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

There will always be haters and people hoping he fails - its just the sad state of youth and high school lacrosse. Even the opposing teams and possibly some of his own teammates will have it out for him. That's the part that I hate to see with regards to early recruiting - all the other crap that goes along with it. Anyway, one of the more interesting sidebars to follow will be if he stays loyal to 91 through high school or does he switch over to the Express darkside.

My money is on staying loyal to 91 while he attends St Anthony's

We personally know two other boys currently in college who gave verbals in 8th grade, the difference was, the parents kept their mouths closed. Why advertise it?
What is 91 trying to up their income?

"as far as PSU, it is a great school with a vast alumni network and a top 40 academic school nationally. If that is not good enough for your kid, don't apply there."

Top 40 , I think not. According to who ,Joe Patterno.

Oh, stop with the drama! Kid is great, will stay great, and regardless he will receive big money from a great school, as the big money tends to go to the high profile earlies. Win-win! Great job kid!

Age appropriate- doing it the right way.

Every situation is different but in this case if you know the player and family this is a great choice. If you knew the kid and what he has done and how he got to where he is, you would be proud of him. He puts the time in and is the hardest working player I know.

As far as friends and teammates being jealous then you don't know him or have never been a true teammate. As far as early recruiting, it is a tricky thing, it should be for special players and people. He is both. Good luck - God Bless!!

Ps... I Still think he'll stay at PSU but play another sport. Return of linebacker U

Is there any family connection to Penn State???. That would help answer a lot of questions????

Happy for the kid and his family. Tough to turn down. Nonetheless, looking at the bigger picture vs. an individual kid, can't we all agree that with kids committing as an 8th grader or even early freshman year there is something seriously wrong with the sport? If a change is not made by the NCAA (the proposal is on the table for both boys and girls to make 1st day of junior year earliest time to verbal), then that institution lacks all perspective on what is best for the kids.

So is he 13 going on 14??? Or 14 going on 15?

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Is he a hardship case . You say if you knew what he had done to get there..sounds like there were issues along the way? Or are you saying he works harder then any other kid out there?..just please don't tell me he was held back before kindergarten or later for educational reasons, if so then this all means nothing. Just trying to explain to my kid why these things happen at his age and the possible reasons behind it.

I think early recruiting is a beard for coaches who are not performing. If you can point to all the recruits or classes on the way and note they are highly regarded that can deflect the attention away from a program that isn't winning or is declining. It also attracts some notoriety to the program (not for the better I'd argue, but this is a reality TV crazy world). Dom Starsia has been doing this for a couple years now. If I were a Penn State fan I'd be concerned that Tambroni has not made an impact on the program to be consistent and competitive, and now he's gone out to do this. I'd agree that just one kid is more symbolic than a herd, but if you look at the programs who have used ER as a beacon none have done much. Hop -- needed a miracle turn around late last season just to make the NCAA and then made the FF for first time in a long time. UNC -- they have been a decent regular season team for year and years, but no FFs. UVA -- dumpster fire. UMD has had more success and their coach is going earlier and earlier in the past 18 months, so we will see how that rounds out for the Terps into the future. An argument could also be made that these coaches believe that if they have highly ranked recruiting classes stacked down for 3-4 years it will make them harder to fire...which if you think about it is pretty hysterical.

Ty Xanders ‏@Ty 12h12 hours ago
Face-off guys: Turn on the NCAA wrestling championships on ESPN. Watch these guys with their footwork and hands. Unreal. @Faceoff_Academy

Ooooohhhh, do I smell 2021s and 2022s and 2023s uncommitted face-off invite only clinics for kids who wrestle or watched wrestling on TV but also play lacrosse to be multi sport athletes combine? How do they pick all star teams at face off events, or do they all get to be all stars?

Does St. Anthony's allow freshman to play varsity? Is this kid ready for their varsity?

Age appropriate??

Hmmmmm...

That sounds like a fancy way of saying he was reclassified.

Born 2002- age 13... is that better?

He's evidently ready for Bayshore varsity but not even close to ready for St. A's varsity. This may be a way to shelter him for a few years from the physical pounding he would take by playing varsity for Bayshore.

So he is not even one of the older ones for his grade..that's great . Someone who is legit and playing clean with no stories behind him

No, not a hardship case, no not an academic issue (just the opposite as many lax rats are) DOB is 2nd qtr 2002 not a hold back. Wasn't meant to be read that way. He is a dedicated hard worker. Although, I am surprised he is actually playing for the town that DID NOTHING TO HELP HIM progress as a player. Him playing for the town shows a level of maturity that many others may not have exercised.

Tell your kid there are a rare few. Exceptions to the rule. He is an example that if you want something it takes genetics, hard work, mental focus, family commitment and dedicated TRAVEL coaches.

So you recommend he as an with grader say screw the school district??? At this point he is using them to play more lacrosse isn't he? He could have skipped the test .. He should be thanking them for letting him play up. Bay shore has a kid that's better then Rabil and should be proud. Anything less then that would be considered a disaster .

