BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Early Recruiting

Never said freaks of nature there sparky. Just said these kids are matured physically. I have seen a lot of those boys. Many look like they are 16 or 17. It helps when you mature physically at this age.

Never said freaks of nature there sparky. Just said these kids are matured physically. I have seen a lot of those boys. Many look like they are 16 or 17. It helps when you mature physically at this age.

"freaks of nature" ...take it easy there guy.. this is niche sport. neither of those dudes could make a D3 roster in any of the mainstream sports like football or basketball- sports without all these high priced barriers to entry that lacrosse has. don't get crazy, JJ Watt is a freak of nature.

Sorry there Johnny Bag O Donuts, I was referring to freaks of nature in the context of them being exceptional lacrosse players. Oh and I completely disagree with you, both Rabil and Pannell could easily play D3 Football or basketball. Rabil especially is an exceptional athlete.

"freaks of nature" ...take it easy there guy.. this is niche sport. neither of those dudes could make a D3 roster in any of the mainstream sports like football or basketball- sports without all these high priced barriers to entry that lacrosse has. don't get crazy, JJ Watt is a freak of nature.

[quote=Anonymous]
Trust me, no one is asking any of the Football players in D3 to play Lax.

I do not know if this is completely true. You are saying there are no D3 football players that played very good lax in HS but choose to play football in college and the college Lax coach has not asked them to play on their team? Hey top level D3 lax is pretty damn good, but I think that is a silly statement. As I know first hand it is not true.

The Long Island kids that have committed are very mature physically. I know them and seen them play many many times.

They are developed and mature versus other 14, 15 year olds. That isn't a sustainable advantage. Anyone who has experience with high level college sports knows that except for a few lacrosse coaches. I guess we could suppose that a few college lacrosse coaches really know better, but I'll take the other side of that bet every time.

So are you saying the kids that committed in 9th and 10th grade are only doing so because they are more mature? Skill, ability and overall athleticism have nothing to do with it?

They are developed and mature versus other 14, 15 year olds. That isn't a sustainable advantage. Anyone who has experience with high level college sports knows that except for a few lacrosse coaches. I guess we could suppose that a few college lacrosse coaches really know better, but I'll take the other side of that bet every time.

You know I think early recruiting is interesting. Do I wish my son was one of those early recruits? Absolutely if he really knew where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do in 9the grade. For some the decision is a no brainer when committing to schools like Duke, Hopkins, and all the other top 20 schools with D1 programs. You would be stupid not to jump at a chance to go to one of these schools if given the opportunity. My son and I are circumventing the treacherous recruiting road as I write this. We came into the travel lacrosse scene a bit late in 7th grade. So many teams had already been established and it was very tough to crack their top teams. We have played for some great teams only to see them cherry picked by other so called AA teams resulting in the team becoming weaker. If the parents just gave the team more time together rather than look for the AA team moniker the team could have competed with any one. We actually gave some AA teams a run in 1 or 2 goal games. The one thing I have learned and seen first hand that you need an advocate for your kid. I know so many quality players that are not committed and others who happened to play for a great team and an established coach get the early commitment. Many of these players were and still are some of the best players because they were a bit more mature and polished. This is because they were very well coached and played on great teams. While in 7th and 8th grade they really stood out physically and even skill wise. As 9th grade has come around many of the kids that were tall for their age or bigger in 6th-8th are now are average in both areas. Some are still bigger, taller and even better but not the full head and 25-30 pounds they had on others and blowing them away skills wise. I am happy my son and I are where we are in the process. I am seeing kids that at one time were so much better than others who were committed in 9th grade to top programs now being passed by. With puberty and a new found drive and work ethic kids are coming into their own mentally and physically and passing the so called can't miss players. I think that at this time my son is in the best possible position for him. Have a few schools he loves in D1 that also have shown interest back. We also have been introduced to a few schools we never would have considered before but are now very intrigued by. In 9th grade he would have never really known what he wants or if he could do it. It's not the end of the world for the parents or player if they aren't committed by 10th grade. I think certain coaches in D1 and club team directors are creating this frenzy. By the recent results many of these teams who have paved the way by committing 8th and 9th graders might be reconsidering listening to the club directors recommendations on can't miss 9th graders. Which I find hysterical to even type. Don't lose faith and stay the course. Good luck to all.

I agree with much of what you say but there are some things that I would like to point out.

Where are all of these late bloomers? If there are so many late bloomers out there then why do high school coaches bring up so many 9th graders? There is talk on another thread about Garden City, Massapeaqua, Syosset etc.. "the prestigious" programs bringing up a bunch of 9th graders. If there are so many late bloomers why the need to bring up the 9th graders. If college coaches can't tell who is going to develop down the road what make you think the HS coaches can? Is it possible that once the HS coach tags the kid as a can't miss (brings him up in 9th grade) the coach will continue to play the kid even if he doesn't pan out? Will the coach be able to admit he was wrong about the kid or will he just keep playing him?

From what I have seen first hand over the past few years Club Directors have very little influence on the college coaches. However, the club you play for has bas become more important. In recent years the top clubs have joined forces and they send their top teams to exclusive tournaments. Head coaches from the majority of Division 1 programs are all over these tournaments all summer and fall paying particular attention to the rising 9th and 10th graders. College coaches will watch a player multiple times before making an offer (they do not make the offer because the club director tells them to).

I agree with much of what you say but there are some things that I would like to point out.

