BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys High School

The dude called somebody woke, and then blamed others for being triggered. Pure gold.

To me it seems like the triggered one was the woke one who seemed serious, the other poster made fun of the situation . And adding pure gold says that you are the one triggered . All sorta funny.

I agree with other person, lets get back to ripping holdbacks, clubs and schools. Much better banter

What was future stars about?? I’m a MIAA dad of a freshman whose team didn’t play. I never heard of it until now. Looks like some local schools played but most didn’t for some reason.

Fresh/soph players only. Some varsity sophomores from last year. 3 games, no brackets.

Best in class was at the same time so some players missed.

Some schools do nhsls JV instead.

JV tournament.

Coaches getting an idea of what up and coming talent they have and don’t have. What they need to work on, etc. I think. Stats make a fool jump from the top 4 to the bottom 4. Couple teams need to recruit some 29 defense and goalies and quick.

I think the 28 class is loaded across the board. Calvert Hall, Loyola, BL, St. Paul's, McDonogh and Spalding recruited well and added young talent. This class doesn't offer a ton of talent at D-pole.

Well all of Loyola’s 28 talent must have been at the golf course Sunday because they lost to everybody they played.

What schools need 29 defense?

You should not have held your son back, apparently 28's are low on talent at D poles.

The answer to your question is "0-6 freshmen on varsity per year, and 2-3 of them will actually get decent reps." Your son will almost assuredly not get varsity reps as a freshman if he is on-age. And why would you want him to? The majority of MIAA-A varsity starters are already 19, or will turn 19 in the next 45 days. Take the JV reps.

The other answer is that every year is different at every school. It's quite the moving target and you have to understand that the school needs to pass your son's "broken leg test" because there could come a day when lax is not his biggest focus. I know the Loyola prospect days last year (2028s and 2029s) each had 100+ players attending, most of them 2029s. Lax coaching tenure is about 4 years which means each head coach is on a different part of their own journey/career. Also each school's (and donors) appetite for giving out athletic scholarships comes and goes.

Loyola 2029 has got half or more of the Crabs (#16 nationally) and half of Predators (#89 nationally) already enrolled and almost all will stay. Plus they'll recruit a few but not many. Overall it's gonna be a strong class. Yes, knowing Loyola, the admin/executive staff/mega donors will somehow screw it up.

My take on the overall 2028 class:
Loyola - Meh, 3 great recruits and kept all their MS players who didn't reclass to another school.
Gilman - Dangerously weak, lots of scholarships offered with few takers.
Spalding - Good mix....Hawks kids, but also beaucoups utility players from the Insta Clippers/True Glen Burnie, MDLL's random team.
St. Pauls - biggest surprise of the 2028 class. Attracted TONS of talent from in state and out of state, esp. from the Calv Hall and Loyola feeder schools
McDonogh - recruited kids from across the country, and will keep bringing in new 2028s for the next 3.5 years.
Severn - I mean their recruiting radius is like 7 miles so....
St. Marys - Upside, your kid will play varsity. Downside, it will probably be a bad and chaotic time.
John Carroll - Upside, your kid will play varsity. Downside, the program has trouble getting wind in its sails, even w new head coach.
MSJ - Upside, your kid will learn to punch NFL fans in the street, on a 15 day coke bender, and play with public school kids from Arbutus.
BL - picked up the starting line up of the relatively talented HLC AA/AAA club, and tons of crab kids.

Loyola 2028s were by invite only, about 5 of them. So what you were seeing was primarily the Loyola 2027 class. They did indeed get smoked, I think the weakness of that class is mostly attributable to:

1) continued (the end of) backlash from the Ben Rubeor fiasco (BR's wiki doesn't even mention his coaching stint at Loyola....ouch)
2) Coach U pretty much mailed in the 2027 recruiting class (termination pending and I bet he knew it).
3) Coach SA juggled and dropped the 2027 Looneys team, which was pretty good, and then the club dissolved under his watch, as the 2027s were applying to HS. You can blame entitled parents or what have you, but he was handed a semi-functional club and it fell apart, quick.

That Looneys team was not good at all. Coach U at least knew what good club teams were.

StP assessment a is pretty accurate. Same with BL and Gilman.

Hearing a few different things elsewhere:

I heard Loyola had huge numbers, +30 kids. Most will be fresh soph this year. A few studs, but smaller on overall talent. But ok with huge amount of talent already in underclasses and coming up from JV. Pipeline was already strong.

CH brought in a ton of kids. +30 kids. FCA A and B teams keeping the CH rosters full. A few kids from other clubs might stick this year and make the roster. Or wash. The Pipeline should be set for a few years.

I think McD has a smaller class. Both in numbers and stature. About a dozen. Assume they will continue to look for out of state transfers. Seems to be their MO lately.

StMs numbers are smaller than normal - about 20. May not have a fresh soph again this year. Program shrinking year over year. Guess spalding is taking a chunk out of them.

I think John Carroll brought in +20 freshman and started a club team. Hearing the enthusiasm and wind is ok up North.

Not sure why the detest for MSJ. That ravens fan got kicked out of StP too. He graduated from Hereford, annyway. And it's not like we let him back into school after being kicked out. We brought in +20 freshmen to go with some talented SOs and JRs. Don't detest. The pipeline is good in Catonsville.

Great analysis of the 28 class. I'd add that McDonogh's top 28's are local kids (goalie, mid and left attack). Also, BL brought in a larger than normal group of borders for 28. That class is loaded with talent.

In regards to the 29 class, the majority of the Crabs team and most of the top players are at BL and STP. Also, that team was ranked 60 last year. The top players in the 29 class are either already at or will likely attend Boys Latin, Calvert Hall, St. Pauls and Spalding.

