EP#23-How Athletes Can Get To The College Level

Want a real roadmap from high school hallways to D1 sidelines? We sat down with Angel Meraz, head athletic counselor at College of the Desert and president of California’s statewide counselor association for student athletes, to decode the rules behind recruiting, eligibility, and the transfer portal. Angel brings the counselor’s perspective—clear steps, no fluff—and shows how smart planning turns talent into offers.

We break down the 16 NCAA core courses, how core GPA is actually calculated, and why course titles and retakes matter more than most families realize. Angel explains how California’s A–G requirements align with NCAA standards, what changes every year at the rulemaking level, and how a single missed unit can sideline a dream. We also explore the transfer portal’s new hierarchy: coaches scout the portal first, junior colleges second, and high schools third, unless you’re a standout. That shift creates both opportunity and risk, including a growing wave of “bounce backs” using JC programs to reset their path.

The conversation goes deep on NIL at the community college level—real deals, rising interest from local businesses, and the legal traps in contracts signed by teenagers eager to play. Angel details the evolving legal landscape around eligibility clocks and how potential changes could reshape the timeline for athletes starting at junior colleges, even opening doors to finish faster and pursue graduate degrees on scholarship. Her step-by-step advice for 10th and 11th graders is refreshingly concrete: register with the NCAA Eligibility Center, verify your high school’s approved course list, track your core GPA, and ask for help early.

If you’re a student athlete or a parent navigating the maze—eligibility rules, portal choices, NIL offers—this conversation gives you a working plan. Subscribe, share this with a teammate or coach, and drop your biggest eligibility question so we can tackle it next.

Angel can be reached at: ameraz@collegeoftghedesert.edu

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Welcome back, everybody, to Desert Valley Blitz. We're really excited today because we have a real special guest. In today's episode, we're going to do go in a little bit different direction. For all you players out there, all you parents of players that are thinking of playing at the next level of the sport in the college realm, we have some an expert here today to kind of give you the information that you're going to need to get to that level. Because today's special guest is the head COD uh athletic counselor, Angel Moraz. Thanks for coming in.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Hi. Thanks. Happy to be here. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

So when did you decide you wanted to be a counselor when you was it in high school? Was it in college?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

No, actually. So when I was in high school, I originally wanted to go to medical school. That was kind of the goal. And um I went, graduated from medieval high school, went to UCLA. Local. Yeah, local. Was studying um, you know, biology there and was struggling a little bit, wasn't really sure if I liked it, and decided to take a semester off from the pre-med um and actually got a job on campus as a peer counselor. So was working at UCLA, helping to advise, you know, what peers can advise at the college level and kind of just fell in love with it. And then had a couple of mentors who um went to get their PhD in counselor education out at the University of Maryland and so kind of recruited me to move out to University of Maryland College Park to go get my master's in counseling. And that's kind of where it all started. Um yeah, just um just kind of a fluke. It wasn't on my radar at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

It really helps when you find a mentor or someone that kind of guides you and gives you direction to go, especially when you're trying to figure stuff out.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, when they see something in you that you don't see in yourself, right? When they can decide, they can help you understand what your strengths are and um really help you to begin seeing that in yourself. Yeah. So started off as a high school counselor and worked in as a high school counselor for over 10 years and then kind of accidentally fell into community college. So now I'm a counselor for the student athletes at College of the Desert.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

So for those of you people out there that don't really know exactly what an athletic counselor does at the college level, can you kind of explain some of your some of the things that you do for the student athletes?

