I see girls in my Ds’ sport “committing to the process” at Ivy schools. I take that to mean that there has been a mutual agreement of interest but nothing is binding on either side. Of course, a “verbal commit” has the same rules of engagement, so it’s really more sematics than anything else.
Now, this list is self-reported (by the college or the high school/club) and there are quie a few examples where the list doesn’t match the reality. But it is out there for sophs and above. There are other lax sites where they list 2018 (freshman) as well.
It includes recruits and walk-ons! Dilutes any conclusions that can be drawn, I think…
In the case of Ivies and D-3 schools, I expect a lot of the youngsters listed for prospective admission are planning to apply EA, ED, or SCEA.
In the case of the Ivies I hope the coaches come through and use a slot they have been allocated for such youngsters. In the case of D-3, I hope the coaches honor their offer to highlight or otherwise tip-off Admissions that the applicant is a recruited athlete. In the case of NLI schools, I hope the coaches follow-up and offer the scholarship money they promised.
If these things do not happen, there is risk on both sides…but more for the recruit. By publicly “committing” they sort of take themselves off the market…unless they are superstars in their sport who tend to be pursued regardless of announced commitments…and end up only reducing rather than expanding their possible opportunities.
If the Princeton coach comes along prior to summer after senior year to offer a slot, and the person really wants to go to Princeton, I would advise the person to tell the coach he/she will plan to apply SCEA and just leave it at that.
I think it comes down to each person’s risk tolerance and the value they place on publicly disclosing that they are planning/would like to attend a certain school.
None of the students on the 2016 or 2017 lists have signed anything, as it isn’t allowed until Nov of senior year of high schools. They all have the right to walk, and the schools all have the right to not admit the student or not present a NLI. You can post, I can post, colleges and coaches can post on this, but schools are posting who they consider are committed recruits. Nothing is binding until the NLI. On the girls’ side of lax, I think more go to their ‘commit’ schools than not. I think for the boys, there is a lot more movement, even among the big schools. In fact, ‘all’ the spots on the top teams are filled by now for the class of 2017, but we all know the coach would find another spot for a superstar… Only superstars will have a chance at Hopkins or Denver or Syracuse and really any shifting around is done by one superstar deciding to leave UVa for Maryland, thus opening a spot at UVa for another highly ranked recruit. You are not taking yourself out of the recruiting game by posting or even by giving a verbal commit. My daughter received a ton of calls and texts after her information was posted, after she played in a tournament with a pink armband (meaning committed), after she signed her NLI. If a D3 school was informed she’d committed, they’d try to convince us that it wasn’t binding, that she could still play at a D3 school. There may be honor among thieves, but there is none among schools trying to steal athletic recruits.
If schools or coaches are publicly announcing the names of persons they consider are committed, or are announcing the likelihood of a recruit signing with that school or attending that school they are running afoul of NCAA Rule 13.11.2
Before the signing of a prospect to a National Letter of Intent or an institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid, a member institution may comment publicly only to the extent of confirming its recruitment of the prospect . The institution may not comment generally about the prospect’s ability or the contribution that the prospect might make to the institution’s team; further, the institution is precluded from commenting in any manner as to the likelihood of the prospect’s signing with that institution. Violations of this bylaw do not affect a prospect’s eligibility and are considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1
If schools are contacting a person after that person has signed an NLI they are violating the NLI Administrative Guidelines
NLI RECRUITING BAN:
Once a prospective student-athlete signs an NLI, all NLI member institutions and conferences must cease
contact with the NLI signee and his or her family members. Any contact in excess of an exchange of a greeting would result in an NLI Recruiting Ban Violation regardless of the conversation. The conversation does not have to result in a recruiting discussion for a violation to occur. It is understandable that a coach from another institution, due to the relationship established during the recruiting process, may want to call or send a note to congratulate the prospective student-athlete for signing his or her NLI. This exchange is permissible but must be timely following the date of signing and must not be more than the congratulatory dialogue
So readers should be aware that colleges that are publicizing commits, and colleges that are making contact after a recruit signs an NLI are acting in the vast minority of cases, and no generally useful conclusions should be drawn from such expectations.
