The Recruit-Me Athletic Scholarship Podcast with Brent Hanks · Brent Hanks

Epi 456 Advice About Recruiting During Your Junior Year of High School According to Grok3 & Recruit Me

·17 min·1 clip

Did you know NCAA Division I requires a 2.3 GPA while Division II needs 2.2 for athletic eligibility?

This episode features Recruit Me CEO Brent Hanks comparing AI-generated recruiting advice with his own system for high school juniors seeking athletic scholarships. Hanks, a recruiting expert and father of college athletes, queries the AI "Grok3" for a ten-step junior year plan. He then contrasts Grok3's general recommendations with the specific, actionable steps of his RecruitMe 3.0 system. Grok3's ten steps include excelling in your sport, building a highlight reel, researching colleges, contacting coaches, and attending high-visibility events. Its "deep search" emphasizes maintaining strong grades, specifically noting NCAA Division I requires a 2.3 core course GPA while Division II requires a 2.2. The AI advises registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center and suggests using tools like sports recruit school searches to build a target list of 20-30 colleges. It outlines the "five F's" for evaluation: athletic, academic, social, geographic, and financial fit. Grok3 notes that with over 7 million high school athletes and only about 7% reaching the NCAA, the process requires diligence. Hanks agrees on academic importance but stresses involving a high school guidance counselor every year, as coaches may favor the better student between two equally skilled athletes. He advocates for creating a one-page player profile and a concise, music-free highlight video to send directly to coaches, rather than relying on passive online profiles. While Grok3 encourages proactive coach contact, Hanks warns that contacting coaches too early or without proper fit can backfire, and details his system's steps for introductory emails, questionnaires, and tracking communications. He advises juniors to be selective with showcases, recommending they only attend if multiple fitting coaches are present and to make contact beforehand. Hanks highlights that most athletes do not get full-ride scholarships, making academic money critical, and notes Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships. He points out that not all programs in any division are fully funded for scholarships. His system uses worksheets to continually refine college lists based on parameters like school type, location, and cost. Hanks suggests free resources like NCAA.org or the Baseball Blue Book before considering paid recruiting services that can cost tens of thousands. The tone is educational and advisory, blending a structured presentation of AI tips with practical, experience-based commentary. The style is conversational and direct, aimed at guiding families through a complex process. High school student-athletes and their parents actively navigating college sports recruitment would find this episode highly valuable for its comparative insights and specific strategies. Listeners seeking entertainment or broad philosophical discussion about sports, or those already deep into the senior year recruiting cycle, might find the content too narrowly focused.

As heard by us

A junior-year recruiting checklist that values steady follow-through over hype.

Episode 456 keeps junior-year recruiting grounded in the day-to-day work that families actually need to do. Gronk3's AI advice and Brent Hanks' RecruitMe 3.0 system point to the same basic workflow: build a college list, write an introductory email, make a player profile, fill…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You need a junior-year recruiting checklist that helps you build your target list and contact coaches.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Recruit-Me Athletic Scholarship Podcast with Brent Hanks