One of the best tools to help gather this information about a school's program is the team’s roster. Almost every school in the country has a web site and the team rosters are only a few clicks away. A Roster can tell a lot about an athletic team.

Where are the players from?

Rosters list hometown and state. This information tells you where the coach focuses his or her recruiting. At state schools and in terms of athletic scholarship money, an in-state student athlete costs less than out of state student athlete, therefore a coach can stretch his or her money further.

This does not mean that a coach will not recruit you if you. The hard part for most coaches is actually seeing you in person if you far away. Budgets and time rarely allow for it, therefore you need to go to them by attending their camp or playing in a tournament near the school and inviting the coach to come see you.

How many players are at your position and what year are they?

Most coaches recruit on need. If there is a log jam of underclass players at your position there is a strong chance they are not recruiting for that position currently. This does not mean you are not capable of playing for the program, rather the coaches want to use his or her scholarships on players who fills the team needs.

Suppose you play small forward on the basketball team and you see that this school has a senior and a freshman at this position. Your first thought might be that there will be an opening for you to compete against a young player for considerable playing time since the senior talent is leaving. Perhaps, but check the stats first. You might find that the freshman started every game and was the 4th leading scorer on the team.  In this case you face a significant obstacle to that position of three years and you want to find the best situation for yourself. 

Do you fit the profile?

Look at the height and weight of the players on the roster. If the hockey defensemen are all over 6 ft 195 lbs and you play that position at 5 ‘8" 165lbs in HS then you simply don’t fit the mold and will not be of interest to the coach. NOTE: Always let someone else determine if you are too small, this is not your decision to make. But the size of the athlete’s at your position does tell your something about your chances with that program.

Usually, athletic rosters inflate the height and weight of their players. Keep this in mind when you are looking. A 6 footer on the roster might be a 5’10" or 5’11" in reality.

Distribution of upper and lower classmen

Schools with very few upper class men give reason to waive a red flag for further investigation. First of all the roster make-up of a given year is not proof on a trend so you need to look at previous rosters and ask questions. Programs lacking upper class presence should be questioned on the following:

• Graduation rate of the recruited athletes
• Injury history- do players suffer a lot of injuries and drop out
• Players jumping to the professional ranks early
  
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Look at player bios

Are they all stars or diamonds in the rough this gives you an idea about the type of student athletes are recruited. 

The roster is not the only tool you use to assess a program, it is one of many. Visit the campus, meet the coach, talk to the players, ask a lot of questions and be persistent in your quest for knowledge.