The age of lax recruits

[gman]

I am shocked at how kids are committing to lax programs. Cornell just landed a kid who is an incoming high school sophomore and this isn't an usual occurrence. From what I read kids are being offered as freshmen/sophomores and being told we are recruiting x number of kids for y number of positions and the first to commit get the spot. This seems so wrong to me. I can't imagine a 14 year old kid being ready to make his college choice. I also can't imagine that coaches can make an educated enough decisions on who is going to be worthy of this ship in their senior year. If you are a late bloomer you might not be able to land a spot at a decent program because they are filled with kids who were better at age 13/14. When did this start and how has the NCAA not done something to stop this?

 

[monte]

I am shocked at how kids are committing to lax programs. Cornell just landed a kid who is an incoming high school sophomore and this isn't an usual occurrence. From what I read kids are being offered as freshmen/sophomores and being told we are recruiting x number of kids for y number of positions and the first to commit get the spot. This seems so wrong to me. I can't imagine a 14 year old kid being ready to make his college choice. I also can't imagine that coaches can make an educated enough decisions on who is going to be worthy of this ship in their senior year. If you are a late bloomer you might not be able to land a spot at a decent program because they are filled with kids who were better at age 13/14. When did this start and how has the NCAA not done something to stop this?

How's an Ivy league school accepting a kid who hasn't even taken his SAT/ACT yet? Am I missing something?

 

[gman]

I am shocked at how kids are committing to lax programs. Cornell just landed a kid who is an incoming high school sophomore and this isn't an usual occurrence. From what I read kids are being offered as freshmen/sophomores and being told we are recruiting x number of kids for y number of positions and the first to commit get the spot. This seems so wrong to me. I can't imagine a 14 year old kid being ready to make his college choice. I also can't imagine that coaches can make an educated enough decisions on who is going to be worthy of this ship in their senior year. If you are a late bloomer you might not be able to land a spot at a decent program because they are filled with kids who were better at age 13/14. When did this start and how has the NCAA not done something to stop this?

How's an Ivy league school accepting a kid who hasn't even taken his SAT/ACT yet? Am I missing something?

Mcn can probably give more details but basically they are commiting to go into the admission process with no gaurantess that they are admitted. Chances are these kids are coming from good high schools and are pretty good students

 

[MCNPA]

Gman is correct about the ivy programs. Nothing is guaranteed before the admissions process. All it is, is a promise that they'll make the team if they pass through admissions. I also agree its too early to recruit 9th graders etc, but it happens. A great example is SjU's Kieran McArdle. He was really overlooked by big programs until his senior season when he led Long Island in points. Now SJU has a Teewaraton finalist and arguably the nation's best college attackman. He was unwanted until senior year.

Coaches still have to play the game that everybiody is playing though. I know that SJU's Miller isn't very big on high school rankings and likes recruiting outside of traditional hotbeds quite a bit. SJU's best freshman this season might just be a midfielder named Nick Heller out of Beverly Hills Ca of all places, who also wasn't recruited by big programs. Time will tell.