<p>This is a post I copied and pasted from another board I follow. The poster is a very wise man - probably the leading authority on baseball recruiting, although much of what he says applies to all sports.</p>
<p>"Now that major colleges are looking for commitments much earlier than in he past, be careful out there!</p>
<p>Just last week, we received another example of what can and does happen to several young underclassmen. </p>
<p>Good young player (sophomore) with a nice looking swing attended a winter camp at a very large college. After watching the kid hit in the cage they offered him a 60% baseball scholarship. We knew at the time that the kid was nowhere near the level this college played at. However dad and son were so excited they went ahead and verbally committed.</p>
<p>Over the next year and a half, every time I saw them, the kid and even the dad would have on either a hat or shirt or both with the college colors and name. Obviously they were happy and proud.</p>
<p>Then last week they got phone call from the college coach. Now the young player is no longer going to that college and there will not be any scholarship. Both the kid and the dad are completely crushed!</p>
<p>The early commitments can and usually do work out for many. However, be careful if that offer is based on a one time viewing. College recruiters seeing something they like will want to sew up the player. They need to beat the competition to any possible impact player. "Early bird gets the worm"! </p>
<p>But, here's the problem... The early offer doesn't mean they still will want you a year or so later. The majority of the risk involved falls on the player. When things like mentioned above happen, it doesn't really have an effect on the college program. Some might say they lose credibility, but does that even count that much when the thing that really counts is winning and losing. </p>
<p>So in the end, it is the young kid and his family that are left devastated while the college moves forward and uses the 60% on something else. Now the kid is a senior and will have to start over. There will be no 60% offers coming his way. He will likely end up at a JUCO or small college. And that is probably where he belonged in the first place. It was easy for the college to give that offer to a sophomore. They didn't have much to lose. Guess it was easy for the young kid and his family to accept that offer. Now they have lost a lot, they are crushed and embarrassed. Their story is not a rare one these days, not many will care. Early commitments are very much one sided.</p>
<p>Be very careful out there."</p>
<p>I would add this: early recruiting and early committing is based upon the coach "projecting" the players ability well into the future. If a player does not develop along that projection, several scenarios may emerge. First, the coach may keep his non-enforceable oral commitment, but the player will not see the field, and if the program is a power program which does not require the coach to keep the player, the player will be cut after the first year. Second, the oral commitment will not be followed by the enforceable NLI.</p>
<p>The parents MUST be able to honestly assess the player's development. Development of athletes doesn't necessarily follow a steady upward slope. (I have seen many pitchers who throw the same velocity as seniors that they threw as sophomores [when they received their oral offers].) If the player is not equal to the incoming class, BEWARE. </p>
<p>Also beware of coaching changes and realize that the oral commitment may well evaporate with a new coach.</p>