Informed Athlete LLC (www.informedathlete.com) provides guidance and answers questions that high school and college athletes, parents, and coaches have about college athletic recruiting, eligibility, transfers, and scholarships. Rick & Julie Allen founded Informed Athlete in 2008 to help families of student athletes who have the athletic skills to compete at the collegiate level, but often struggle through the recruiting or transfer process and make mistakes that cost a lot of money or result in an athlete quitting their sport before they have reached their full potential.

“You need to transfer if you want to get more playing time.”

That’s the last thing that a college athlete wants to hear from his or her coach. Sometimes transfers are initiated by the athlete, but many times they are initiated by the coach.

Throughout the years, I have encountered many different reasons for athlete transfers including coaches moving to another school, athletes wanting to move closer to home, athletes desire to switch schools, or because their scholarship has been reduced or cancelled.

November is an exciting time for those high school seniors (or junior college athletes) who have been recruited by an NCAA Division I or II athletic program and have been offered an athletic scholarship to continue participating in their sport in college. These athletes will have an opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent [...]

One of the most important decisions that a college athlete recruit will make is which college scholarship offer to accept.  The best way to learn about a college or university and the baseball program, that you are interested in or that that is recruiting you, is to visit campus.  From the standpoint of NCAA rules, [...]

It was recently reported by the New York Times that two dietary supplements that are popular with high school football players, Mass Xtreme and Tren Xtreme, contain steroids, according to court documents filed by federal authorities.  Search warrants executed by authorities on July 23 allege that the products, manufactured by American Cellular Labs, contain illegal [...]

With the NCAA Division I baseball scholarship changes coming into full effect during the 2009-10 academic year, walk-ons will take on more important roles on baseball rosters. Each Division I institution will be limited to 27 counters (athletes receiving an athletic scholarship) among their roster limit of 35 players, with the other 8 spots being [...]

Congratulations to baseball players across the country who were drafted in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. It had to be exciting to see your name next to the name of a major league baseball team. Many of you will have a difficult decision to make by August 17. Those of you who recently finished [...]

Summer is a very important time in the recruitment of high school athletes by college coaches. Participation on summer teams, in summer individual competition, or in summer camps and clinics are an opportunity to be seen by college coaches as you are participating in your sport. This has become more evident over just the past [...]

While some people believe that college athletes who receive athletic scholarships receive “full-ride” scholarships, the truth is that no athletic scholarship covers ALL of the costs of attending college, and that athletes in the majority of sports programs receive “partial” athletic scholarships.  A “full” athletic scholarship covers the following costs of college:  tuition, certain course-related [...]

Question: My daughter is participating on the volleyball team at a Division II college as a walk-on. The coaching staff did not recruit her. She now desires to transfer to a college closer to home that is in the same conference as her first college and join their volleyball team. Her current coach won’t give [...]

“Stressed Athlete” recently sent me this question: “I called and left a message for a college coach asking him to call me back because I have some questions about their program, but he has not returned my phone call. Does this mean they are not interested in me?” Answer: If the coach has already called [...]

At the NCAA Convention in January, the Legislative Council approved a proposal to define 7th and 8th grade boys basketball players as “prospects.” This means that the NCAA rules that regulated the interaction between a Division I men’s basketball coach and high school age basketball players now also apply to 7th and 8th grade players. [...]