Understanding Eligibility Rules And Boards

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah, for sure. So it's different across the country. So if you're looking at other states, their model of counseling is very different. But in California, we're really special. And so at the community college, um, our counselors there serve a lot like their counselors in high school as well. That doesn't happen across the country. So um I have a caseload at the college. Um, my caseload is just student athletes. And so my job is to really help guide them on the academic side, um, career major exploration, but also those personal social stuff that they deal with, um, whether it's challenges with their family, their identity development, whether it's deciding what they want to major in, what comes after sports, how to get to the next level of sports. So I help with all of those things. Um, and eligibility is a big part of my role. So eligibility not only at College of the Desert, because they have to maintain eligibility there, but a lot of them have goals to transfer. So eligibility at the next level, whether that's NAIA, NCAA Division I, two, or three, helping them understand what those rules look like and making sure that they're meeting those expectations.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

And is there a difference between like an NAI school and a D1 school and a JUCO? Like if there's different eligibilities, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Yeah. So um every single organization, whether it's NCAA, NAIA, us, so California Community Colleges um are the three C TOA, the California Community College Athletic Association. So all of those organizations have their own rules. They have governing boards that make up the rules that decide what a student needs to be eligible. Um, I actually um am also the president of the statewide counselor association. So our abbreviation is the 3C4A, but essentially we are a group of counselors that work with student athletes across the state in all of the community colleges. Um, and I'm the president in of that organization. And as part of my role as a president, I also sit on the statewide management council. And so the management council for 3C2A um evaluates the rules every year. What rules are working, what rules are not working, what do we need to change, um, where are students falling short on eligibility? How do we better educate the people in the field about how to make sure students stay eligible? So all of those organizations have these governing boards. Um, and I'm just fortunate enough to have a voice on our governing board and are it I'm able to impact our legislation and the rules that our students are having to achieve.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

No, you got a lot of you got a lot of balls in the air, huh, in terms of the managing and all that, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, and it's it's great though, because you know, you have on this management council, you have athletic directors, you have coaches, you have people at the state office. Um, but it's really important to have that counseling perspective as well because we see a different side of what the students are experiencing, right? So to be able to have a voice there um and have impact on legislation. And I think that my voice has had a strong impact. I've been on the committee for I've been the president for um four years now. So I've had a a lot of opportunities to give my voice and input on what students are experiencing.

Common Eligibility Mistakes In High School

SPEAKER_01 5:25

For for a young guy um going into college for the first year, I mean, trying to wrap your mind around all that, I can see what like having a good counselor is so important.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

So yeah, they get tricky. I mean, I've seen people not meet eligibility based on one unit, right? They didn't complete one unit or coming out of high school, they didn't take one class that they needed to be D1 eligible. And so it's important.

unknown 5:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

So thinking about your your role as the counselor and keeping kids eligible and things like that, I'm sure there's a lot of like common mistakes you see, the high schoolers and the kids that are coming in, that maybe there's some common things that they could probably do now as like a sophomore or junior in high school, if they're thinking, hey, I want to play at the next level in any sport, right? So what are some of the common mistakes that you see coming in that people did that that they knew about it, they could easily fix it?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah, so um NCAA Division I, the biggest rule to be eligible to go to NCAA um division one school is that you have to complete 16 core courses by the time you graduate high school. And those 16 core courses are very specific. The school districts have to submit those courses to NCAA. NCAA has to approve those courses and say yes, they're on our approved list. And then students have to successfully complete those courses with a C or better. 10 of them have to be completed by the time they're juniors in high school. So eligibility actually starts probably your eighth grade year when you're doing those course selections.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

Yeah, you better, you better listen to that, people, eighth grade.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

When you're doing those course selections about whether or not you want to go to um what what classes you want to take your freshman year in high school, right? You have to make sure that you are enrolled that freshman year in the right courses because you have to complete 10 of them by your senior year. Um, and you have to have at least a 2.3 GPA um going to a division one school. But that two 2.3 GPA is only in those core courses. So those electives that you take, those PE classes that you take, um, those don't count towards that 2.3 GPA. It's only those 16 core courses. We're lucky in California because um our college system has something called A through G requirements where students have to take a series of courses to meet the eligibility requirements to go either Cal State or UC. They pretty much align with what NCAA requires. So it's like four years of English, three years of math, two years of science, um, foreign language, history, those kinds of things. So they align. So our students are very fortunate. That's not the case when we're looking at out-of-state schools. Um so that's a benefit that we have um being in California, but students still need to take them. They still need to get CS are better, they need to be careful if they're doing credit recovery, if they get a D in a class and then have to repeat it. They need to make sure that they're taking the right course that's on that approved list. So really important. Really important you think about the classes that you're taking.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

