Offer is not the transcript. The transcript is the transcript.

An offer in the fall of junior year is the coach saying he likes your film. The spring of junior year is when things get real. That is when coaches request the 6th-semester transcript — the document that shows your GPA in NCAA core courses through the end of junior year.

If that transcript does not qualify you academically, the offer becomes conditional at best. Coaches know this. They are not going to waste a scholarship on a kid who will not qualify. The transcript either confirms the offer or quietly ends the recruitment.

What coaches look at.

The core-course GPA. The total number of NCAA core courses completed. Whether you are on track to complete 16 core courses before graduation. Your test scores (if the program requires them).

How to be ready.

Know your core-course GPA before the coach asks. Your counselor can generate this. If the number is not where it needs to be at the end of sophomore year, fix it junior year — not senior year. Senior year is too late to change a 6th-semester transcript.

Confirm current NCAA academic requirements at ncaa.org.