May 26, 2025 • 29 mins
🎙️ Significant Recruiting with Kyle Crookes, Head Baseball Coach at University of Central Missouri
In this special bonus episode of Significant Recruiting, Matt Rogers sits down with Kyle Crookes, Head Baseball Coach at UCM, to talk about what really matters in the college recruiting process.
Coach Crookes breaks down the intangibles he looks for in recruits, how coachability and competitiveness separate serious players, and the biggest mistakes athletes and families make when trying to get noticed. Whether you’re a parent navigating the journey or a player chasing your shot, this episode is packed with real-world insight from one of the best in the business.
💻 Visit coachmattrogers.com to schedule a free recruiting strategy session and access tools to help you stay organized, prepared, and confident throughout the recruiting process.
📘 Don’t forget to check out Significant Recruiting: The Playbook for Prospective College Athletes, and keep an eye out for sport-specific recruiting journals — coming this summer.
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Welcome back to SignificantRecruiting with Matt Rogers, the
bonus segment of the podcastwhere we get straight to the
heart of the recruiting processwith college coaches from every
level.
Today I'm joined by Kyle Crooks,head baseball coach at the
University of Central Missouri,one of the top division two
programs in the country.
And this episode, coach Crooksshares exactly what he looks for
(00:27):
in a recruit, why coachabilityand strength matters more than
flash.
And how players can separatethemselves in a crowded
recruiting class.
Before we get started, don'tforget to subscribe to the
podcast and visit coach mattrogers.com where you'll find
tools, guides, and the chance toschedule a free recruiting
(00:48):
strategy session to help you andyour family build a smart,
personalized plan for yourcollege journey.
Alright, let's dive in.
Here's my conversation onrecruiting with Coach Kyle
Crooks.
Coach, I'm really lookingforward to talking, recruiting
with you and getting yourinsights.
(01:09):
But we ended our last segmentand I asked you about if there
was somebody that you wouldwanna share a dugout with, and
you gave me a great answer.
You gave me Kevin Brooks, but I.
After we stopped that segment,we talked a little bit more and,
and it came to you that therewas somebody else that you
wouldn't mind sharing a dugoutwith, and I thought it was a
really great answer and it's agreat coach to share with our
(01:33):
listeners.
Yeah.
I read the book, and it's justans endurance a long time coach
at University of North CarolinaWomen's Soccer.
That's inarguably, maybe themost successful coach in the
history of college athletics.
But.
Build a program from the groundup and just dominate for 30, 40,
50 years, however long he was acoach there.
(01:55):
I know he just stepped down,retired.
His personality, what he did forpractices, how he addressed his
teams, everything.
not just a day in the dugout,but man, a year watching that
guy coach would, I don't evenknow if that'd be enough time,
but that's somebody that I trulyadmire I didn't wanna leave that
one off.
The slow processing happened.
it's such a great answer.
And it's one that I often forgetabout, but when I think about
it, I'm like, oh my gosh, thatmight be the guy that we all,
(02:18):
esteem to be.
Oof.
Man, that's tough.
There.
I know they're the John Wooden'sof the world in the wrong poles.
Yeah.
By no means do I wannadisrespect any of them.
But the personality that I feellike that came through, at least
the book that I read with aboutAnson do just seems to me like
and I'm a not a secret.
I love soccer.
Yeah.
And boy, I, I would, I think Iwould really learn a lot, but
get a lot out of that and enjoya lot of it too.
(02:39):
Very much agree with you there.
And if you haven't read thatbook, it's a great one for young
coaches to read too.
It's just an amazing approach.
Yeah.
All right, coach, I want to jumpinto recruiting with you.
I wanna do about 15, 20 minutes,and really this is for the
student athletes out there, that14 to 18-year-old, that mom and
dad that are going through therecruiting journey, that high
school coach, who really istrying to help their kids get to
(03:01):
the next level.
you've built a nationally rankedrecruiting classes at Central
Missouri.
What traits separate a D twodifference maker from just a
good player?
Because you see a lot of goodplayers.
Just about every kid I'm surethat you see at your camp is a
good player.
What does that D two differencemaker look like?
(03:22):
What?
What are those characteristics?
I think there are a couplethings they can do to be that.
I will tell you strength, likethe weight room is a big deal.
Like the sooner you can bephysical, the better.
Because that's what separates alot of time, the young from the
old.
you got a 23-year-old, yearsenior that's just possesses man
strength, but also five years inthe weight room that you don't,
as an 18-year-old coming intocollege, But you can handle
(03:43):
that.
If you know that, when you startyour high school career at 14,
you've got four years to buildthe best version of your body
that you possibly can.
And I'm not, whatever that is.
I would encourage guys to dothat.
I think that puts you in aposition to be somebody that,
for us, can see the field.
Soon, everybody's talents thatthey've been gifted, may vary,
but you can be strong player.
(04:04):
You can be a strong physicalplayer that can impact the game,
through your work in the weightrooms, through something you can
control, and I think that's abig thing.
That makes you a differencemaker because you can impact the
game right away.
We don't have to wait on you todevelop physically, even though
your skillset may be there.
'Cause you're playing, at anylevel.
when you transition from highschool, you're playing at a
(04:24):
different level.
You're playing at a higher leveland you're playing against older
dudes who don't care that you're18.
They just wanna beat you.
That's right.
So like you better be physical.
people talk about slowing thegame down a lot.
And I think, those definitionsprobably run the gamut in terms
of what that means.
But there's a way to go aboutplaying that I think really
lends itself to having successfor us immediately.
(04:45):
And that becomes like thematurity of how you go about
doing everything that you do toprepare to play.
And it shows up when kid's play.
there's intentional reps versusjust reps.
everything's got intentionality.
And I think that's somethingthat a lot of people just don't
know.
ignorance's not a terrible word.
It literally means you just,you're not aware.
(05:06):
You just don't know.
You haven't been told, you'renot taught.
And I think a lot of people areignorant in terms of what, an
intentionally prepared playerlooks like.
And those things separate too.
There's some guys that have anelevated sense of maturity that
are more ready to help thisprogram sooner because.
A lot of the things we're doingare in sync with how they've
been thinking since they've beenin high school.
And then there's a lot of guysthat they don't know why they're
(05:28):
doing what they're doing.
They're just doing what they'retold and they do as little as
they need to,'cause they'repretty talented.
And they move on.
And then when they get here, itdoesn't matter who you are.
Like, I don't care how physicalyou are, we're gonna ask you to
do these things.
And if you're not used tointentionally approaching
practice in a certain way, itcan be a challenge.
We're investing a whole, there'sa lot of emotional and.
Mental investment in what we'reasking you to do, a lot of
(05:49):
understanding that we're askingyou to do.
And if you're not used tothinking about the game, you've
just been better than everybodyyour whole life.
That makes it tough.
So it's, it's the physical sideof it that you can control.
And then, the understanding oflike actual preparation for what
we are going to do as a team.
And some guys like really have agreat feel for the game and
(06:09):
probably their fathers and ormothers or both.
Played the game at a relativelyhigh level.
Yeah.
So those conversations are,being had at home About how they
practice versus or they had anolder brother that went through
either the program or anotherprogram.
I think, finding people thathave that background helps a
little bit.
It's a leg up, I think, on onimpacting a program right away
(06:31):
for that parent that's listeningto this.
Use one of your seniors as anexample.
What does that intentional preplook like?
Give an example of what from oneof your kids that's been with
you for four or five yearscompared to a freshman walk in
the door.
Vance Tobel, who's our startingleft fielder every day has
always been pretty physical.
That's what got him here, Ithink.
And he always just had a reallygood habit of, finding hits.
(06:53):
We weren't really sure whatposition he was gonna play.