For an underclassman to announce a commitment to MIT (the subject of this thread) or any other school, I can see two justifications. One, the person is seeking publicity/prestige/bragging rights. Two, the person is seeking to stanch (not stimulate) the recruiting process because he/she is totally sold on the school, completely trusts the coach and/or Admissions Office, and doesn’t want distractions.
“a member institution may comment publicly only to the extent of confirming its recruitment of the prospect”
I think the posting in laxpower by the coach/school would fall under this allowable act, that the school is confirming its recruitment of the prospect. Everyone knows the school or the athlete can make another choice until the signing, or even after signing if the student isn’t admitted academically to the school. As for why kids would post it early? Bragging, relief, making it real, to be the first (my daughter was unhappy when a rival committed first). There is a huge amount of pressure to get a spot at a top school before they are all gone. Everyone at the recruiting tournaments wants to know if you have committed, where you are going, who else is going to that school. Some parents ask all the time, some are sharing tips on how to get recruited, how much money you can ask for, etc. I not only check my daughter’s team for who is coming and which position she plays, but the recruiting classes of the arch enemies, the other schools in her conference. I look for old teammates to see where they are headed.
To be fair, most of those contacting my daughter after signing were D3 schools, and she was free to go, and play immediately, to any of those schools. If a D2 or D1 school contacted her after she signed, it was inadvertent and they quickly backed off. Until signing (and many kids wear pink arm bands before signing, some as early as their sophomore year), it’s open season and the schools all keep calling.
I agree with @fenwaypark. Posting publicly that a kid is committed to a school prior to signing the national letter of intent is a pretty clear no no, at least in D1. They may be able to respond affirmatively that they are recruiting a kid when asked by a stringer for one of the recruiting services, which is I think the intent of the rule cited above. In addition, for the Ivy schools, such a posting would be violative of the Ivy Common Agreement, which only allows the school to provide “probabilistic communications” after October 1, senior year. It may be that the reason that some of the posting are done in order for certain schools is that they are posted by one of the people who follow recruiting in that sport at that school. There are tons of sites that track recruiting in the popular sports and collect lists of “committed” kids (usually by following twitter feeds or facebook postings) and then compiling lists of “commits”
without ever getting any direct information from the school. In fact, that is how the recruiting sites operate.
Is this the advice that parents are giving their underclassman high school kids these days? Telling them if they have a whim that they might like to go to a school that has offered, it is ok to publicly say you are committed, because you are still in the recruiting game and can change your mind willy-nilly?
The coaching fraternity/sorority is a close-knit one. Superstars can get away with lots of stuff that includes commitment hop-scotch…but then again, superstars or their parents don’t need to be posting on and reading CC for college recruitment advice.
But the average underclassman recruit who has given a commitment, and then puts him/herself in play again–absent extenuating factors such as a coach being fired or the like-- risks alienating the first coach (obviously) and putting his/her integrity in question with other coaches.
There are lots of ways to show significant interest without committing as an underclassman, especially since there can be many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip before the NLI is faxed or the Ivy/D3 admission is confirmed.
For the average underclassman recruit–the type who typically comes to CC for recruiting advice–I can see two reasons to commit. First, you want publicity/prestige/bragging rights. Second you want to to stanch (not stimulate) the recruiting process because you are totally sold on the school, completely trust the coach and/or Admissions Office, and don’t want distractions.
And if you do commit, my advice is to do it with the intention of honoring what you said, not with the intention of stirring up attention from other coaches
Speaking of only what I know a little of, college football recruiting, many of the kids who are trying to play “big time” football, meaning Power 5 conference football, spend a fair amount of time chasing stars from the various rating services, Rivals, ESPN, 247, etc. Some people believe that committing early, not just reporting offers, helps “goose” the star rating a bit, and can make a marginal 3 star a 4 star, etc. The idea being that the more stars, the more visible the recruit is to higher level programs. Also, I have seen reported commitments to one school generate a quick offer from another, perceptively better school that has been recruiting the kid but didn’t feel the need to rush to an offer. This just happened with a kid at my son’s school. A junior committed to a nice Power 5 program and a couple days later a marquee school a bit higher up the food chain put out an offer.
