"Is now the right time?" Grad-Year Specific Timing in Your Recruiting

“Is now the right time?” Grad-Year Specific Timing in Your Recruiting

January 23, 2025

One question that we get from a lot of families boils down to “Is now the right time for me to get recruited?” While there’s no single, clear-cut answer to this, we outlined a few key things to think about depending on your high school grad year.

No matter where you are in your recruiting process, the summer is a critical time to get exposure and access to your target college programs. While it is absolutely crucial that you don’t sacrifice your continued development just to pursue exposure, the summer is the one time when you have virtually all college programs out on the road recruiting, so using and being efficient with that opportunity can help put you ahead in your recruiting.

What exactly the exposure plan, purpose, and expected outcome is depends on your grad year, and it’s important to tailor your plan and expectations depending on what grad year you’re in and what types of college programs you’re targeting.

Class of 2026:

Over this coming summer, high-academic programs from Division 1 to Division 3 will be working hard – and working quickly – to evaluate and commit prospective recruits in the 2026 class.

For the 2026 class (rising seniors), that means that this summer is crunch time – and it’s time to get efficient exposure to as many of your target programs as possible. For lack of a better way to say it: it’s your turn. While you certainly aren’t “late” in the process at high-academic schools, and there is a lot of calendar ahead of you to impact your recruiting, it is the time to proactively seek out the exposure and access that you need to impact your recruiting over the summer and in the fall.

Have a plan, work the plan.

Because of this feeling of “crunch time”, many rising seniors can feel pressured to run all around the country to every single event, showcase, and tournament that they can find, just to make sure they aren’t missing out. FOMO (fear of missing out) usually reaches its peak in early- to mid-July for rising seniors, and every year we get calls and emails from players and parents who feel behind, and who with the best intentions want to do everything all at once. To limit this stress, it’s really important for rising seniors to proactively build an exposure plan that specifically targets the programs on their list. While there are almost an infinite number of things that you could do over the summer, your time is limited, so you need to be intentional, targeted and efficient in pursuing the opportunities that are right for you, and that are going to advance your recruiting process at your target programs. By sitting down this winter/early spring and setting an intentional, proactive plan, it’s going to help you limit the feelings of FOMO, because you can feel confident that while there are tournaments, camps and showcases that you aren’t attending, you’re doing the things that YOU need to do for your own process to get the right exposure.

Ultimately, this summer is about achieving results in your recruiting process – and Headfirst has a track record of delivering results in high-academic recruiting, with more than 450 Headfirst Showcase alumni on rosters at schools that attend and recruit Headfirst events, including 72 on Ivy League rosters and 174 at NESCAC programs.

Class of 2027:

For the 2027 class, this summer is the right time to get ahead of the recruiting process by getting on the recruiting lists of their target Division 1 programs. Between June and August, coaches will be at Headfirst to see and evaluate prospective recruits in the 2027 class so that they can build out their recruiting lists and set the table for their late summer and fall recruiting efforts, especially at the Division 1 level.

Beginning on August 1, Division 1 programs can start having “recruiting-specific” conversations with the 2027 class – and you will see Division 1 schools start committing their 2027 class at that time. This means that this summer leading into that deadline, you have the chance to get on your target coaches’ recruiting lists at exactly the right time to facilitate those conversations starting on August 1. While there are some limited opportunities for exposure in the fall, it’s much harder for most families to manage the travel once school starts up. Many college coaches also find it harder to get out on the road during the fall when they have on campus responsibilities and their team is back on campus, so this summer headed into the fall is going to be your best chance to get great exposure to the schools on your list.

Class of 2028 & Younger:

For underclassmen in the 2028 and 2029 class, you have a lot of road ahead of you in your recruiting process – and getting exposure this summer can help you be proactive, and to put yourself in the driver’s seat for what’s ahead. This summer, Division 1 programs will start and continue to build out their recruiting lists for the 2028 and 2029 classes, so that headed into the following summer’s recruiting efforts they have a good starting point of players they want to see, evaluate, and target. While there’s no magic key in the recruiting process, proactivity is absolutely the best starting point – getting in front of some of your target programs this coming summer can help set you up for success down the road.

The other benefits of attending a showcase and getting some quality exposure this coming summer are to get direct access and engagement with college coaches, as well as to get some reps and comfort in the showcase setting.

Coach engagement: Although Division 1 coaches can’t have “recruiting-specific” conversations with the 2028 or 2029 class this summer, what’s unique about a Headfirst event is that you still have the chance to meet face-to-face with coaches and have some direct conversations. It’s important to recognize that D1 coaches will be limited in what they’re able to discuss with you – but you can still talk to them, get to know them, get some feedback and instruction from them, and crucial to your later efforts, have them get to know you as a player on and off the field. Headfirst events are unique in this opportunity to speak with coaches face-to-face as an underclassman, due to the structure of the showcase.
Getting practice in the showcase environment: There’s no doubt that there’s a bit of added pressure when you’re playing at a showcase with 40-50 college coaches all watching YOU. Getting some early exposure to this environment before it’s during your recruiting crunch time can help you be more comfortable and perform your best.