And he registered his firstyear.
And he continued to work on hisbody, but that was a strength.
So I think that was somethingthat he felt good about doing
'cause he was good at it, buthis intentionality became okay.
I'm no longer the biggest andthe strongest anymore.
I can see that I need to find away to be more of a com.
(07:13):
Like just touching the ball andbeing stronger doesn't work
anymore.
What do I need to do to be agreat player?
Or, for Central Missouri?
And first was finding aposition.
So like he was always a hitter,so they just shoved him at
third.
They'd shov him at first.
I think he pitched some in highschool, just all over the place.
Find a position and own thatposition.
(07:34):
And it took him a couple yearsbecause nobody really likes to
talk about defense or how to begreat at it, but that's like a
number one priority for us whenwe're shoving guys out on the
field.
So Hey Vance.
And it took him a while.
So he was an all American DH forus before he was our left
fielder.
You only get, there's only oneDH in the lineup.
So you're really, you don'twanna put yourself in that
(07:54):
pigeon hole in high school,right?
So find a position, own it, begreat at it, at all the details.
And he has found a way to dothat.
Now, he is our starting leftfielder every day.
And actually the beginning ofthe year, he had done so well
that I started him in center.
He is, he's a fantastic athlete,but he's really grown himself,
defensively.
And it, honestly, the biggestchange he made was how
intentional he was when he was apractice defending.
(08:17):
When you're around a bunch ofpeople that you love, it's
really easy to talk and I don'tknow, just not focus on the
details that are right in frontof you and you could, I can see
it, I could see it in him fromthe day he made the decision to
do it.
And for the last two to threeyears, he's been as diligent, a
worker as anybody defensively.
But it took him two years to getthere.
And then offensively he found aroutine.
(08:38):
He's a very gifted hitter.
That doesn't mean you get tojust show up and hit.
The other guy that's on themountain is on scholarship too,
and he's probably gonna pitchyou big, strong guy a certain
way, and you better be reallygood at understanding what that
is and how to, and how to combatthat, so to speak.
So he's found himself anincredibly good routine.
He shows up to the park beforeeverybody else.
He goes through his t routine,his flip routine is machine
(09:00):
routine.
And the best part about this ishe normally drags somebody in
with him.
So they Have to work with him,which is awesome'cause he's
paying it forward.
That's great.
And so that guy's learning thatdiligence and he's doing it and
he did it before his AllAmerican DH year and he hasn't
stopped doing it since.
So that's three years of everyday of being the first guy in
(09:21):
the building to do what he needsto do to prepare to be ready for
practice.
To then to prepare to be readyfor a game.
And he does it before everypractice and before every game.
And he hasn't changed in threeyears.
And that's what, to me, it lookslike, to grow up in this program
and find a routine and a processthat works for you, that pays
(09:42):
attention to the details thatyou learn, that we care about
and that you learn are gonnahelp you have success.
And I think, it's turned himinto the player that he is
today.
Like 3 74 with 19 home runs and64 rbis Wow.
That's a hell of a year.
And it's hitting in the middleof the order and it's playing
the outfield every day.
it's from a place where when hegot here, we weren't sure where
(10:04):
he was gonna play.
We weren't sure what he wasgonna do.
And he did it.
Intentionally and grew himselfinto being what he is.
man, can't be more proud.
And he's a leader because of howhe does it.
He doesn't have to speak aboutit, he's not any of that.
But as I said, he drags peopleearly, work with him.
And they're better because ofhim.
And he's teaching them routinesand how much it matters.
(10:26):
And guys that have grown up withhim that are the same age as him
know how he's transitioned frombeing.
We don't know a position tobeing a dh, to being an everyday
outfielder for us.
And they've watched the growthprocess too, so other people can
speak on what he was and whathe's grown into.
And he becomes an example forthis program.
Sounds like the definition of amultiplier to me.
(10:47):
Yeah.
That's a great word for him.
And ain't nobody else you wantin your group pushing a sled
other than him.
I can tell you that right now.
That's great.
He will bring the wall foreverybody and they would do the
same for him.
Love it.
I'm sure you've seen this movie,but it's one of my favorites,
the love of the Game.
Kev Koon.
Yeah.
my favorite part of that movieis when he can step on the mound
and go clear the mechanism.
And it just sounds like thisyoung man and yours, he gets
(11:08):
that he's able to find thatfunnel that he can get into
before a game, before he stepsin the plate and he can clear
the mechanism.
And you just see that we talkedabout Kyle Tucker, before we
start, you just see it's all ofa sudden it's like they get a
bubble around them and they'renot gonna let anything affect
(11:29):
that routine and thatdiscipline.
Yep.
Yeah, you can feel it, it's wayharder in a game to do that.
But what he does is he putshimself in a position to be as
white as he can possibly be forevery game.
Love it.
And he knows it.
And yeah, man, when he's lockedin the box, everybody in the
park knows and there's noavoiding it.
So fun to watch.
It's, real quick, I wanna goback to lifting and strength
(11:51):
training.
Yeah.
High school weight rooms.
Kids' bench, squat, curl.
are there things that you want abaseball player doing now to
keep those core muscles, thebleaks, the adductors, abductor?
Is it yoga?
Is it Pilates?
Is it ball work?
Are there things that yourstrength conditioning coach is
doing?
(12:11):
I think there's tiers of this.
I don't think people liftenough, in high school.
I just don't think they take theopportunity to do it.
We have certain KPIs, like keyperformance indicators that we
use and we hand out to the guysthat we recruit, right?
if you don't front squat 400, ifyou don't bench 2 25, if you
don't deadlift.
I can't remember what it I don'tknow if it's 3 85 or 4 85.
Like those are the topperformers in our program.
Like strength means something.
(12:32):
Yes.
So like the Olympic liftsmatter.
If you don't want to clean, Iget it.
High pole, but move white andget strong please.
And if somebody's willing toPilates and they're willing to
yoga and they're willing to,water bag and rotate and, do
rotational movements andstability movements and some
things that become more,specific to the movements we
(12:52):
make as baseball players.
Awesome.
But I would encourage people toget under a bar and move heavy
weight I'll give the disclaimer,I don't want anybody to hurt
themselves, and I'd rather youmove the weight Properly, than
just breaking yourself to moveweight.
you need to move weight.
You need to squat, you need toput a bar on your back.
or on your shoulders and squat,you need to deadlift you need to
bench Because they're resilientbodies.
(13:14):
You're loading your spine andyour body becomes more use to
handling the stress.
That heavier lifting.
Produces whether it's highvolume, but I think safely
moving into higher weight is athing.
And I think we've gotten so fardown the rabbit hole of baseball
specific training that guysforgot that big leaguers are.
(13:37):
Huge.
And they're strong.
And yes, they move well, they'reincredibly good movers and that
does come with it.
And there's something tounderstanding that.
But if you're a great mover andyou're gumby and you're totally
weak.
Who cares.
unless you're Chris sale, Idon't know that it matters.
And most of the people we'redealing with aren't that, so you
gotta get strong.
And you can do that.
(13:58):
It takes zero skill to get undera bar and squat.
Do it repeatedly three times aweek for four years in high
school and watch what happens.
You're the best looking dude ina uniform.
You feel pretty good aboutyourself.
You're pretty strong.
And when you make contact, theball's probably gonna go.
Or if you throw the ball'sprobably gonna go faster or
whatever.
(14:18):
You're gonna be a better runner.
You're gonna be a bettereverything because of it.
And I see guys go to trainersand facilities and stuff all the
time, and these facilities arelike.
Cool.
You're shaking a water bag onone leg.
Like I get it, but I'm surethere's a need for that, but
does the 14-year-old need to dothat, or does he just need to
get strong?
