Being recruited is always an exciting time for athletes and knowing what some scouts look for can make it easier to be recruited. Karlo Zovko, one of the many personnel that scouts high school football players for the University of Pittsburgh, knows exactly what they are looking for. 

Zovko was formerly brought in as a recruiting assistant.  Now in his sixth year after being promoted in 2019, Zovko has a lot of insight to share about the scouting process. For example,  one specific trait that he looks for is having explosiveness and a good change of direction, acceleration, and having the big play ability. Demonstrating that skill is what shows scouts that players can excel at the next level.

Zovko’s staff starts scouting players mostly in high school because that is when most players come into form. Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to share names of the players that they are keeping tabs on but said that they scout all over the Pittsburgh area, including North Allegheny.

The scouting process doesn’t just help athletes. 

Scouting has helped Zovko in many other aspects of life because he is always working with new people, which has helped him become more understanding of what happens. And Zovko pointed out that it’s always fun to work with high school athletes.

For athletes who may one day want to become scouts themselves, he said that there are classes that students can take at Pitt and other schools have classes on becoming a scout for Division 1 schools and that are very helpful.

For some freshmen and sophomores still waiting to be scouted, however, the process can be a dull one.  But one thing that can help is the NCSA Baseball app. Of course, this app is only for baseball players.

It can allow colleges to invite players to showcases and camps all around the country and can get athletes ahead of the game for recruiting. Users can also post any highlights  they have of themselves under their profile and scouts can access it.

Athletes that can still excel because they can get invited to colleges like Cincinnati or Alabama State University. These things are camps that feature scouts from many different colleges. It gives athletes a chance to showcase their talents if they don’t get any other chances. Comparisons can be made to the NFL combine except that these camps are for baseball.

Having this is most definitely an advantage on other athletes because being able to grow relationships with coaches or scouts for schools can further enhance the chance to get a scholarship.

Knowing how the scouting process works can help students, on and off the field. For academics or athletics.