PARENTS: Learn the language of college football recruiting. A lot of confusion happens because players hear one word and assume it means something completely different. Here are the terms you need to know: • Offer — A school has expressed that it wants the player, but you still need to know exactly what kind of offer it is. • Committable Offer — The school is ready to accept your commitment RIGHT NOW and has a roster/scholarship spot for you. • Non-Committable Offer — You have been “offered,” but the school is NOT currently prepared to accept your commitment. They may be waiting on other players, evaluations, grades, roster numbers, etc. • Verbal Offer — An offer communicated by a coach. Most early offers are verbal and are not binding. • Written Offer — Written scholarship/financial-aid information from the school. A graphic posted on social media is NOT the same thing. • Commitment / Verbal Commitment — The player publicly tells a school he plans to attend. It is not the same as being officially signed. • Silent Commitment — The player has privately told the coaching staff he is coming but has not announced it publicly. • Decommitment — A player backs away from his previous verbal commitment. • Flip — A committed player changes his commitment from one school to another. • Preferred Walk-On (PWO) — A player is recruited to join the program but does not initially receive an athletic scholarship. • Walk-On — A player joins or tries to join the team without an athletic scholarship. • Full Scholarship — Athletic aid covering the amount offered by the school under its current scholarship/roster structure. • Partial Scholarship — Athletic aid covers only part of the player’s college costs. Common at some levels/divisions. • Official Visit (OV) — A recruiting visit that the college can financially support within NCAA rules. • Unofficial Visit (UV) — A campus visit where the prospect/family generally pays their own expenses. • Game-Day Visit — A prospect visits campus for a game. This does NOT automatically mean the player is a priority recruit. • Junior Day — A recruiting event bringing prospects to campus for tours, meetings, workouts and presentations. • Camp Invite — A school wants you at its camp. This is NOT automatically an offer or proof you’re a priority recruit. • Evaluation — Coaches are still studying your film, size, athletic ability, academics, character or live performance. • Board / Recruiting Board — The internal list/ranking of prospects a coaching staff is recruiting at each position. • Take — A prospect the staff is currently willing to accept a commitment from. • Priority Recruit — A player the staff is actively pursuing near the top of its recruiting board. • Plan B / Backup — A recruit the staff likes but may be behind other players at the position. • Offer Pending Evaluation — The staff likes the player but wants more film, camp work, academics, measurements or senior-season evaluation before making a final decision. • Contact — Legitimate communication between the college staff and prospect within recruiting rules. • Interest — A school communicating with you does NOT necessarily mean you have an offer. • Questionnaire — A school collecting your information. Filling one out does NOT mean you’re being recruited. • Graphic Edit — A recruiting graphic is marketing/content. It is NOT proof of a scholarship offer by itself. • Coach Follow — A coach following you on social media does NOT automatically mean you’re being recruited. • DM — Communication can be meaningful, but a DM alone does NOT equal an offer. • Position Offer — Understand WHAT position the school is recruiting you to play. It may not be the position you play in high school. • Roster Spot — A place within the program’s roster structure. Scholarship availability and roster availability are not always the same thing.