Let's get him strong and let'ssee what he can do, after he
(14:40):
achieves a certain amount ofskill and then you can make him
shake a water bag.
Cool.
But.
What all that does for injuryprevention.
it's volumes of how a kid'sgonna stay healthy throughout
his career playing 40, 50, 60games in a season.
If you're not strong, yourbody's gonna break down your
joint.
we lift during our season.
We lift three times a weekduring our season.
We lift four times a week in theoff season.
'cause what's the point oflifting four times a week if
(15:00):
you're not gonna lift during theseason anyway?
Yeah, we do.
And we lift heavy weight in theseason and we do a bunch of ply
stuff and our strength guy doesa really good job.
But it matters.
And this is about beingrecruited too, like Yeah.
What do you look like in auniform?
That's right.
I.
That's, and again, this isthings that I didn't know and I
didn't do well enough as aplayer in high school.
I did.
Me too.
Me too.
I'm telling other people becauseI think it's valuable.
(15:21):
Yeah.
Yep.
I didn't get it till I saw astory on Michael Jordan bench
pressing 45 minutes beforeplaying a basketball game, and
I'm like, oh my God, he justbench pressed 400 pounds before
I went and played a basketballgame.
Yeah.
And then, made six threes.
I want to talk to families aboutthis.
So there's a lot of parents thatdon't get this.
The numbers you throw out forbench and your squat and what
you're looking for, that's 18 to24 months of work.
(15:46):
If you haven't done a lot ofthat it's a development.
So if you're 14, man, you mightonly be benching 60 pounds.
80, 80 pounds, but yeah,whatever.
It's, every two, three weeks,can you add five pounds to that,
and do it right.
If you're gonna work with atrainer, find somebody that's
gonna teach you how to do it,right?
So I love that coach.
I'd rather them spend time inthe weight room with a trainer
than with a hitting coach atthat point.
Like'cause one, like figure outthe skill once you're strong
(16:07):
enough to do it.
Yep.
All right.
When you're talking to a recruitwhat singles to you that the kid
is actually coachable and youtalked about parents nod their
head and not just saying theright things.
Is there things that you hearand see in a recruit that tell
you, this kid's ready to becoached?
Man, I wish I had that answer.
And maybe there's a red flag foryou.
(16:29):
so I guess I go to that and thisis directed at the parents.
Parents become the red flags ifthe parents are speaking for the
child, the 18-year-old man atthis point in time, or
17-year-old boy or whatever.
If they're doing most of thetalking, that's problematic for
me.
'cause yes, we're recruiting thewhole thing.
The kid is going to be going toschool here and if he can't
communicate with me because theparents are too busy doing
(16:52):
everything, that's a red flag.
How the kid interacts with hisparents, good and or bad is a
red flag too.
So if they don't treat theirparents well, I have an issue
with that.
If they speak to their mother,their father in a certain way
that I would considerdisrespectful.
And it's hard for me to bespecific, but I've heard it.
Like when somebody sayssomething that makes me cringe,
(17:13):
I'm like, no way my dad wouldhit me if I said that exactly.
But, so those two things becomered flags, eye contact, body
language, facial expressions areall things that we'd like to
see.
I'd like to engage the player inand of himself and ask his
opinion on a couple things.
And if he can respond.
And there, it's not always easy,but if he can respond in a
clear, concise answers or hehas, there's been a bunch of
(17:35):
kids, honestly, that we'verecruited that have had really
good conversations about whattheir processes are and we
haven't signed a bunch of'em orthey've gone other places.
But those are kids I think thatare gonna end up having a decent
amount of success because theyunderstand already.
Hey this is my process and wemay adapt it or we may, hone it
or refine it a little bit.
But having a process for howthey succeed now is a pretty
(17:57):
good indicator of them beingwilling and open to doing that
later.
I think red flags are probablymore what we look for because
what we're doing is we'rewatching a kid play and he's
shown us he can play at a levelthat we think will help us two
or three times.
So now it's about, okay, arethere things that stand out once
we get a chance to meet him andhis family that would deter us
from recruiting him any further?
and for all my kids out therethat I coach and work with on
(18:19):
your recruiting, you just heardit from Coach.
So you wonder why we work onyour process so much and why you
do what you do and what drivesyou and why you work the way you
work.
that's why we do it becausecoaches wanna understand, Did we
just catch you on a good day?
if that's the case, then we gotour one.
That's probably, we're gonnaneed more than that.
So if you can repeat what youdid, that's a big part of it.
And our job is to help you withthat too.
(18:39):
But man, if you already have anidea as to what that is, boy,
that's huge.
Love it.
Is there a common reason why youstop recruiting a kid with a ton
of talent?
Kid that's throwing 93 mile anhour, a kid that's already in
the weight room already doing,bating four 50 and killing.
Is there a reason?
he told us he's not coming.
Probably that's, that would be,oh, he is going to Angelo State
(19:01):
or Tampa, or he is gonna go toMizzou or ku.
but why would you pull away froma kid?
Why would you stop recruiting akid with that talent?
watching him play and realizingwhat the talent is, but then he
acted in a way that was reallynot in line with what our values
are.
He's a selfish teammate.
I think Tim Corbin did a reallygood job of taking the lid off
this a long time ago.
How does he interact with histeammates?
how does he handle success?
(19:22):
How does he handle failure?
How does he handle the umpires?
What is he doing in betweeninnings, is he engaged with his
mom in between innings?
That's a problem.
I don't want that.
Some of those things I thinkthey'd be egregious.
I think most people wouldprobably see those things and
say the same thing.
And then, honestly, on yourrecruiting trip, who are you?
If you're doing us a favor bybeing on this trip, then sorry,
(19:42):
that's not what this is.
That's probably gonna be, whatit is a feel for whether, God's
gift has, made himself availablefor us to recruit him.
And if that's what it is sorry.
I'll take the blue collar kidthat's still got work to do.
I'm laughing coach.
'cause you're answering threequestions for everyone I ask.
It's awesome.
You're knocking down everythingon my list.
For recruits hoping to play at atop tier D two, like UCM, what's
(20:04):
the one thing they should bedoing right now that most
aren't?
Depends on how old they are.
I mentioned the weight room.
I think you need to care aboutcatch play.
If you're a position player,that's awesome.
You gotta be able to hit.
That's a tool that's reallydifficult, to teach and to be
successful with.
So saying there are eightpositions on the field to play
as a hitter, and.
being really good at defendingin one of those positions is
(20:26):
probably your best way to get tous.
Athleticism makes a hugedifference.
Your ability to make outs.
That's the name of the game.
we talked about the lifting sideof it.
I think that lends itself to thespeed side of it.
And care about the entire partof the game, not just the
hitting side of it.
Hitting's the most fun, it's theleast successful.
So I get it.
(20:46):
when you have a bad game, whatdo you go to the cages and you
go Cool.
But.
If you can't defend, what am Igonna do?
There's only one spot in the dh,role.
So again, like catch plays ahuge deal.
Your ability to handle theglove, handle the ball.
We play in the Midwest, there'swind everywhere, all over the
place.
If you can't throw into a 30mile an hour headwind, you can't
play the infield for us.
(21:08):
Or for anybody probably.
But those are things that Idon't know that high school kids
are aware of.
And so you better value thebaseball.
You better make outs and ballsthat look like they shouldn't be
outs into outs.
And you better learn how todive.
You better learn how to giveeffort.
You better learn that'ssomething that matters to me and
matters to us and make it matterto you.
Because.
It's gonna be the difference inthe game more than likely.
(21:29):
And we feel if you possess theability, to hit a little bit,
but you can really defend and wegot a spot for you.
But like I said, I think theweight room and the value of the
entire game, not just.