Wish him well, but my guess is if he is this good that everything he's getting now would be available to him in a year or so. And if Tambroni leaves is the next coach obligated?

He should be thanking them, you cant be serious! That is as laughable as you saying he is using them.

Kid is 13 won't be 14 for a couple of months does that pretty much clear it up, can't make it much simpler .

It is simple the kid is a stud plain and simple. Enjoy the ride kid!

Someone said about the town not helping him and he was doing them a favor by playing..which is the biggest joke. No one kid is bigger then any team

Either side is not obligated until Fall of his senior year when he signs his NLI. Kids decommitt and coaches void verbals all the time.

What exactly do you want "the town" to do to help an 8th grader progress as a player that they wouldn't do for everybody else? Exactly what kind of resources does the town have to dedicate to making a single 8th grade player better? Give me a break. You are exactly what's wrong with youth lacrosse.

The rule of pulling up a player exists solely because of players like him. Once in a decade, on age freaks who has the size speed and IQ. So don't tell me he should be thanking them for the opportunity to play up. They would be idiots if they didn't. (understand im not calling them idiots)

I don't think anyone, besides you, said him playing would be doing the town a favor. But now that you say it, I pose this question, who benefits more by the kid playing, player or team? Player doesn't need to play, but players play and he is an absolute player. Team on the other hand desperately needed him to get involved.

Thankfully the boy does have the maturity to know, it takes a team to have a season, and doesn't think he is better than the team.. but you and I know the team is much better because the player decided to play.

Lets not kid ourselves about a 13 year old's maturity regarding the strategy of where he plays and who he plays for. He's taking care of things he can control on the field but I'm sure his parents and club coach are calling all of the shots off the field. He'll miss his Bayshore teammates and friends in town for sure.

Most kids at that age are puppets to their parents and coaches . They are not mature enough to make decisions on their own. It's ok..They are still kids

100% true
He is a stud against his age group but playing in Suffolk A is a big boys league and he will be somewhat of a 'marked man'.
If nothing else, deciding on his college future at this juncture has made him the poster boy for early recruiting and his progress will be watched closely.
I hope for his sake he continues to enjoy the game and continues to mature emotionally and physically.
As far as Tambo is concerned, he should hide his head in shame.
Linebacker U...that's funny.

It is kind of funny that it's Tambroni doing the earlier and earlier recruiting move considering the best player that ever played under him was a kid that barely registered on the D-I recruiting landscape until the kid played his senior season.

"Suffolk A big boy league" ?? C'mon man get a grip. Most likely he will be playing against several 9th and 10th graders because just about all of the teams have them playing Varsity, the league will be full of them. What teams in that league would he not start on? Most of the teams in the league will not be very strong at all. He will do just fine. Best of luck to him.

The jealousy from other parents of a kid committing never ceases to amaze me. Happens on the boys and girls side. Be happy for the kid. It is the system that needs to be changed by the NCAA (boys and girls coaches have submitted proposals) and until that happens or enough data is there to say early recruiting doesn't work, nothing will change.

Moving to St. Anthony's takes care of the problem playing against bigger, stronger, faster. He won't play varsity until a couple of years from now given the system that St. A's operates.

Suffolk A is widely considered one of the best lacrosse conferences in the country. Not going to name them all but he wouldnt start on at least 6 teams in Suffolk A if not more. Im sure [lacrosse] be fine and it will be a great learning experience for him. Best of luck to him either way.

You might consider it one of the best HS lacrosse conferences in the country but that should tell you all you need to know about HS Lacrosse. The reality is that Suffolk A is usually a two or thee team league. I would say the 8th grade kid would start or see significant playing time on all but one or two teams, maybe three. You say six, I doubt that but even if true, there are 24 teams in the league the fact that he would Start on 18 - 22 of them is sad. Most if not all of the teams will be running a fair amount of 9th and 10th graders. So please stop pounding your chest about how competitive the league is. The facts say otherwise. The top few teams are good every year and thats about it. If it were as competitive as you like to believe we would see different teams winning the championship each year. How many teams in the league will be starting three upperclassmen studs on attack this year? It would not be a stretch to say this kid could start on just about any team in the league. Who has the top attack unit ?? Smithtown East? Connetquot? Sachem North? West Islip?

West Islip
Ward Melville
Northport
Smithtown East
Smithtown West
Hills East
Hills West
Connetquot
Sachem North

He wouldnt start on any of these teams. Agreed the rest of the league is mediocre but that group right there can be pretty competitive and has been for years. Not pounding my chest at all, just pointing out that Suffolk A is considered an extremely competitive conference and historically those teams give preference to the older more experienced kids and that is a fact.

Speaking of linebacker U...Does he play football? He's a big 8th grader.

Bay shore only plays 4 games against what you would call top A teams so there will be plenty of games to pad the stats and make it look good