Various college recruiting services available for high school athletes

Editor's note: This is the third in a three-part series on high school athletes and college athletic scholarships.

SOUTH JORDAN — Mikki Jackson has been a high school softball coach for 20 years.

But it wasn't until her 17-year-old son decided he'd like to play baseball in college that she really understood the vast opportunities available for motivated, talented prep athletes.

Kyler Jackson went to a seminar at Bingham High put on by the National Collegiate Scouting Association this spring, and then, after a meeting with his parents, decided to sign up with the recruiting service.

"It's connecting him to all kinds of schools that, even as a coach, I didn't know existed," said Jackson. "It's mostly been a lot of information like being realistic, how to get your information out there and what's available."

Paul Putnam was the speaker at the seminar at Bingham High. He got involved with NCSA in hopes of helping parents avoid some of the mistakes he made with his own son, who eventually earned a football scholarship to Snow College.

He stresses in his presentation that collegiate sports is really about earning a degree.

"Getting an education, that's what it's about," Putnam said.

NCSA is one of several recruiting services that help connect student-athletes with the thousands of opportunities available around the country. John Scott, CEO and owner of Athleticquest.net, sees his company as an education and recruiting system.

"We're college coaches guiding college prospects," Scott said. "But you have to be a college prospect for us to help you."

That's why, he said, 100 percent of the students signed up for the program get "multiple college opportunities. Some don't take them. But 92 percent go on and play college athletics."

NCSA, on the other hand, like other recruiting services, will help any student-athlete who signs up. Both differ from a third type of service, which is a scouting service.

But both Scott and Putnam stress the first and most important aspect of being recruited is doing well academically.

"Academics is the No. 1 way to pay for college for student-athletes," Scott said.