Not just the, I can hit part ofit.
'Cause what if I go watch a playtwo, two times you get eight at
bats and you go oh, for eight.
But then your next four at bats,you're four for four.
(21:51):
You're four for 12 at that pointin time, and you're hitting 3
33, which is good.
And we all know that.
But if you didn't defend at all.
After you're Oh, for eight.
I'm like yeah, I didn't reallydo anything else either, yep.
What do I go do?
Yeah.
You're always defending, you'redoing that.
You know the game's three hourslong, you're at bats.
Take two minutes a minute.
Yeah.
Where you doing for the othertwo hours and 50 minutes?
(22:11):
You better be defending andplaying catch at a high level.
Yeah, go look at the Boston RedSox.
They had a world class, 200,$300million, third baseman, and he
didn't feel very well last yearand they just went and signed
another guy to come in and playthird and moved him to dh.
That translates all the way upthe board.
Yeah.
Sorry, Mafi.
Yeah.
Last question, coach you, you'vebeen great and I so appreciate
(22:32):
your time.
Sure.
I'm gonna give you a littlehypothetical.
I'm a small town kid, town of2000 people in Northern
Illinois.
Okay.
I'm a catcher.
I about four 20.
I got a 1.8 pop time.
The leader of my team, I havegreat grades.
I'm a high character kid.
I play three sports, but I'm ina town of 2000 people and nobody
(22:56):
knows I even exist.
How do I get you to recruit me?
Because you're not coming toNorthern Illinois.
You're not coming to my tinylittle conference.
How do I get you to recruit me?
You send me an email yourself.
I don't, to no offense, no NCSAor any of the other stuff.
No, you're with, you're speakingmy language.
Send me an email.
(23:16):
I really don't care about statsmyself personally.
I don't.
I would care.
And part of it is because Godloved the managers and the
coaches or whoever that areputting those stats together,
but none of'em are accurate.
So it doesn't matter.
So corresponding video, pleaselet me see what you are and then
let me say, okay, I see.
Like we can tell how you move.
(23:37):
We can tell how you throw aball.
We can tell how your swing worksto some degree.
I can't tell you exacteverything, but then we have a
decent idea.
And then we can say, okay, cometo camp.
Will you come to camp?
Are you interested enough tomake the six and a half, seven
hour drive from Edwardsville,Illinois to our camp and come
camp with us?
Where you'll showcase all yourtools and talents and on
(23:58):
metrics, and then you'll play ina game.
And we'll get a chance to watchyou compete and we'll see how
you engage in other people thatare somewhat strangers, which is
what college is gonna be.
We'll see how your skills applyto the field in game and outta
game.
You'll interact with us ascoaches and we will be the
genuine versions of ourselves,and hopefully you are too.
And then we'll probably have aconversation afterwards.
(24:19):
And if we like what we see andwe're hunting that position,
then you know, you just gotyourself recruited.
And that happens to us a lot.
And people, I think scoff atcamps because they, I can see
like they're, money makers for abunch of places.
But for us, I think we have 16or 17 guys on our roster from
camp.
We invite people to camp that wewanna see that we can't see
during the spring.
'cause guess what we're doingduring the spring?
We're playing.
(24:39):
So if you can't drive toIllinois when you're playing
high school baseball in thespring, like it's not gonna
happen.
And in the summer, unless you'recoming to KC or say, if you're
playing in a tournament in St.
Louis, like there's probablygonna need to be another reason
why I'm there to see you.
But you'll be one of the many.
And if it works out that way,great.
But if you wanna leave it thechance, then that's what you're
doing.
Or you can communicate with usdirectly.
(25:01):
Come to camp, tell us you care.
Show us you care.
Let us see.
And that's a guaranteed way ofgetting in front of us for us to
say, yes, no, maybe this is whatyou would have to do.
If it's maybe, and I think it'slike an unofficial visit.
You get a chance to see thefacilities.
Everything else you get a chanceto learn us.
The whole thing, I just, I couldnot be a bigger proponent of
(25:23):
camps when they are set, atleast for us as a program and
for players.
And that's what they, I got a16-year-old son.
That's what I tell'em to do.
You're, if you wanna go play, goshow up to the places that you
think you wanna play at, and goto one of their camps and make
an impression.
And, then you'll know, and maybeyou'll come back and say, I hate
that place.
I don't wanna go there.
Or maybe you'll come back andsay, I wasn't good enough.
(25:44):
They don't want me, whatever thecase, but at least, whereas, if
you don't, you just hope, then Idon't think that's a strategy.
Yeah, you're probably getting200 of those emails a week, I
would imagine, somewhere in thatworld, right?
We get, yeah it's in thehundreds for sure.
If I can delineate that it'sfrom an individual specifically,
not from an organization,massive.
You want it from the massorganization, then I'll read'em
all.
(26:04):
If they have video closed I'llwatch.
And then if it's video that Ifind intriguing and I can gather
enough info on, just watchingthem move, then I'll invite'em
to camp.
And I do it myself.
I don't have anybody else doingit.
It's me, coach Backas, coachMcFadden.
Come to camp.
And, let's check it out and see.
I just got one from, aleft-handed yesterday, and I
like, I wanna see him.
(26:25):
The video looked good.
a hundred feet away.
Oh yeah.
It's terrible.
It doesn't mean no good.
And I get it, we're not supposedto all be videographers and
everything, but I gotta be ableto see what I need to see.
But he, it was like, okay, thisis pretty intriguing and there's
something we need to look at.
Yeah.
Please, Wesley, come to camp.
Come to camp.
Yeah.
If you're a lefty pitcher, Igotta give you an extra look.
I just gotta, yeah.
And the arm works good.
(26:45):
He's a pretty decent athlete.
He took a good swing.
It he moves, right?
There's something to grow with.
And what's fascinating about,the added part of this is what
other people say about you?
And there's another kid thatplayed against him that happens
to be on our team, and he's man,he's a really humble kid.
And it's a, it's a small enoughworld where.
Your actions are gonna speak toenough people where it'll get
back around.
I couldn't tell you how much Ienjoy hearing that somebody's a
(27:07):
humble kid.
That's a good player.
Love it.
I'm with you.
Good person, good boyfriend,good son.
Whatever it is.
It's way easier to go on thatthan it is to, something that's
not, It's always great to hearwhen somebody can say, I don't
know what we're gonna do withouthim, or man, I don't wanna stop
coaching or teaching this kid.
I don't want this kid to leave.
That says volumes, doesn't it?
It does.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No question.
He makes us better, he does.
(27:27):
Yeah.
what a great teammate, man, isthere a better compliment than
that?
Coach, it was fantastic.
I love talking to you.
I love your perspective.
Thank you so much for the adviceyou've given to parents and
these kids.
The more they understand thereality that you're a human
being, you're empathetic, youhave compassion, but you're
running a program, it's a bigbusiness you're in charge of,
and you got a lot of peopleyou're responsible of and who
(27:49):
you bring into that school, thatorganization, that culture is so
important to you.
So thank you for sharing thosethings.
I don't think families can hearit enough what you shared today.
Those conversations need to behad.
Between children and parents andcoaches and everybody else.
the more of those they have andthe less they avoid, I think the
better for everybody.
Thank you for everything, coach,and again, good luck the rest of
(28:10):
the way.
We'll be cheering for you andthe guys, and, we know great
things are coming.
Thanks so much.
Appreciate your time.
And that's a wrap for this bonusepisode with Coach Kyle Crooks.
Whether you're a player, parent,or coach, I hope you're walking
away with clarity on what itreally takes to get recruited at
the high level.
Thanks, coach Crooks for sharingall those great insights.
