2025 College Soccer Recruiting Landscape: How to Stay Ahead of the Changes
Recent changes in the NCAA rules surrounding Revenue Sharing, Roster Caps, Transfer Windows, and NJCAA Eligibility have completely changed the landscape of recruiting for college coaches…and our Rush Players.
Roster CAP
The biggest change we are seeing comes from the new roster cap rule that states NCAA D1 teams can now partake in revenue sharing for their players- forcing a roster cap of 28 on both men’s and women’s soccer teams. The confusing part for everyone is that this mandate is only on the Power-4 Conferences, as well as any colleges that opt-in to the Revenue Sharing guidelines. At the moment, there are many college coaches who are still unsure if their athletic department will be opting in, making it difficult for them to know their best decisions when it comes to recruiting.
What does this mean the class of 2025, 2026 and 2027?
Well for starters there is a lot of hesitation from college coaches who are trying to make decisions that are best for their programs. College coaches have slowed down their recruiting timelines in hopes of seeing how it all unfolds before jumping into commitments with players. The normal timelines have been pushed back at least by a couple months for the current seniors. It also means there are a lot of players at the bottom end of D1 rosters who will be transferring to find new colleges they can play at. Currently the Transfer Portal has 2,247 men’s players and 1,617 women’s players from this fall/winter alone, with likely a bigger surge in the April period. The sheer volume of this means that more college coaches are opting to bring in transfer players who are older and more experienced than true freshmen. This means less roster spaces for true freshmen next fall and potentially for a couple years to come. The implications of this are massive, and we predict that most players will need to find opportunities at lower levels than in the past if they want to play in college.
What should our players do with this information?
Well for starters- the recruiting landscape ALWAYS changes. In the past 5 years alone, we have seen massive shifts in the process from Covid, then NIL, and now the roster cap and revenue sharing is changing it. So, while it may feel new and ‘unfair’ now, recruiting has been changing in big ways for quite some time now. The best strategy is getting guidance from people you trust and who are educated in the details of the recruiting world. That’s where we come in with Rush CAP, our job is to help you in your process and to find the right fit. The ‘right fit’ and the process may look a little different than in the past, and that’s okay. We will help you through the process and give you the most up to date information and strategies. Whether it’s the information you can gain quickly on CAP University Courses, CAP University Live Webinars, our CAP Chat Podcast, or simply scheduling a 1-on-1 meeting with one of our Regional CAP Directors- we are here for you and your family throughout your process!
Changing Landscape
The recruiting landscape ALWAYS changes. In the past 5 years alone, we have seen massive shifts in the process from Covid, then NIL, and now the roster cap and revenue sharing is changing it.
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