Where are all of these late bloomers? If there are so many late bloomers out there then why do high school coaches bring up so many 9th graders? There is talk on another thread about Garden City, Massapeaqua, Syosset etc.. "the prestigious" programs bringing up a bunch of 9th graders. If there are so many late bloomers why the need to bring up the 9th graders. If college coaches can't tell who is going to develop down the road what make you think the HS coaches can? Is it possible that once the HS coach tags the kid as a can't miss (brings him up in 9th grade) the coach will continue to play the kid even if he doesn't pan out? Will the coach be able to admit he was wrong about the kid or will he just keep playing him?

From what I have seen first hand over the past few years Club Directors have very little influence on the college coaches. However, the club you play for has bas become more important. In recent years the top clubs have joined forces and they send their top teams to exclusive tournaments. Head coaches from the majority of Division 1 programs are all over these tournaments all summer and fall paying particular attention to the rising 9th and 10th graders. College coaches will watch a player multiple times before making an offer (they do not make the offer because the club director tells them to).

There is much talk about the "late bloomers" and where are they? The "late bloomer" is going to become extinct like the dinoaurs. Why is that? Because there is so much pressure to win at an early age on club teams, all the "early bloomers" are put on the A teams, regardless of their size. And when I say "early bloomer" I'm talking lax skill not physical size. A three foot eight kid who can sling it lefty will make the team all day long over a 4 foot four kid who is still trying to figure out what end of the stick to hold. So the tiny tyke plays with the best players and gets the best coaching. Fast forward to 8th grade and that A travel team is rolling, and some of the tiny tykes have monster stats. The team travels and college coaches start taking note. Now the potential "late bloomers" have been on B and C teams and the truth is, the club, the high school coaches and the college coaches could care less about them. So these players must either be at lesser public or private high schools to play and hopefully finally be coached. Now the top college coaches are falling over themselves to scoop up all the 9th grade (early bloomers) in the hopes that they hit the lottery and that player continues to develop, continues to grow, and continues to get good grades. Very few club coaches say, give me the best athlete and I will make him a great player. They say give me the best third grade lacrosse players and let the high school coach worry down the road. The only hope is that parity continues in the college ranks and the lesser D-1 schools make more informed decisions about more mature kids and start to compete with the early recruiters. But in the meantime, the moral of the story is, the train has left the station and the late bloomers have been left standing on the platform. In this fast paced, accelerated recruiting world, and the rise of the club teams, have your child up and running in second grade or find yourself chasing the early bloomers down the tracks.

You write this as if nothing ever changes in life. I could cite you examples as long as my arm of practices in all areas of life that were followed and later reversed. The only way early recruiting continues is if/when those teams that do it become unstoppable. Right now Notre Dame is the #1 team in the country and they actually have a reputatioins for poaching kids later. And you cannot go off 2 weeks of D1 results to proclaim parity or decide what it tells us about the long-term impact of early recruiting. The sample size just isn't big enought yet.

There is much talk about the "late bloomers" and where are they? The "late bloomer" is going to become extinct like the dinoaurs. Why is that? Because there is so much pressure to win at an early age on club teams, all the "early bloomers" are put on the A teams, regardless of their size. And when I say "early bloomer" I'm talking lax skill not physical size. A three foot eight kid who can sling it lefty will make the team all day long over a 4 foot four kid who is still trying to figure out what end of the stick to hold. So the tiny tyke plays with the best players and gets the best coaching. Fast forward to 8th grade and that A travel team is rolling, and some of the tiny tykes have monster stats. The team travels and college coaches start taking note. Now the potential "late bloomers" have been on B and C teams and the truth is, the club, the high school coaches and the college coaches could care less about them. So these players must either be at lesser public or private high schools to play and hopefully finally be coached. Now the top college coaches are falling over themselves to scoop up all the 9th grade (early bloomers) in the hopes that they hit the lottery and that player continues to develop, continues to grow, and continues to get good grades. Very few club coaches say, give me the best athlete and I will make him a great player. They say give me the best third grade lacrosse players and let the high school coach worry down the road. The only hope is that parity continues in the college ranks and the lesser D-1 schools make more informed decisions about more mature kids and start to compete with the early recruiters. But in the meantime, the moral of the story is, the train has left the station and the late bloomers have been left standing on the platform. In this fast paced, accelerated recruiting world, and the rise of the club teams, have your child up and running in second grade or find yourself chasing the early bloomers down the tracks.

Look, if my 15 year old gets an offer from a great school that is not an Ivy such as UNC, UVA or Mich he will take it and we will figure out whether he wants to keep it when he is 18...

New to this so please pardon my I gnorance but could could someone school me on verbal commitments? I realize they are just that and there's no binding contract but what if a young athlete changes their mind in a year or two? Are they blacklisted? Do schools ever rescind offers and are there stipulations such as GPA, SAT scores?
Last question, are there any good sites or resources that can help someone navigate this process that you can point me to?

Kids can change their minds at any time until the sign a national letter of intent (NLI) in there senior year and you only sign an NLI if you are receiving athletic aid so no NLI for Ivy League, Military Academy's or D3. I kid that de-commits from a verbal usually does so with a new offer of a verbal commit from another school. Generally the verbal is between the coach and the player so some schools de commit if the coaches leave the school but that would probably be the younger players so the new coach can bring in his own recruits but every case is unique. A coach will generally tell the younger players that they must get X GPA and X SAT to be accepted and the verbal is contingent on but not guaranteed with admission. Coaches will generally not break a verbal commitment because they have a reputation to worry about and if they people start saying the have not honored commitments they would have a hard time getting them in the future. I have heard of coaches telling a kid that they have committed to another kid at the same position and tell the kid they will still honor the verbal but the kid might want to look for a different situation.

This is all my opinion from going through it a few times but every school and every case is different.