Your playbook to and through college
For Student-Athletes

Take Control of
Your Recruitment

You've put in the work on the court. Now it's time to put in the work off the court. Play2College gives you the tools to organize your recruitment, track your options, and make informed decisions - all in one place.

Your Tools

How Play2College Helps You as an Athlete

Stop managing your recruitment in spreadsheets and group chats. These tools were built specifically for what you need.

Track & Organize Your College List

Save every college you're interested in. Set recruitment stages from "On Radar" all the way to "Enrolled." Add notes, track progress, and see your entire pipeline at a glance - no more losing track of where you stand with each school.

25 recruitment stages to match exactly where you are with each school.

Rate & Compare on 42 Topics

Score each college on academics, facilities, coaching staff, location, campus culture, financial fit, and more. When it comes time to decide, you'll have data - not just gut feelings - to guide your choice.

Side-by-side comparisons make the big decision easier.

Log Every Coach Contact

Record every email, call, visit, and offer from coaches. Keep a complete communication history for each college so you always know where things stand and what was said.

Track the answers that matter now - is there a roster spot, and has the school opted in to revenue sharing?

Map Overview

See all your tracked colleges on an interactive map, color-coded by recruitment stage. Instantly visualize where your opportunities are and plan campus visit routes.

Color-coded pins show your recruitment progress at a glance.

Share Your Journey

Invite your parent, guardian, or recruitment agent to follow your progress. They get their own view and can help by suggesting colleges and logging coach contacts - but you approve everything. You stay in control.

Collaboration with approval - your journey, your decisions.

Appointments & Calendar

Schedule campus visits, coach calls, application deadlines, and showcase events. Share your calendar with your parents or agent so everyone knows what's coming up.

One calendar for everything recruitment-related.
The New Rules

Recruiting Has Changed - Recruit Smarter

The rules shifted in 2025-26. Knowing how scholarships, eligibility, and pay now work gives you an edge most prospects don't have.

Protect your 5-year clock

Division I now runs on an age-based “5-for-5” clock: five seasons of competition inside a single five-year window, which starts at your first full-time college enrollment anywhere — including a junior college or a school abroad — or the academic year after your 19th birthday, whichever comes first. Redshirts and most extension waivers are gone, so enrolling as early as you can after high school is what protects all five years.

See how the eligibility clock works

Enrolling early and on a plan is the only lever you control here — a gap year you take at 19 costs the same season a redshirt used to save.

Ask about the roster spot

The House v. NCAA settlement (approved June 6, 2025) replaced D1's per-sport scholarship caps with roster limits — 105 in football, 15 in men's and women's basketball — and lets schools that opt in pay athletes directly through revenue sharing, capped at about $20.5M per school in 2025-26 and roughly $21.3M in 2026-27. Inside a roster limit every spot can be funded, but each school decides how many it actually funds, so partial aid is still common.

Read the full House settlement money rules

So the real question for a coach is no longer "is there a scholarship?" but "is there a roster spot for me, and is it funded?" Ask whether the program opted in and how it handles NIL — the answer tells you how the school invests in its athletes.

Know how offers work now

The National Letter of Intent was eliminated in October 2024. Commitments are now formalized with the school's own written offer of athletics aid (a financial-aid agreement), which serves the same binding purpose the NLI used to.

What to check before you sign

Read every offer carefully and log exactly what each school puts in writing — amount, coverage, and renewal terms differ from school to school now that there is no standard form.

Test-optional reality

The SAT/ACT is not required for NCAA D1 or D2 eligibility - your 16 core courses and core GPA carry the load. Some universities still want test scores for admission or merit aid, so check each school's own requirements.

Understand the portal

The transfer portal has reshaped recruiting - coaches fill needs with experienced transfers as well as high-schoolers. Build relationships early, stay realistic about depth charts, and keep your options open.

You can only enter the transfer portal during your sport's designated window, and the windows differ by sport — football runs a single January window, basketball gets 15 days after the NCAA championship game, and most other sports get roughly 30 days after their championship season plus a fall or spring window. The NCAA has been changing these dates almost every year, so we maintain the current sport-by-sport table in one place.

See the sport-by-sport transfer windows

Ready to Take Control?

Create your free account and start building your college list today. Then invite your parent or agent to join you - they'll be able to help from their own account.

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