So hear that. Don't put it off. Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah, don't skate through taking all the lectives all the way through and thinking they're gonna be eligible, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah. Bobby, you asked what is a common mistake. I've seen people miss those 16 courses by one semester. One semester. Um, and then not be eligible to play. Um, and so it's really important that they're paying attention to what those courses are and and taking academics seriously.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Um, you spoke to like you've been in this game, you you've dealt with uh a lot of eligibility with athletes. Do you have any athletes that kind of stick out in your mind that, you know, a story about somebody that came from, you know, not maybe not being eligible? Like some a favorite story of yours, because you've been doing this a long time.

Success Story: From 2.0 To UCLA

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Yeah, favorite stories. I'm gonna keep um names um out of the conversation just because I want to make sure I'm protecting student confidentiality. But yeah, my favorite story is a student athlete that we had come into COD who wanted to go D1. And he shows up in my office and he's like, I have to graduate in a year and a half. And this was actually when I first started. It was like, I think it was my second year as a as a counselor. I've been doing it for 10 years now. So it was my second year as a counselor in athletics at COD. And um, it was at a time when we still had a lot of prerequisites for math. And so math as a gatekeeper, if if you all you all need to understand, math is a gatekeeper of all things, and you need to have your math done because math is gonna keep you from meeting these NCAA requirements. But we had a lot of prerequisites. That's not the case anymore. There's been some regulation changes, but he had several prerequisites in math that he needed to complete. And I was like, there's no way you can graduate in a year and a half. No way. Um, he was a true advocate for himself and he's like, I'm gonna do this. This is my goal. Um, and he went and talked to some math professors. He was able to prove to them that he had the skills to go straight into college-level math. He came back to me and he says, This professor will allow me to take his class. And I was like, Cool, let's do it. Graduated in a year and a half. Wow, gotta go. And let me tell you, he came out of high school with below 2.0 GPA, and he was recruited by over 12 division one schools. Um, he ended up going to UCLA and um played for UCLA, got his master's at UCLA. That's all it gives me the response. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And graduated in a year and a half. So he's my favorite story. Um he's in the market.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Kid just an athlete.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Yeah. He, you know, I think when a lot of kids think if they come to COD, they're not gonna be able to make that D1 dream happen. And I'll tell you, all the kids that want it to happen, they make it happen. Every year we have football players leaving that school, go into division one schools, but it's because they're serious about it. They take care of business in the classroom. Um, and if you have above a 3.0 coming out of COD, you're gonna and you're D1 caliber, like you have the skill, everyone's gonna recruit you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

The talent's always there. Just doing all that homework stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah, they don't have to worry about the academics. You're an easy, you're an easy for them, right? You're easy for them. They don't have to worry about that piece. They want you on their squad.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Well, it's nice to have someone like you in their corner helping them navigate all that just to make it easy for them.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah, it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Yeah, that's that's awesome.

Transfer Portal, Bounce Backs, And Recruiting

SPEAKER_03 11:21

You've been doing this a long time. Um, recently we've seen a lot of changes in the college athletics space, especially in the D1 space. I mean, those guys in football are basically professionals at this point. They're getting paid, their player movement, there's the freedom of, you know, transfer portal and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Are you starting to see that kind of trickle down into your level now? I mean, because you you gotta have guys that are super talented that that are on like can get into that game in terms of the NAIL and all that stuff. What are you starting to see on your level at the at the junior college level in California here?

