Article on early recruiting...
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I just wonder what the recruits are being told. It might be that a coach is up front about it and it makes sense - ''We're taking 9 players in this class. Two are preferred walkons and probably will rarely play, but they give us practice players, bullpen catchers, make good teammates, etc. The other 7 are expected to make an impact, but inevitably not all of them will. To be competitive in the best conference in the country, we feel we need to bring in 7 high-calibre players every year and let them fight for playing time. We're offering you a partial scholly to be part of that plan with a chance to play in the SEC. What do you say?''
Most kids might be saying, 'Hell, yeah, where do I sign?'
I just got one question and them some thoughts. How many of these schools back out on 8th grade kids that has verbally committed a few years down the road, or how many kids have found a better offer and back out of the verbal. I have seen this more and more.
Thus my thought...... this needs to be addressed. No 8th grade kid needs to be verbally committed. Gosh, I hope this never happens, but what if a early verbal takes her ACT in say 3 years and gets like a 16. I am sure that has happened too. That girl is not going to get accepted at many colleges. I think coaches are going to play the game they created until they are told to stop by rules being put into place by the NCAA. My daughter did not verbal until she was a senior and that was right time for her. She had no clue in 8th grade or freshmand year what she wanted to study. Way too much pressure for a kid. Let them mature into young adults and make their own informed decision on the school they wish to attend, softball or no softball. The money for a 2020 or 2019 can not be all full rides, those are few and far between to find. You will find more of a progressive offer the majority of time as coaches know that kids wash out thus leaving more potential players to add.
Thus my thought...... this needs to be addressed. No 8th grade kid needs to be verbally committed. Gosh, I hope this never happens, but what if a early verbal takes her ACT in say 3 years and gets like a 16. I am sure that has happened too. That girl is not going to get accepted at many colleges. I think coaches are going to play the game they created until they are told to stop by rules being put into place by the NCAA. My daughter did not verbal until she was a senior and that was right time for her. She had no clue in 8th grade or freshmand year what she wanted to study. Way too much pressure for a kid. Let them mature into young adults and make their own informed decision on the school they wish to attend, softball or no softball. The money for a 2020 or 2019 can not be all full rides, those are few and far between to find. You will find more of a progressive offer the majority of time as coaches know that kids wash out thus leaving more potential players to add.
I would love for a website like Goldfastpitch.com to have the ability to track changes in recruiting status....
All verbal offers are contingent on the student athlete being able to qualify for admissions. Some schools are more stringent than others and all students must meet the NCAA minimums. I have a good friend who's DD was verballed to a school in GA, but she is not going to qualify for the Hope Scholarship, so she had to decommit because that was a large portion of her scholarship.
All SEC school other than Florida and Alabama could be good examples. They all seem to sign 9-12 per class, and I know a lot of them are as preferred walk-ons. Some girls just want to go to a big SEC school because they grew up pulling for them and they love the football games, and let's face it, most alumni's only connection to a school after graduation are athletics. Their parents also LOVE saying "my DD is going to (fill in SEC school name)".
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I completley agree JAD.....I whish they would make a list public so people can see just how often schools drop the verbal or the kid drops the verbal and where or if did they take another offer. Put it out there. They you will now who is playing games.
My example prob not the best as I am aware of the verbal is based upon being accepted into the school. My thought was that the kids are just too yound to make that call and a lot of things can and do happen to change their status either academically, legally, or socially things change. I think junior and seniors have a much clearer picture of where they see themselves down the road than a 7th or 8th grade kid. I really think this is a bad bad road these coaches are going down. Bad for the player, parent and college team. Not often do these work out ideally I would imagine. But what do I know, I did not let my daughter even begin to email, write college coaches until she was in high school. Then she picked it up her Junior year narrowed her search and kept in communication with her top choices. Just happened to work out for her. But I also have heard coaches say sorry I got no money left for 2017 or 2016 kids. Which I think is crazy. Didn't work this way back in my day. No one knew where they were going till their senior year most of the time.
My example prob not the best as I am aware of the verbal is based upon being accepted into the school. My thought was that the kids are just too yound to make that call and a lot of things can and do happen to change their status either academically, legally, or socially things change. I think junior and seniors have a much clearer picture of where they see themselves down the road than a 7th or 8th grade kid. I really think this is a bad bad road these coaches are going down. Bad for the player, parent and college team. Not often do these work out ideally I would imagine. But what do I know, I did not let my daughter even begin to email, write college coaches until she was in high school. Then she picked it up her Junior year narrowed her search and kept in communication with her top choices. Just happened to work out for her. But I also have heard coaches say sorry I got no money left for 2017 or 2016 kids. Which I think is crazy. Didn't work this way back in my day. No one knew where they were going till their senior year most of the time.
- Nov 23, 2014
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So if a kid is 2021, they need to be contacting Division 1 next year if they want to possibly play Div 1?
Unfortunately, yes. They will be recruiting 2021's next year so letting them know in advance of who she is and where she is, is a good idea. Sounds stupid huh? Get your 7th grader prepared to make a decision on what college she wants to attend that has the best program for her desired field. This is why the NCAA should address and ban it. It's ridiculous.
- Nov 23, 2014
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Ha ha. Her desired field right now is archeology. I'm thinking that's gonna change numerous times over the next few years. Nothing against archeologists, she just wants to get her own TV show and travel the world digging up stuff. Yeah. She's thinking like a 12 year old.
Well for some schools yes. For high level academic schools the decision point comes later due to the schools needing to see test scores and high school grades. Having said that, I predict some top softball school is going to announce they will no longer leave committed kids alone and overnight all commits will be soft commits thus making the final decision happen when it should. It's inevitable.
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