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Garrett signs with USU-Eastern

Jan 27, 2017 10:46AM ● By Greg James

By Greg James | [email protected]

Herriman High School senior Madison Garrett had the desire to keep playing volleyball after she graduated from high school this spring. She studied the recruiting process, looked for opportunities and promoted her talents. She found an opportunity at Utah State Eastern in Price, Utah.
 
“I am so excited to play there,” she said. “I went to Price for an official visit, and I fell in love with the campus. It is smaller, and I feel like my professors will know me. Volleyball-wise, they have a new coach, and I liked the direction and the way they play.”
 
The process of recruiting has many rules. Coaches can contact high school athletes, but players can only take official paid for visits after their junior year in high school. There are dead periods and rules on what potential recruits can receive from the school. Garrett learned the rules and marketed her abilities to coaches around the country.
 
She enrolled in a class her junior year at Herriman High School that taught students about the college recruiting process. She learned how to promote herself and the “how-to” of the college recruiting process. She filled out online profiles, uploaded videos and entered stats. She also contacted coaches all around the country.
 
She received offers from several schools, including schools in Iowa, Kansas and Massachusetts. Garrett wanted to play close to home. Many times she found it was important to make sure the college coaches knew who she was.
 
“Honestly, when we visited Herriman, Maddie was not one of the players we were looking at,” USU-Eastern head volleyball coach Danielle Jensen said. “She contacted us and was very engaged in the process. After a visit with her and watching her play, we loved how dominate her serve was, how she put up a tough block and was a strong hitter. Those abilities coupled with her ability to motivate teammates is what led us to making her an offer.”
 
Garrett has played several positions. She was nicknamed the assistant setter, she played middle blocker and switched to right side hitter. At 6 feet tall, the ability to play several positions made her very versatile. She had 14 aces the last week of the high school season.
 
“[Bryan] Nicholson (Herriman High Head Coach) taught me to believe in myself,” Garrett said. “He boosted my confidence and helped me to improve in the areas he knew I could. As a freshman, I was not that good at serving, but he taught me to work on it. We might not have had lots of wins at Herriman, but every match was a state qualifier. We played against the best teams every night.”
 
Garrett had been rotated out in several games. She went to her coach and asked what she could do to get better. She found the areas she needed to improve and began working on getting better.
 
“Had Maddie not been as involved and respectfully persistent with her desire to play at the next level, we most likely would not have given her the opportunity to show us her skills. We look forward to watching her grow at the next level,” Jensen said.
 
Madison is the daughter of Mike and Catherine Garrett of Herriman. She has played volleyball since the third grade.