

So when athletes rely solely on recruiting websites to help get themselves seen they are basically putting themselves in the same boat they used to be in.  On Recruiting Websites athletes become one face in a sea of thousands, much like they were before they started sending out film.

To escape The Data Trap your best bet is to continue to send out produced Recruiting Videos/Highlight Films to recruiters.  That will provide you with proper exposure and a more personal connection with the recruiter who receives your video.  You can contact Pro-Dynamix to handle your Recruiting Video production and marketing with close to a 100% success rate.
Pro-Dynamix Recruiting (856) 374-3669

Originally Posted 8-19-08

8-19-08: THE VERBAL WARNING

You may have already heard about many athletes making "verbal commitments" to colleges. While this may prove to be an exciting step to take for many athletes one important fact to keep in mind is that verbal commitments are just that "verbal". There is no legal or binding commitment to the school. Because of this here are a few key warnings to keep in mind before you take the big step at making a verbal.

1) A college does not have to sign you if you have a verbal. They can ignore that verbal commitment any time and move on to a different player. The only binding agreement is the Letter of Intent which is not signed until February. The NCAA College-Bound Student Guide states the following information about Verbal Commitments:

"Verbal commitment. This phrase is used to describe a college-bound student-athlete's commitment to a school before he or she signs (or is able to sign) a National Letter of Intent. A college-bound student-athlete can announce a verbal commitment at any time. While verbal commitments have become very popular for both college-bound student-athletes and coaches, this "commitment" is NOT binding on either the college-bound student-athlere or the school. Only the signing of the National Letter of Intent accompanied by a financial aid agreement is binding on both parties."
                                 (NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, p.28)

2) As stated above, the verbal commitment is not binding to the athlete or the college. So you may say, "I can get out of this verbal at any time." But here is the mistake that many athletes make. By committing to a verbal agreement, and allowing colleges or their affiliated sites to make the announcement, you are making it known to all the other potentially interested colleges that you have made your decision. The other colleges can, and most often do, lose interest and pursue other athletes. Remember, the verbal is not binding to the college either so they can choose not to pursue your verbal commitment and now you are left with a limited number of options since you already took yourself off the market.

3) Prolonged contact with coaches is prohibited by NCAA rules if you are a Junior. The NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student Athlete states the following about contact:

"Contact. A contact occurs any time a coach has any face-to-face
contact with you or your parents off the college's campus and says
more than hello.  A contact also occurs if a coach has any contact
with you or your parents at your high school or any location where
you are competing or practicing."
                                 (NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete, p.28)
So if you are an athlete in your junior year and have had any discussions with coaches beyond the word "hello" you and the coach are in violation of NCAA Regulations.

Keep this information in mind as you progress through this upcoming recruiting period.

Originally Posted 8-19-08