After the Friday Night Lights have shut off, founder James Sackville likens the athletic college recruitment process to find a job in a professional setting.
“You need to present yourself in an appropriate way, and if you don’t present yourself appropriately, you’re not going to be looked upon favorably by whoever the employer is,” he said.
To help give student-athletes more control over their future and help recruiters find the best talent, Sackville formed Athletes in Recruitment, a platform he describes as a mix between LinkedIn and a dating app school to collegiate pipeline. And the company is eying its official launch in mid-May.
“Recruiting, in my opinion, is purely an exposure game. I think for forever now, student-athletes haven’t been able to control the narrative, and the barrier to entry to get noticed has been challenging,” Sackville said. “That shouldn’t be an excuse in 2021, in the digital age that we live in.”
Sackville has first-hand knowledge of the challenges young athletes face when making a decision that can have an impact far outside the arena. Growing up in Melbourne, he never played American football. Still, his skills at the Australian version of the sport gained him some recognition, and he was eventually picked up to play for Southern Methodist University in 2016. He jokes the first time he ever played the American version was at his team’s first matchup against the University of North Texas.
“A few of the frustrations that I had and when I got to America, some my teammates had in the recruiting process really resonated with me,” Sackville said. “It got my entrepreneurial spirit going about how do we fix it or how do we make it better and improve the inefficiencies? That’s really where this was born.”
Athletes in Recruiting’s platform looks to solve some of those issues by connecting individuals on all sides of the process. Students can create resume profiles, uploading highlight videos and indicate their interest in particular universities. It also allows them to include off-the-field activities that show their character. At the other end of the pipeline, recruiters can develop a network and a players-to-watch list, with the ability to filter by different attributes like GPA, position on the field and geographic region.
NCAA rules prohibit recruiters from directly contacting student-athletes before September of their junior year. After that, recruiters can directly contact students on the platform. Until then, they can communicate with a liaison, like a guardian or a trainer, who can act as references and cheerleaders for their athlete on the platform.
“I want to give student-athletes a real voice and a real opportunity to control… that’s the big thing,” Sackville said. “I want students to really feel empowered, that they’ve got a real say in the matter here, and that there should be no what’s, ifs or buts about it. I want the student to really explore all options to figure out what’s best for them and control their own futures a little bit.”
The company got some of its first validation, joining the Austin-based Newchip Accelerator program at the end of last year, which also provided Athletes in Recruitment with some of its first outside capital. Sackville said the company has other backers but declined to disclose names or total figures.
While the pandemic has canceled several games and even seasons, Sackville said it has allowed the company to show its need in the marketplace for recruiters who have been unable to travel and for students who may have missed their final season.
As the company eyes its upcoming launch, its primary focus will be on collegiate football. However, Sackville said the area he sees Athletes in Recruitment having the most growth and adding the most value in helping athletes in the 23 other NCAA programs, especially in ones that are not high revenue generators and recruiters in those sports have fewer resources. He added that in the future, Athletes in Recruitment would eventually expand to help athletes break into the professional level.
“College athletics is just such a part of people’s everyday lives,” Sackville said. “While it is devastating that a lot of kids didn’t have the opportunity to play their senior year and get recruited in the manner that they felt they were worthy of, the objective here is to never let that be a factor again… to get as many boys and girls across the country and the world to have an opportunity to play here in America and get an education.”