But it really doesn't matter for the 29's. The 28 class is so dominant that 29 kids are going to struggle for playing time through most of their high school career.

Loyo, StP's, Spalding and CH got the best 28 defensive classes. Some studs.

So pretty much everyone else is looking for '29 defenders.

St. Mary's is taking a chunk out of themselves. Lilly was a fine coach, the way they handled his departure was an own goal.

They hardly need to recruit. If their 8th grade class went to St. Mary's they would be great every year. The last couple of years they have been filling the rosters of Spalding, St. Johns, BL and CH. Several of those players will (or did) play as freshman at their respective schools. These are the worst St. Mary's teams I can remember, sad.

Apology for riffing on MSJ, and yeah they kicked Callis out, which in retrospect, shows the school has some character. And I personally know zero bad apples from MSJ across the sports I've coached, so, yeah you're right on that.

On the Loyola end, they had 40+ kids try out for the 8th grade team last year (2028s), and only a few left for 9th grade. They definitely did not get 30 additional players this fall (notables: 1 key kid from 2 Way/DCE, 1 from Crabs/Hawks, 1 from Freedom/18 National), and the "new" 9th graders who play are generally A, AA, and a few AAA level Hoco league kids from True, LTLC, Kelly Post / MDLL, FCA White, Predators, the old HoCo AAA and A teams etc. Some will continue to play, some are already dumping lax for other HS sports, and some will wash out....Loyola usually has 125-145 lax bros try out for 95-105 total roster spots (identical numbers to CHC). The major cut is 11th grade (LB is unusual...I think.... in that they rarely/never allow 11th graders to play JV).

As far as John Carroll, all signs point to something good happening. But also, they couldn't fill the 2028 roster of their new North Stars club team, even though they got almost the entire roster of the AAA Blue Claws to come to North Stars. They were still advertising for roster spots about 3 weeks ago. I think we'd all like to see that program turn the hype and excitement into building some great squads. Though the same could currently be said for BL, Loyola, St. Pauls and St. Marys.

“ The majority of MIAA-A varsity starters are already 19, or will turn 19 in the next 45 days. Take the JV reps.”

LOL in NY we call a 19 yr old a College Sophomore!

Sure, Jan. Joey Spallina was born on June 4, 2003 and graduated from HS as a 19 year old. He redshirted in 2023 (turned 20 at the end of spring semester) and at the end of his RS freshman year, he turned 21. At the end of his eligibility he'll turn 24. So tell me more about these on age 19 year old NY college athletes that I'm sure are major D1 impact players.

My son plays for NStars, but he attends a local public school.
The county needed another good option. Driving to Gilman was a pain in the...
The team is half Harford/DE/PA kids, and half JC.
The team got most of the Blue Claws defense and the Blue Claws offensive players ended up at 91 and FCA.
Good coaching. He likes the team. So far, so good.
We'll see how the rest of the fall goes.

Gilman, JC and MSJ talk? We must be hard up for lax talk. What's next, Severn chatter?!

Seriously, good to have some new posters and info up in here.

About the same as most MIAA players in college, Many are holdbacks no matter what the people here say. That is laughable when they say it is only a few.

Bottom line is, now there are way more holdbacks playing lacrosse then there ever has been. Sad but true.

I heard from a source that McD has recruited two players from the south and one from up North of border in 2028 class. They arrive next year.

Will obviously be on the older side, not that I know about birthdays, but all OOS before them have been holdbacks.

Nothing like paying your 30K since K and getting bumped as you are ready to move to Varsity by a player brought in and paying nothing , OUCH !

Gilman will be fine this year, They have some talent that is right up there with best MIAA talent, yes, they are short on numbers that are quality, but coaching and talent will put them top 6 this year. Release the Hounds !!

I keep hearing that STM got the top 2028 talent from the Hawks, Pro Start, and Clippers. Is this true? My son plays for the Hawks B team, and he says the Hawks A team did not go to STM. I'm trying to understand this. Yes, my kid goes to one of the local AACO publics.

Spallina played his freshman year in 2023. Was ACC rookie of year and HM all-american

Exactly why it s better to be older when playing against High School players or college players. The younger you are the harder it is to make yourself stand out. Prefirsts Reclass Holdbacks PG and Redshirts Unite !

Yes but he did also play 5 years in high school and should have graduated in 21 and not 22

He was older player always, as his dad knew that is what it takes to compete at a high level. Joey wasnt that big and needed the extra years to get bigger and stronger. Pretty simple. As above, there is a reason why being older helps.

This argument is strange...
Staten Island guy: NY doesn't reclass hahahahaha! Freshmen are 19!
MD guy: What about Spallina, he reclassed obviously
Staten Island guy: Exactly! NY All Star! Played as a 20 year old college freshman, whoop whoop! Reclassing works!
Everyone else: confused

Translation: A. I live in New York and detest everything not from New York. Also, B. New Yorkers are superior to everyone else despite the fact that we live in a congested dump, pay ridiculously high taxes, are generally miserable and struggle with anything beyond a pop up book. I detest my life so much I make sure I troll blogs about other states so I can make sure they know about point A. and B. from above. Also, let's go New York!!!

Go to Spalding or Old Mill then dude...

Wait until these players have kids starting to play lacrosse. They will ALL be holdbacks.

No need to wait, Everyone that has been involved with lacrosse and has children have been doing it for years now. Any former player with a boy in an MIAA school has been held back. They know the drill.

Where do the majority of kids get recruited in the MIAA? From actual high school games, big money show cases (seem like a money grab for most), club games, prospect days?

IMO and in order:

1) High school
2) Club Team
3) Prospect Days
4) Showcases

Nobody gets recruited from Prospect days.

disagree

Both are true, No one gets recruited at any top or even better D1 schools at prospect day , Only place you are getting recruited at the money making prospect day is at a school that needs more players.