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah, absolutely. And um, you know, I'm fortunate also in my role. I get to go to a conference every year that um is full of NCAA professionals, both on the athletic director, academic side of the house. And um there's always conversations about the transfer portal and about lawsuits that are happening. The NCAA is getting sued left and right. So a couple things. One is um you we get a lot of bounce backs. So a bounce back is somebody who went to a four-year university for whatever reason they weren't successful there. So they decide to go to a community college so that they can regain their eligibility to go back to division one. And it's for lots of reasons. Sometimes it's academic, sometimes they didn't have the position that they wanted and they want a different position. Sometimes it's family stuff, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Support, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, it's support. It's it's a lot of things. So we have a lot of bounce backs. Um, one thing that students, you know, don't realize is that when they go into the transfer portal, somebody has to pick them up, right? So if they go in the transfer portal, another coach has to pick them up to go to their school. And if no coach is picking them up, they're just stuck in the transfer portal. Just sitting there, just sitting there with nowhere to go.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

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SPEAKER_00 13:19

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, there was a there was a moment where like I was given some of those statistics and I don't recall them off the top of my head. But yeah, there's a there's some people who just get stuck in that portal with nowhere to go. So every year at COD, I have at least 10 bounce backs that are coming to COD. Yeah, I would say that pretty pretty standard, about 10 bounce backs coming back. Some of them don't always choose to stay with us because of financial circumstances and things, but yeah, I have I at 10 at least some advising every year. The same is also true. I know we're talking a lot about football, but baseball, it's big in baseball too. Um and so that's part of it. Another part of it is, you know, um the recruitment game has changed. And so I'm not a coach. I don't help a lot with the actual recruitment and understanding evaluating skill on the field, but I'm helping with the academic side of that. And coaches are gonna go to the portal first, then after the portal, they're gonna come to the JC. And then after the JC, they're going to the high schools, right? Unless you're a true high school standout and your name's everywhere. But that's typically what I'm seeing happening. So it's affecting the high school kids now.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

Like the scholarships are shrinking for the high school talent now, right? Because there's other avenues to get talent, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

And look at Indiana. I mean, the team that won the national championship, all those guys are from the portal. They didn't start at Indiana.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

They're they're setting like a new mold of like just going and getting guys that have already played college. So it's shrinking, it's shrinking the the high school, the high school scholarship pool, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:47

It is, yeah, it is. And we're just starting to see the effects of this, right? Because the portal's new for everybody, and even coaches are trying to figure out how this works. And um, and then you throw NIL in, and that's a whole other game where NIL is impacting it. I mean, if there was just a lawsuit coming out um where I think it was Georgia, right? I'm trying to remember the athlete, but signed the day after he signed, he decided to leave. And so now they're suing him for that.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

There's a couple of those goal.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, not only for what his contract was, his NIL contract, but the potential profit that that guy could have made, the loss of profit for that school. They're now suing him. And these are 18-year-olds signing these NIL deals that they don't really know what they're getting themselves into and how it's gonna impact them, and they need they need advice on how to do it. And I'm not saying it's all bad because some of it's good, right? Like we can talk about how important it is to pay our athletes, and that wasn't happening before, but it's also changed the game, and there's some bad stuff that's come about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Sharks out there that's gonna take advantage. I mean, there's always gonna be that, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, but and and also it's important to know NIL is across the board, so you can come to COD and get some NIL deals too. Um, so if there's any business people here listening locally too, like think about some of our local athletes here coming to College of the Desert, how you know they can help benefit from that NIL money too.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Do you guys have any yet? Have you seen that? Have you run across that yet?

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Um not at COD, but across the state, uh, more and more. Um, we actually have a conference coming up this spring where NIL is going to be a main topic of conversation because we're seeing more and more people come in, local businesses coming in wanting to support student athletes at the community college level. So it's happening more and more.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

So, like a small business owner could basically pay an athlete at COD to do a commercial or do some type of promotion for their business, and they can the college athlete can then benefit like a professional. Yeah, yeah, it's a crazy, crazy new world, man. I remember when guys are getting suspended for taking pizzas from boosters. Now guys are getting paid car rides dollars.