(28:32):
If you found this episodehelpful, make sure to subscribe
and leave a review.
And head over to coach Mattrogers.com to explore all the
tools available, including myfive star rated book,
significant recruiting, and thechance to schedule a free
strategy session to map out yournext steps.
I'd love to work with you andyour family and at least get you
started on this journey theright way.
(28:54):
Thanks for listening.
And remember, you don't needhype.
You need a plan that removesmere chance from your equation.
Make your recruitment journey asignificant one, and we'll see
you next time.
Welcome back to SignificantRecruiting with Matt Rogers, the
bonus segment of the podcastwhere we get straight to the
heart of the recruiting processwith college coaches from every
level.
Today I'm joined by Kyle Crooks,head baseball coach at the
University of Central Missouri,one of the top division two
programs in the country.
And this episode, coach Crooksshares exactly what he looks for
(00:27):
in a recruit, why coachabilityand strength matters more than
flash.
And how players can separatethemselves in a crowded
recruiting class.
Before we get started, don'tforget to subscribe to the
podcast and visit coach mattrogers.com where you'll find
tools, guides, and the chance toschedule a free recruiting
(00:48):
strategy session to help you andyour family build a smart,
personalized plan for yourcollege journey.
Alright, let's dive in.
Here's my conversation onrecruiting with Coach Kyle
Crooks.
Coach, I'm really lookingforward to talking, recruiting
with you and getting yourinsights.
(01:09):
But we ended our last segmentand I asked you about if there
was somebody that you wouldwanna share a dugout with, and
you gave me a great answer.
You gave me Kevin Brooks, but I.
After we stopped that segment,we talked a little bit more and,
and it came to you that therewas somebody else that you
wouldn't mind sharing a dugoutwith, and I thought it was a
really great answer and it's agreat coach to share with our
(01:33):
listeners.
Yeah.
I read the book, and it's justans endurance a long time coach
at University of North CarolinaWomen's Soccer.
That's inarguably, maybe themost successful coach in the
history of college athletics.
But.
Build a program from the groundup and just dominate for 30, 40,
50 years, however long he was acoach there.
(01:55):
I know he just stepped down,retired.
His personality, what he did forpractices, how he addressed his
teams, everything.
not just a day in the dugout,but man, a year watching that
guy coach would, I don't evenknow if that'd be enough time,
but that's somebody that I trulyadmire I didn't wanna leave that
one off.
The slow processing happened.
it's such a great answer.
And it's one that I often forgetabout, but when I think about
it, I'm like, oh my gosh, thatmight be the guy that we all,
(02:18):
esteem to be.
Oof.
Man, that's tough.
There.
I know they're the John Wooden'sof the world in the wrong poles.
Yeah.
By no means do I wannadisrespect any of them.
But the personality that I feellike that came through, at least
the book that I read with aboutAnson do just seems to me like
and I'm a not a secret.
I love soccer.
Yeah.
And boy, I, I would, I think Iwould really learn a lot, but
get a lot out of that and enjoya lot of it too.
(02:39):
Very much agree with you there.
And if you haven't read thatbook, it's a great one for young
coaches to read too.
It's just an amazing approach.
Yeah.
All right, coach, I want to jumpinto recruiting with you.
I wanna do about 15, 20 minutes,and really this is for the
student athletes out there, that14 to 18-year-old, that mom and
dad that are going through therecruiting journey, that high
school coach, who really istrying to help their kids get to
(03:01):
the next level.
you've built a nationally rankedrecruiting classes at Central
Missouri.
What traits separate a D twodifference maker from just a
good player?
Because you see a lot of goodplayers.
Just about every kid I'm surethat you see at your camp is a
good player.
What does that D two differencemaker look like?
(03:22):
What?
What are those characteristics?
I think there are a couplethings they can do to be that.
I will tell you strength, likethe weight room is a big deal.
Like the sooner you can bephysical, the better.
Because that's what separates alot of time, the young from the
old.
you got a 23-year-old, yearsenior that's just possesses man
strength, but also five years inthe weight room that you don't,
as an 18-year-old coming intocollege, But you can handle
(03:43):
that.
If you know that, when you startyour high school career at 14,
you've got four years to buildthe best version of your body
that you possibly can.
And I'm not, whatever that is.
I would encourage guys to dothat.
I think that puts you in aposition to be somebody that,
for us, can see the field.
Soon, everybody's talents thatthey've been gifted, may vary,
but you can be strong player.
(04:04):
You can be a strong physicalplayer that can impact the game,
through your work in the weightrooms, through something you can
control, and I think that's abig thing.
That makes you a differencemaker because you can impact the
game right away.
We don't have to wait on you todevelop physically, even though
your skillset may be there.
'Cause you're playing, at anylevel.
when you transition from highschool, you're playing at a
(04:24):
different level.
You're playing at a higher leveland you're playing against older
dudes who don't care that you're18.
They just wanna beat you.
That's right.
So like you better be physical.
people talk about slowing thegame down a lot.
And I think, those definitionsprobably run the gamut in terms
of what that means.
But there's a way to go aboutplaying that I think really
lends itself to having successfor us immediately.
(04:45):
And that becomes like thematurity of how you go about
doing everything that you do toprepare to play.
And it shows up when kid's play.
there's intentional reps versusjust reps.
everything's got intentionality.
And I think that's somethingthat a lot of people just don't
know.
ignorance's not a terrible word.
It literally means you just,you're not aware.
(05:06):
You just don't know.
You haven't been told, you'renot taught.
And I think a lot of people areignorant in terms of what, an
intentionally prepared playerlooks like.
And those things separate too.
There's some guys that have anelevated sense of maturity that
are more ready to help thisprogram sooner because.
A lot of the things we're doingare in sync with how they've
been thinking since they've beenin high school.
And then there's a lot of guysthat they don't know why they're
(05:28):
doing what they're doing.
They're just doing what they'retold and they do as little as
they need to,'cause they'repretty talented.
And they move on.
And then when they get here, itdoesn't matter who you are.
Like, I don't care how physicalyou are, we're gonna ask you to
do these things.
And if you're not used tointentionally approaching
practice in a certain way, itcan be a challenge.
We're investing a whole, there'sa lot of emotional and.
Mental investment in what we'reasking you to do, a lot of
(05:49):
understanding that we're askingyou to do.
And if you're not used tothinking about the game, you've
just been better than everybodyyour whole life.
That makes it tough.
So it's, it's the physical sideof it that you can control.
And then, the understanding oflike actual preparation for what
we are going to do as a team.
And some guys like really have agreat feel for the game and
(06:09):
probably their fathers and ormothers or both.
Played the game at a relativelyhigh level.
Yeah.
So those conversations are,being had at home About how they
practice versus or they had anolder brother that went through
either the program or anotherprogram.
I think, finding people thathave that background helps a
little bit.
It's a leg up, I think, on onimpacting a program right away
(06:31):
for that parent that's listeningto this.
Use one of your seniors as anexample.
What does that intentional preplook like?
Give an example of what from oneof your kids that's been with
you for four or five yearscompared to a freshman walk in
the door.
Vance Tobel, who's our startingleft fielder every day has
always been pretty physical.
That's what got him here, Ithink.
And he always just had a reallygood habit of, finding hits.
(06:53):
We weren't really sure whatposition he was gonna play.
And he registered his firstyear.
And he continued to work on hisbody, but that was a strength.
So I think that was somethingthat he felt good about doing
'cause he was good at it, buthis intentionality became okay.
I'm no longer the biggest andthe strongest anymore.
I can see that I need to find away to be more of a com.
(07:13):
Like just touching the ball andbeing stronger doesn't work
anymore.
What do I need to do to be agreat player?
Or, for Central Missouri?
And first was finding aposition.