It is a huge shell game sometimes, at least in football and basketball recruiting, and coaches spend almost as much time trying to keep guys who committed in the basket as they do trying to close the deal on other kids. Frankly, the schools brought this on themselves. Generally schools will start with the we are only taking x at your position in this class talk right after kicking out an offer. Then the kids track the commitments on the recruiting sites, and if, for example, West Virginia tells the kid they are taking three LBs and there are two reported commitments, he might commit just to make sure he has a place in case Penn State, who is probably recruiting him heavily but hasn’t offered yet because they may be waiting to see if another kid commits somewhere else, ends up not offering. Yes, there are a relative handful of kids who can take their time and wait right until signing day and then pick between Alabama, Ohio State and Oregon but there are not many of those kids. The majority of kids in the classes even at that level are somewhat fungible. One four star running back coming out of high school is not a ton different than another in many ways, and if Ohio State says they will take two RBs in this class and 247 shows they have offered 4 you can bet those 4 are trying to figure out where the others are going to jump so they don’t end up holding out too long.
So generally speaking, I kind of understand what these kids are doing. Honoring your word is a good thing, and I don’t mean to minimize it. But the only control these kids have in the process is the time before they sign the NLI. I can’t blame the kids for trying to use what few tools they have to their advantage.
No, I didn’t intend my post to be only a direct response to yours. Just trying to lay out what I have seen, and explain why I think some kids decide to jump commitments, particularly as underclassmen. I am not sure that it is always for a nefarious purpose, or on a whim. Much of this may depend entirely o the visibility of the sport. Football and basketball are obviously at the top of the visibility index. Swimming, lax and crew for example lower down. Not sure where baseball recruiting fits on that continuum.
As far as P5 football recruiting, I guess it depends on what you mean by superstars. There are plenty of 2 and 3 star guys signing in power five conferences every year. I am not sure that Indiana, Wake Forest, Utah, etc are pulling in superstar recruits.
I know most about lax recruiting. I think the kids and families feel tremendous pressure to commit during or immediately after sophomore year in high school, especially boys. Why? Because everyone does, and there might not be money or a spot left. They are told this by the coaches, by parents, by the recruiters. And the kids are genuinely excited to commit, and intend to go to that school, but we are talking about 15 and 16 year olds who have only looked at the lacrosse, not at the actual education that goes along with it. I know several kids who committed to top schools, but then realized even if they got in, the school was not an academic match. One committed to Princeton, and you’d think what could be better, but after a year (posted on laxpower for a year!) he changed to Army. An entirely different choice. Others were going military and decided against it (or didn’t get in). A third had the school drop the sport at the last minute and had to scramble to find a new school. But I also know two kids who committed over two years ago, went to the schools and immediately dropped out, never playing a second of the season (transferred and played Club at new school). The schools don’t want that either and would rather have had the kid back out before starting school and taking up a scholarship.
I don’t think kids aren’t honoring their commitments or even not taking the commitment seriously, but there is a reason we don’t let 15 year olds sign contracts. They aren’t mature enough to know what they really want or what would be best, but feel pressure to do something. It’s no different than the kids who couldn’t decide which school to commit to but had to pick one by May 1 so they did. Not all of those who committed last week will attend the school they committed to. Most will, but some won’t.
Grades & tests look fine. MIT actually is turning out decent small athletic programs so It’s worth alerting the coach. See if you can prep for an interview or network in the community to find a link.
“Hi there, I’m also a junior in high school, recently committed to play baseball at MIT. Sports at MIT are no joke (I turned down many many D1 schools, including Harvard and Notre Dame), so you still have to be rather good at your respective sport.”
My child is graduating from high school this month and will be playing his sport in college. Coaches at MIT are not given slots by admissions. Therefore, a student can’t “commit” to MIT his junior year in high school.
Technically, no Junior can commit to any school at any level because the only binding commitment is the NLI which isn’t signed, at the very earliest, until Nov of senior year. However, many students give and get a verbal commitment from the coach that if the student is admitted, the student will attend and have a spot on the team. Some of these early commitments are much more of a sure thing because the student is likely to be admitted to a school with or without the coach’s tip/slot/support with admissions.
My daughter signed her NLI before she was officially admitted to her school.