USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the college recruiting process. Here, you’ll find practical tips and real-world advice on becoming a better recruit to maximize your opportunities and play at the college level. Joe is a former college athlete and coach at the NAIA level, where he earned an NAIA National Championship. Joe is just one of many former college and professional players, college coaches and parents who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. Their knowledge, experience and dedication, along with NCSA’s history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community, have made NCSA the largest and most successful athletic recruiting network in the country.
When it comes to attracting students and athletes, colleges have to put their best foot forward in order to stand out from the hundreds of other college options. Academics, campus life, cost and location all have an impact on whether a student will enroll in a college, but a website can also be an important tool for showing off what a college has to offer. That’s why we here at NCSA looked through hundreds of college athletics websites to see which ones stand out, whether that’s with a snazzy design or easy-to-use interface. We kept an eye out for crisp photos, bold colors and clean layouts, among other things. Check out our picks.
Division I 
Jacksonville University Athletics
Great color contrast, scroll-down layout and moving parts that catch the eye make this one of our favorite websites.
Bold fonts, strong contrast and textured photos make the Army website memorable.
University of Illinois Athletics
Full-width banner images and an intuitive layout give the Illini website a pleasant look and feel.
Division II 
The Lee athletics site offers an elegant color scheme and easy-to-navigate layout.
We really like the tracking and drone video shots that introduce visitors to the website, making it one of the coolest ones around.
Division III
We love the video section, which offers a peek into different sports teams. The production value is impressive.
Norwich University Athletics
The rotating gallery of filtered athlete photos gives the Norwich University Athletics website a distinct look.
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Athletics
The bold font and gold and purple colors make the UMHB Athletics website pop.
The schedule and social media integration are easy to use and the tiger stripes are a nice touch.
NAIA
Milligan College Athletics
Nothing too exciting here but everything flows well and is easy on the eyes.
Oregon Tech put its athlete photos and events calendar center stage.
Brewton-Parker College Athletics
The layout here is solid and the colors pop off the screen.
Junior College 
The leopard-print background is perfectly on-brand and very cool.
Northwest Florida State College Athletics
The Raiders’ website sticks mostly to red and white, but the result is a very clean look.
Tallahassee Community College Athletics
With bold colors and cool logos, the Tallahassee Community College website has plenty of style.
Think we missed any good websites? Reach out to us at @NCSA on Twitter and let us know!