NIL At JC Level And Legal Shifts

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, the furniture and you couldn't furnish apartments, you couldn't pay, you can give them food. There's yeah, it's crazy. The game has changed. I would say the the biggest lawsuit right now that I think is going to impact community college is still being fought. It's still in litigation. Um, it's important that everyone understands that this is not been passed yet. It's being fought in court right now. But quarterback back at Vanderbilt last year sued because he lost out on a year of NIL money because he played at a community college first. And so he sued to get that year that he played at the community college not counted against his eligibility. And so he won the lawsuit, but it went in place for only students this year. So the 25, 26 academic year who had started off at a community college, they were able to get their year back. So they essentially did not have that count against them. A lot of people interpreted that as, oh, community college no longer counts. That's not the case, it does still count, but it is being fought in court right now where maybe someday you'll be able to come to COD, play for us for a year. That won't count towards your eligibility, and then you'll still have four years to play. I'm not mad at that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

I mean, yeah, but it's the wild west in terms of the rules right now, right? They're just ever changing.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

They change, they change so fast that like we have a committee at the state where uh I sit on to help advise our counselors like how to keep up and our coaches on how to keep up with this stuff because they're changing so fast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

That's crazy, man. It's crazy. If that goes through, that changes the whole landscape, not only of junior college football, but of high school football, right? Because you're gonna see guys leaving earlier, I think, to go to JC to play against better competition to get that because the division, because the the pool of scholarships is shrinking, right? So you gotta play better competition to get a scholarship. I do, I just think it changes everything.

Time Clocks, Older Athletes, And JC Flexibility

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Well, it does it does. And I mean, maybe, maybe leaving earlier, maybe not. Maybe, you know, we've we've had this conversation before about um students who are reclassing right now and repeating that eighth grade year, like maybe later on they're gonna not reclass because now they get to come to community college and take classes that are gonna count towards their degree. I think from a counseling perspective, one of the things that excites me about the potential of this rule change is that now our students can go get master's degrees with those scholarships that they're getting at the at the four-year level, right? Because they they'll be able to complete some units at College of the Desert towards their degree, finish in three years at the four-year, and then still have a year to play to get that master's degree.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

That makes a lot more sense, I think, than holding them back eighth grade year. You don't really benefit being the old guy on a young team. Like recruiters want young talent, not old talent.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Unless you're not that good.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

Yeah, I mean that to me, but to go to COD a year early would be much because you're playing better competition and you're working on classes that are gonna benefit your degree. Yeah. So I think that would be the more logical choice. I would I would assume if that law does pass.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yeah, I want to be clear, it's not a rule yet. It's not a rule yet, but it's it's being in fought right now. And and NCAA, because again, I like I have direct communication with uh the folks at NCAA because I we advise the state. Yeah, and they won't even talk with us about it right now because it's being fought in court. Yeah, they're not sure, they don't know what the outcome is going to be. So um, as soon as I know, be sure to let everyone else know.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

But let us know because we'll send my kid early to you, you know. Yeah, get up, get up there and play some better competition if you want to play college ball. But yeah, I I think the the landscape, like you're it's good that you're on top of it because it's hard to keep up with, like it's just ever changing, right? It's even for you, you got a meeting every month about the new rules, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Well, and the impact of them. I like sometimes the rule changes. Okay, cool, we're excited about this rule, and then you see later on, like, oh man, we didn't we didn't know it was gonna have this impact. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Cause like the ramification, yeah, the laws of like the the the effects that you don't see coming when those when those uh rules are passed, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