So like he was always a hitter,so they just shoved him at
third.
They'd shov him at first.
I think he pitched some in highschool, just all over the place.
Find a position and own thatposition.
(07:34):
And it took him a couple yearsbecause nobody really likes to
talk about defense or how to begreat at it, but that's like a
number one priority for us whenwe're shoving guys out on the
field.
So Hey Vance.
And it took him a while.
So he was an all American DH forus before he was our left
fielder.
You only get, there's only oneDH in the lineup.
So you're really, you don'twanna put yourself in that
(07:54):
pigeon hole in high school,right?
So find a position, own it, begreat at it, at all the details.
And he has found a way to dothat.
Now, he is our starting leftfielder every day.
And actually the beginning ofthe year, he had done so well
that I started him in center.
He is, he's a fantastic athlete,but he's really grown himself,
defensively.
And it, honestly, the biggestchange he made was how
intentional he was when he was apractice defending.
(08:17):
When you're around a bunch ofpeople that you love, it's
really easy to talk and I don'tknow, just not focus on the
details that are right in frontof you and you could, I can see
it, I could see it in him fromthe day he made the decision to
do it.
And for the last two to threeyears, he's been as diligent, a
worker as anybody defensively.
But it took him two years to getthere.
And then offensively he found aroutine.
(08:38):
He's a very gifted hitter.
That doesn't mean you get tojust show up and hit.
The other guy that's on themountain is on scholarship too,
and he's probably gonna pitchyou big, strong guy a certain
way, and you better be reallygood at understanding what that
is and how to, and how to combatthat, so to speak.
So he's found himself anincredibly good routine.
He shows up to the park beforeeverybody else.
He goes through his t routine,his flip routine is machine
(09:00):
routine.
And the best part about this ishe normally drags somebody in
with him.
So they Have to work with him,which is awesome'cause he's
paying it forward.
That's great.
And so that guy's learning thatdiligence and he's doing it and
he did it before his AllAmerican DH year and he hasn't
stopped doing it since.
So that's three years of everyday of being the first guy in
(09:21):
the building to do what he needsto do to prepare to be ready for
practice.
To then to prepare to be readyfor a game.
And he does it before everypractice and before every game.
And he hasn't changed in threeyears.
And that's what, to me, it lookslike, to grow up in this program
and find a routine and a processthat works for you, that pays
(09:42):
attention to the details thatyou learn, that we care about
and that you learn are gonnahelp you have success.
And I think, it's turned himinto the player that he is
today.
Like 3 74 with 19 home runs and64 rbis Wow.
That's a hell of a year.
And it's hitting in the middleof the order and it's playing
the outfield every day.
it's from a place where when hegot here, we weren't sure where
(10:04):
he was gonna play.
We weren't sure what he wasgonna do.
And he did it.
Intentionally and grew himselfinto being what he is.
man, can't be more proud.
And he's a leader because of howhe does it.
He doesn't have to speak aboutit, he's not any of that.
But as I said, he drags peopleearly, work with him.
And they're better because ofhim.
And he's teaching them routinesand how much it matters.
(10:26):
And guys that have grown up withhim that are the same age as him
know how he's transitioned frombeing.
We don't know a position tobeing a dh, to being an everyday
outfielder for us.
And they've watched the growthprocess too, so other people can
speak on what he was and whathe's grown into.
And he becomes an example forthis program.
Sounds like the definition of amultiplier to me.
(10:47):
Yeah.
That's a great word for him.
And ain't nobody else you wantin your group pushing a sled
other than him.
I can tell you that right now.
That's great.
He will bring the wall foreverybody and they would do the
same for him.
Love it.
I'm sure you've seen this movie,but it's one of my favorites,
the love of the Game.
Kev Koon.
Yeah.
my favorite part of that movieis when he can step on the mound
and go clear the mechanism.
And it just sounds like thisyoung man and yours, he gets
(11:08):
that he's able to find thatfunnel that he can get into
before a game, before he stepsin the plate and he can clear
the mechanism.
And you just see that we talkedabout Kyle Tucker, before we
start, you just see it's all ofa sudden it's like they get a
bubble around them and they'renot gonna let anything affect
(11:29):
that routine and thatdiscipline.
Yep.
Yeah, you can feel it, it's wayharder in a game to do that.
But what he does is he putshimself in a position to be as
white as he can possibly be forevery game.
Love it.
And he knows it.
And yeah, man, when he's lockedin the box, everybody in the
park knows and there's noavoiding it.
So fun to watch.
It's, real quick, I wanna goback to lifting and strength
(11:51):
training.
Yeah.
High school weight rooms.
Kids' bench, squat, curl.
are there things that you want abaseball player doing now to
keep those core muscles, thebleaks, the adductors, abductor?
Is it yoga?
Is it Pilates?
Is it ball work?
Are there things that yourstrength conditioning coach is
doing?
(12:11):
I think there's tiers of this.
I don't think people liftenough, in high school.
I just don't think they take theopportunity to do it.
We have certain KPIs, like keyperformance indicators that we
use and we hand out to the guysthat we recruit, right?
if you don't front squat 400, ifyou don't bench 2 25, if you
don't deadlift.
I can't remember what it I don'tknow if it's 3 85 or 4 85.
Like those are the topperformers in our program.
Like strength means something.
(12:32):
Yes.
So like the Olympic liftsmatter.
If you don't want to clean, Iget it.
High pole, but move white andget strong please.
And if somebody's willing toPilates and they're willing to
yoga and they're willing to,water bag and rotate and, do
rotational movements andstability movements and some
things that become more,specific to the movements we
(12:52):
make as baseball players.
Awesome.
But I would encourage people toget under a bar and move heavy
weight I'll give the disclaimer,I don't want anybody to hurt
themselves, and I'd rather youmove the weight Properly, than
just breaking yourself to moveweight.
you need to move weight.
You need to squat, you need toput a bar on your back.
or on your shoulders and squat,you need to deadlift you need to
bench Because they're resilientbodies.
(13:14):
You're loading your spine andyour body becomes more use to
handling the stress.
That heavier lifting.
Produces whether it's highvolume, but I think safely
moving into higher weight is athing.
And I think we've gotten so fardown the rabbit hole of baseball
specific training that guysforgot that big leaguers are.
(13:37):
Huge.
And they're strong.
And yes, they move well, they'reincredibly good movers and that
does come with it.
And there's something tounderstanding that.
But if you're a great mover andyou're gumby and you're totally
weak.
Who cares.
unless you're Chris sale, Idon't know that it matters.
And most of the people we'redealing with aren't that, so you
gotta get strong.
And you can do that.
(13:58):
It takes zero skill to get undera bar and squat.
Do it repeatedly three times aweek for four years in high
school and watch what happens.
You're the best looking dude ina uniform.
You feel pretty good aboutyourself.
You're pretty strong.
And when you make contact, theball's probably gonna go.
Or if you throw the ball'sprobably gonna go faster or
whatever.
(14:18):
You're gonna be a better runner.
You're gonna be a bettereverything because of it.
And I see guys go to trainersand facilities and stuff all the
time, and these facilities arelike.
Cool.
You're shaking a water bag onone leg.
Like I get it, but I'm surethere's a need for that, but
does the 14-year-old need to dothat, or does he just need to
get strong?
Let's get him strong and let'ssee what he can do, after he
(14:40):
achieves a certain amount ofskill and then you can make him
shake a water bag.
Cool.
But.
What all that does for injuryprevention.
it's volumes of how a kid'sgonna stay healthy throughout
his career playing 40, 50, 60games in a season.
If you're not strong, yourbody's gonna break down your
joint.
we lift during our season.
We lift three times a weekduring our season.
We lift four times a week in theoff season.