You almost need something like a class in high school to kind of start figuring all this out.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, so yeah, so I um I actually um put this out to all the athletic directors locally. I'm happy to go and talk to their students and their parents. Yeah, like I mean, I can't have parents and students in contacting me individually right now because I have a caseload at COD, you know? I have a job. You have a nine to five. Yeah, but um happy to work with groups and like come out and talk with our athletic directors and because you know this doesn't only affect football, it's all athletes. It's baseball, it's volleyball, it's our female athletes, um, emerging sports like girls' flag football, women's flag football. What does that look like? Um, and so I advise all athletes, not just football players, and so happy to come out to our high schools locally and talk about these rules and and the impact of these rules and get people started understanding what they need to do.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Right. And we're we'll we'll put uh your your information in the bio for all those counselors in the high schools that maybe want to pick Angel's brain here. I think it'd probably be a good conversation to have because, like I said, these who's gonna keep up with all these rules? It's just too much, you know. Um, on a lighter note, you always see these stories in the news about JC's these this guy 50 years old that wants to come out and play football. Well, you know, he never played before. So what's your oldest? Who's your oldest student that you've ever had in the athletic department there? You gotta have somebody. Tired of payroll headaches. iPay Solutions is your local payroll and HR partner right here in the Coachella Valley. From direct deposits to compliance, we handle the details so you can focus on growing your business. iPay Solutions, local, relied. And built for your success.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

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SPEAKER_00 22:21

Yeah, I don't know. It happens every year. Every year we have to do that. Really?

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Every year some old guy comes in there my age wanting to play on the football team.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Every year.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

He's still got eligibility. That's funny. I I joke all the time because I didn't uh I didn't use my athletic eligibility. So I always joke with the volleyball coach. Hey coach, I still have my eligibility ready. Um, but every year, um, I wouldn't say super old, right? I would say they're still in their 20s. Yeah, they're still in their 20s. But every year we have some people that took some time off and you know, for good reason or whatever. That's the good thing about community college is we don't have um a clock like the NCAA has. Like NCAA has a time clock where um like tennis, you you you can't take two years more than two years off to go play tennis at the NCAA school because there's all these amateur rules and things like that. They're they get really complicated. Um, but um, and then once you enroll full-time at a community college, your clock starts. And so you only have five years to play four seasons of competition. Um, and you have to do that within a five-year time period, and that clock never stops. That's another rule that a lot of people um don't understand and mess up on, and then their D1 clock is just not happening anymore. Um, but at the community college, we have no time clock. So you can come back and you can play one season with us, take four years off, and come back and play another season with us. You only can play two with us, but we don't have a time clock.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Yeah, glorious two years. So the oldest person wasn't 50.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

No, but you know, actually, I think the sport that probably had the the older students coming back was actually cross-country. We had some of our older students who found a love for running later on in their life.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

Yeah, and yeah, they came back and played some cross-country. Yeah, we have some.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

We had some students who are like pre-nursing who needed that stress relief, and it was a great opportunity for them to come out and like be part of the team and some credits, yeah, and get some credits, yeah. So um and the credit you do get credits at COD that actually helps pay for financial aid too, or get financial aid, not pay for financial aid, get financial aid. So yeah, we do have some older athletes coming back.

Concrete Steps For 10th–11th Graders

SPEAKER_03 24:23

Yeah, that's still hope for us. Still hope. Well, you already use your eligibility, so I'm the only one that's like I might have a year left or something, but I'm not gonna go kill myself to try and do that. I might die out there. Yeah. Um, so getting back to kind of the eligibility thing, kind of running up against time. We want to see what what advice would you give maybe a uh a player who thinks they're gonna play on the next level. They're like a 10th grader or 11th grader, thinking about I'm gonna go to the next level in any sport. What advice would you kind of give that person right now? What do they got to do to kind of get their ducks in a row in terms of you know getting to that next level and being eligible that first year on countries?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

So the first thing that I would do is make sure you're registering for the NCAA Eligibility Center. So you have to register for the NCAA eligibility center to get an official visit. You can't go on campus any NCAA school without having that ID number. Um, there is a fee associated with it. I think it's about$95 right now. Um, your um, for those of you who are in high school, your career center or um someone on your counseling team um also has the ability to give fee waivers for that um if you qualify for those fee waivers. So definitely get registered with the eligibility center. Take a look at um the 16 core courses that you need to take at your school. It's an easy Google. You just put in the Google search NCAA, 16 core courses, and then you can search by your high school. So everybody can go on, search, and you'll be able to see the actual name of the courses at your high school. So you need to make sure you're taking those 16 core courses and make sure you're passing your classes, right? Like you need um uh the minimum GP is a 2.3. So remember to get that, you can't just get straight C's. You have to have some Bs. If you had all B's, you'd have a 3.0. I mean, let's shoot for that, right? Um, even better. Again, if you have those academics in line, um, the recruitments are gonna come uh, you know, bigger and better because they know that they don't have to worry about you academically. The the NCAA schools um get graded, they they have this thing called APR, is where they have to submit data and prove that they're doing a good job as departments. And one of those data pieces is your academics. And so it's a huge part of them receiving their funding and continuing to be in existence. So if they don't have to worry about you. Um, and then lastly, you know, don't be afraid to ask for help. Nobody does anything on their own. We all like to think we do, but nobody does anything on their own.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

That's a big one.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

So you need to ask for help, whether it's from a counselor, whether it's from a teacher, you need support um because life is hard, things get hard, academics get hard, and you need people in your corner to help you when things get hard.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Especially that transition from high school to college. I think it's important.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

So and you mentioned that before, I think, but where where could people find that information online if they wanted to actually?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

So if you just Google NCAA eligibility center, it's usually the first link that pops up. Um and um again, it's the eligibility center that is where you register. Um, there's three options to register. Um, and you really want to do the option where you have to pay because that's what's going to get you the status of whether you're um we didn't talk about this at all, but whether you're a qualifier or not. So a qualifier is somebody who met all the requirements and they can go directly and play and get a scholarship and practice with the team. So that's what's going to give you that status. Awesome. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

And where would you find out if you're qualified or not? Just on that issue.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

So the you have to register with the eligibility center, and then you only find out if you're a qualifier actually, if you're being recruited by a school. So the school has the ability to go in and say, All right, we're looking at this kid, NCAA, evaluate him, make sure he's a qualifier. NCAA will come back with a report. Yep, he's a qualifier. No, he's not a qualifier. Okay. Um, but I actually at COD have the ability, if they're a COD student, to do that as well. So a student will come in to me and they'll tell me, hey, miss, I think I'm a qualifier. Um and I'll be like, Cool, give me your NCAA ID number. And then I send that NCAA ID number to my contact at the NCAA and I say, Hey, they're a JUCO student. Can you evaluate them? Let me know if they're qualified or not, because then I advise differently. The rules for transfer are different if you're a qualifier versus a non-qualifier.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Awesome. A lot of good information here, people. You're gonna have to watch this one twice because this one has take notes. Yeah, this one, you're gonna have to have the AI break this one down for you. But um, Angel, thanks for coming in. Yeah, thank you so much. Kind of up against time, but you're a wealth of information. We're gonna leave, we're gonna leave all you counselors out there that may want to talk to her and get your students a little bit more uh versed on what's coming on the next level. We're gonna leave her uh some of her contact information for you guys. And thanks for coming in. It was it was great talking to you. We're gonna have to do this again when when that rule changes, we're gonna have to have you back and kind of find out what how that affects the whole landscape of of college sports.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

So absolutely well, thanks for coming in. Thanks for doing what you do, supporting our students here locally. It's important.

Closing And Resources For Schools

SPEAKER_03 29:16

And that's what we're that's what we're trying to do. So you guys know the routine. If you found some value in this episode, like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on Desert Valley Blitz.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Peace.