'cause what's the point oflifting four times a week if
(15:00):
you're not gonna lift during theseason anyway?
Yeah, we do.
And we lift heavy weight in theseason and we do a bunch of ply
stuff and our strength guy doesa really good job.
But it matters.
And this is about beingrecruited too, like Yeah.
What do you look like in auniform?
That's right.
I.
That's, and again, this isthings that I didn't know and I
didn't do well enough as aplayer in high school.
I did.
Me too.
Me too.
I'm telling other people becauseI think it's valuable.
(15:21):
Yeah.
Yep.
I didn't get it till I saw astory on Michael Jordan bench
pressing 45 minutes beforeplaying a basketball game, and
I'm like, oh my God, he justbench pressed 400 pounds before
I went and played a basketballgame.
Yeah.
And then, made six threes.
I want to talk to families aboutthis.
So there's a lot of parents thatdon't get this.
The numbers you throw out forbench and your squat and what
you're looking for, that's 18 to24 months of work.
(15:46):
If you haven't done a lot ofthat it's a development.
So if you're 14, man, you mightonly be benching 60 pounds.
80, 80 pounds, but yeah,whatever.
It's, every two, three weeks,can you add five pounds to that,
and do it right.
If you're gonna work with atrainer, find somebody that's
gonna teach you how to do it,right?
So I love that coach.
I'd rather them spend time inthe weight room with a trainer
than with a hitting coach atthat point.
Like'cause one, like figure outthe skill once you're strong
(16:07):
enough to do it.
Yep.
All right.
When you're talking to a recruitwhat singles to you that the kid
is actually coachable and youtalked about parents nod their
head and not just saying theright things.
Is there things that you hearand see in a recruit that tell
you, this kid's ready to becoached?
Man, I wish I had that answer.
And maybe there's a red flag foryou.
(16:29):
so I guess I go to that and thisis directed at the parents.
Parents become the red flags ifthe parents are speaking for the
child, the 18-year-old man atthis point in time, or
17-year-old boy or whatever.
If they're doing most of thetalking, that's problematic for
me.
'cause yes, we're recruiting thewhole thing.
The kid is going to be going toschool here and if he can't
communicate with me because theparents are too busy doing
(16:52):
everything, that's a red flag.
How the kid interacts with hisparents, good and or bad is a
red flag too.
So if they don't treat theirparents well, I have an issue
with that.
If they speak to their mother,their father in a certain way
that I would considerdisrespectful.
And it's hard for me to bespecific, but I've heard it.
Like when somebody sayssomething that makes me cringe,
(17:13):
I'm like, no way my dad wouldhit me if I said that exactly.
But, so those two things becomered flags, eye contact, body
language, facial expressions areall things that we'd like to
see.
I'd like to engage the player inand of himself and ask his
opinion on a couple things.
And if he can respond.
And there, it's not always easy,but if he can respond in a
clear, concise answers or hehas, there's been a bunch of
(17:35):
kids, honestly, that we'verecruited that have had really
good conversations about whattheir processes are and we
haven't signed a bunch of'em orthey've gone other places.
But those are kids I think thatare gonna end up having a decent
amount of success because theyunderstand already.
Hey this is my process and wemay adapt it or we may, hone it
or refine it a little bit.
But having a process for howthey succeed now is a pretty
(17:57):
good indicator of them beingwilling and open to doing that
later.
I think red flags are probablymore what we look for because
what we're doing is we'rewatching a kid play and he's
shown us he can play at a levelthat we think will help us two
or three times.
So now it's about, okay, arethere things that stand out once
we get a chance to meet him andhis family that would deter us
from recruiting him any further?
and for all my kids out therethat I coach and work with on
(18:19):
your recruiting, you just heardit from Coach.
So you wonder why we work onyour process so much and why you
do what you do and what drivesyou and why you work the way you
work.
that's why we do it becausecoaches wanna understand, Did we
just catch you on a good day?
if that's the case, then we gotour one.
That's probably, we're gonnaneed more than that.
So if you can repeat what youdid, that's a big part of it.
And our job is to help you withthat too.
(18:39):
But man, if you already have anidea as to what that is, boy,
that's huge.
Love it.
Is there a common reason why youstop recruiting a kid with a ton
of talent?
Kid that's throwing 93 mile anhour, a kid that's already in
the weight room already doing,bating four 50 and killing.
Is there a reason?
he told us he's not coming.
Probably that's, that would be,oh, he is going to Angelo State
(19:01):
or Tampa, or he is gonna go toMizzou or ku.
but why would you pull away froma kid?
Why would you stop recruiting akid with that talent?
watching him play and realizingwhat the talent is, but then he
acted in a way that was reallynot in line with what our values
are.
He's a selfish teammate.
I think Tim Corbin did a reallygood job of taking the lid off
this a long time ago.
How does he interact with histeammates?
how does he handle success?
(19:22):
How does he handle failure?
How does he handle the umpires?
What is he doing in betweeninnings, is he engaged with his
mom in between innings?
That's a problem.
I don't want that.
Some of those things I thinkthey'd be egregious.
I think most people wouldprobably see those things and
say the same thing.
And then, honestly, on yourrecruiting trip, who are you?
If you're doing us a favor bybeing on this trip, then sorry,
(19:42):
that's not what this is.
That's probably gonna be, whatit is a feel for whether, God's
gift has, made himself availablefor us to recruit him.
And if that's what it is sorry.
I'll take the blue collar kidthat's still got work to do.
I'm laughing coach.
'cause you're answering threequestions for everyone I ask.
It's awesome.
You're knocking down everythingon my list.
For recruits hoping to play at atop tier D two, like UCM, what's
(20:04):
the one thing they should bedoing right now that most
aren't?
Depends on how old they are.
I mentioned the weight room.
I think you need to care aboutcatch play.
If you're a position player,that's awesome.
You gotta be able to hit.
That's a tool that's reallydifficult, to teach and to be
successful with.
So saying there are eightpositions on the field to play
as a hitter, and.
being really good at defendingin one of those positions is
(20:26):
probably your best way to get tous.
Athleticism makes a hugedifference.
Your ability to make outs.
That's the name of the game.
we talked about the lifting sideof it.
I think that lends itself to thespeed side of it.
And care about the entire partof the game, not just the
hitting side of it.
Hitting's the most fun, it's theleast successful.
So I get it.
(20:46):
when you have a bad game, whatdo you go to the cages and you
go Cool.
But.
If you can't defend, what am Igonna do?
There's only one spot in the dh,role.
So again, like catch plays ahuge deal.
Your ability to handle theglove, handle the ball.
We play in the Midwest, there'swind everywhere, all over the
place.
If you can't throw into a 30mile an hour headwind, you can't
play the infield for us.
(21:08):
Or for anybody probably.
But those are things that Idon't know that high school kids
are aware of.
And so you better value thebaseball.
You better make outs and ballsthat look like they shouldn't be
outs into outs.
And you better learn how todive.
You better learn how to giveeffort.
You better learn that'ssomething that matters to me and
matters to us and make it matterto you.
Because.
It's gonna be the difference inthe game more than likely.
(21:29):
And we feel if you possess theability, to hit a little bit,
but you can really defend and wegot a spot for you.
But like I said, I think theweight room and the value of the
entire game, not just.
Not just the, I can hit part ofit.
'Cause what if I go watch a playtwo, two times you get eight at
bats and you go oh, for eight.
But then your next four at bats,you're four for four.
(21:51):
You're four for 12 at that pointin time, and you're hitting 3
33, which is good.
And we all know that.
But if you didn't defend at all.
After you're Oh, for eight.
I'm like yeah, I didn't reallydo anything else either, yep.
What do I go do?
Yeah.
You're always defending, you'redoing that.
You know the game's three hourslong, you're at bats.
Take two minutes a minute.
Yeah.
Where you doing for the othertwo hours and 50 minutes?
(22:11):
You better be defending andplaying catch at a high level.
Yeah, go look at the Boston RedSox.
They had a world class, 200,$300million, third baseman, and he
didn't feel very well last yearand they just went and signed
another guy to come in and playthird and moved him to dh.
That translates all the way upthe board.
Yeah.
Sorry, Mafi.
Yeah.
Last question, coach you, you'vebeen great and I so appreciate
(22:32):
your time.
Sure.
I'm gonna give you a littlehypothetical.
I'm a small town kid, town of2000 people in Northern
Illinois.
Okay.
I'm a catcher.
I about four 20.
I got a 1.8 pop time.
The leader of my team, I havegreat grades.
I'm a high character kid.
I play three sports, but I'm ina town of 2000 people and nobody
(22:56):
knows I even exist.
How do I get you to recruit me?
Because you're not coming toNorthern Illinois.
You're not coming to my tinylittle conference.
How do I get you to recruit me?
You send me an email yourself.
I don't, to no offense, no NCSAor any of the other stuff.
No, you're with, you're speakingmy language.
Send me an email.
(23:16):
I really don't care about statsmyself personally.
I don't.
I would care.
And part of it is because Godloved the managers and the
coaches or whoever that areputting those stats together,
but none of'em are accurate.
So it doesn't matter.
So corresponding video, pleaselet me see what you are and then
let me say, okay, I see.
Like we can tell how you move.
(23:37):
We can tell how you throw aball.
We can tell how your swing worksto some degree.
I can't tell you exacteverything, but then we have a
decent idea.
And then we can say, okay, cometo camp.
Will you come to camp?
Are you interested enough tomake the six and a half, seven
hour drive from Edwardsville,Illinois to our camp and come
camp with us?
Where you'll showcase all yourtools and talents and on
(23:58):
metrics, and then you'll play ina game.
And we'll get a chance to watchyou compete and we'll see how
you engage in other people thatare somewhat strangers, which is
what college is gonna be.
We'll see how your skills applyto the field in game and outta
game.
You'll interact with us ascoaches and we will be the
genuine versions of ourselves,and hopefully you are too.
And then we'll probably have aconversation afterwards.
(24:19):
And if we like what we see andwe're hunting that position,
then you know, you just gotyourself recruited.
And that happens to us a lot.
And people, I think scoff atcamps because they, I can see
like they're, money makers for abunch of places.
But for us, I think we have 16or 17 guys on our roster from
camp.
We invite people to camp that wewanna see that we can't see
during the spring.
'cause guess what we're doingduring the spring?
We're playing.
(24:39):
So if you can't drive toIllinois when you're playing
high school baseball in thespring, like it's not gonna
happen.
And in the summer, unless you'recoming to KC or say, if you're
playing in a tournament in St.
Louis, like there's probablygonna need to be another reason
why I'm there to see you.
But you'll be one of the many.
And if it works out that way,great.
But if you wanna leave it thechance, then that's what you're
doing.
Or you can communicate with usdirectly.
(25:01):
Come to camp, tell us you care.
Show us you care.
Let us see.
And that's a guaranteed way ofgetting in front of us for us to
say, yes, no, maybe this is whatyou would have to do.
If it's maybe, and I think it'slike an unofficial visit.
You get a chance to see thefacilities.
Everything else you get a chanceto learn us.
The whole thing, I just, I couldnot be a bigger proponent of
(25:23):
camps when they are set, atleast for us as a program and
for players.
And that's what they, I got a16-year-old son.
That's what I tell'em to do.
You're, if you wanna go play, goshow up to the places that you
think you wanna play at, and goto one of their camps and make
an impression.
And, then you'll know, and maybeyou'll come back and say, I hate
that place.
I don't wanna go there.
Or maybe you'll come back andsay, I wasn't good enough.
(25:44):
They don't want me, whatever thecase, but at least, whereas, if
you don't, you just hope, then Idon't think that's a strategy.
Yeah, you're probably getting200 of those emails a week, I
would imagine, somewhere in thatworld, right?
We get, yeah it's in thehundreds for sure.
If I can delineate that it'sfrom an individual specifically,
not from an organization,massive.
You want it from the massorganization, then I'll read'em
all.
(26:04):
If they have video closed I'llwatch.
And then if it's video that Ifind intriguing and I can gather
enough info on, just watchingthem move, then I'll invite'em
to camp.
And I do it myself.
I don't have anybody else doingit.
It's me, coach Backas, coachMcFadden.
Come to camp.
And, let's check it out and see.
I just got one from, aleft-handed yesterday, and I
like, I wanna see him.
(26:25):
The video looked good.
a hundred feet away.
Oh yeah.
It's terrible.
It doesn't mean no good.
And I get it, we're not supposedto all be videographers and
everything, but I gotta be ableto see what I need to see.
But he, it was like, okay, thisis pretty intriguing and there's
something we need to look at.
Yeah.
Please, Wesley, come to camp.
Come to camp.
Yeah.
If you're a lefty pitcher, Igotta give you an extra look.
I just gotta, yeah.
And the arm works good.
(26:45):
He's a pretty decent athlete.
He took a good swing.
It he moves, right?
There's something to grow with.
And what's fascinating about,the added part of this is what
other people say about you?
And there's another kid thatplayed against him that happens
to be on our team, and he's man,he's a really humble kid.
And it's a, it's a small enoughworld where.
Your actions are gonna speak toenough people where it'll get
back around.
I couldn't tell you how much Ienjoy hearing that somebody's a
(27:07):
humble kid.
That's a good player.
Love it.
I'm with you.
Good person, good boyfriend,good son.
Whatever it is.
It's way easier to go on thatthan it is to, something that's
not, It's always great to hearwhen somebody can say, I don't
know what we're gonna do withouthim, or man, I don't wanna stop
coaching or teaching this kid.
I don't want this kid to leave.
That says volumes, doesn't it?
It does.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No question.
He makes us better, he does.
(27:27):
Yeah.
what a great teammate, man, isthere a better compliment than
that?
Coach, it was fantastic.
I love talking to you.
I love your perspective.
Thank you so much for the adviceyou've given to parents and
these kids.
The more they understand thereality that you're a human
being, you're empathetic, youhave compassion, but you're
running a program, it's a bigbusiness you're in charge of,
and you got a lot of peopleyou're responsible of and who
(27:49):
you bring into that school, thatorganization, that culture is so
important to you.
So thank you for sharing thosethings.
I don't think families can hearit enough what you shared today.
Those conversations need to behad.
Between children and parents andcoaches and everybody else.
the more of those they have andthe less they avoid, I think the
better for everybody.
Thank you for everything, coach,and again, good luck the rest of
(28:10):
the way.
We'll be cheering for you andthe guys, and, we know great
things are coming.
Thanks so much.
Appreciate your time.
And that's a wrap for this bonusepisode with Coach Kyle Crooks.
Whether you're a player, parent,or coach, I hope you're walking
away with clarity on what itreally takes to get recruited at
the high level.
Thanks, coach Crooks for sharingall those great insights.
(28:32):
If you found this episodehelpful, make sure to subscribe
and leave a review.
And head over to coach Mattrogers.com to explore all the
tools available, including myfive star rated book,
significant recruiting, and thechance to schedule a free
strategy session to map out yournext steps.
I'd love to work with you andyour family and at least get you
started on this journey theright way.
(28:54):
Thanks for listening.
And remember, you don't needhype.
You need a plan that removesmere chance from your equation.
Make your recruitment journey asignificant one, and we'll see
you next time.
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