I have a son 21 recruit in swimming, summer junior level times, all american in USA swimming and NISCA swimming, nearly olympic trial cut, and can honestly say this year recruiting has been brutal, teams cut, roster spots cuts, current swimmers red shirting or gap year meaning incoming recruiting spots cut, spots and offers literally vanishing in short time, NCAA dead period with no visits, no in person talking to coaches and no one knows what is going to happen in athletic department budgets for the next few years nor how many swimmers will take advantage of extra year of eligibility. In the end my kid is accepting an offer from a school he would have never considered just because of the distance from home. Until that NLI is signed in a few weeks though nothing is certain. He was told by many schools we have just moved on to 2022 or even 2023 recruiting classes. So 2021 class heavily affected but will affect spots for years.
@leennp - You could have been writing about menâs crew - just replace swimming with crew 
Baseball tooâšď¸
My daughter heard at the end of last week that coach could not support her - he hoped he might get a slot back from admissions but was not to be. Said if she was prepared to PG then they could take another look next yearâŚbut no guarantees because of-course then youâre competing with the 22s plus left over 21s who may have better stats after this seasonâŚassuming there is a seasonâŚ
It feels like 20% of the spots disappeared.
In your opinions, what percentage of college seniors will stay for an extra year?
@GKUnion - it is all sport and school dependent. I know 2 Pomona girlâs volleyball players that took a gap (not seniors) and 2 CMC girl lacrosse players that took a gap. All were coach requested - so can only guess that means less recruiting for 2025 - but donât have confirmation. For crew, several men and women programs were cut over the late summer, things shifting and we have one friend that just lost her âsupportâ at top school for crew, as the coach was asked to give back 3 spots.
We are seeing the same thing play out in menâs lacrosse: college teams are full. I have a '22. He is our youngest student-athlete. The others were heavy-weight D1 rowers. The student-athlete recruiting road is brutal and now this âexogenous forceâ, aka Covid-19, as well as Varsity Blues, has shaken this process up from the teenager to the adult coach who is trying to earn a living. It is very important to acknowledge this massive change so that your student-athlete understands that there is stuff he/she cannot control. I recommend we move away from the âblame gameâ and âthe way it wasâ towards asking what other bucket your student might fit into at a college. This is very difficult given how much time is spend on sports (including the commute time to tourneys, etc.). At '22 and '23 has time to improve grades and get involved in another more academic activity. I feel bad for the kids whose parents are not accepting this huge shift in the recruiting process.
This recruiting sounds brutal. My school cut my old sport and it was a d1 top 5 to 10:program. Really sad for the athletes, coaches, alums and the program.
Besides the impact on recruiting mentioned in this thread, which is horrible for these high school athletes, itâs also having an impact on the college class of 2024 too. My child was recruited off junior marks and had his season (spring sport) cancelled after one meet. Didnât gap year. Now it looks quite possible colleges spring sports season is also cancelled, meaning two years with no meets, or even organized practices. Very fortunate to be recruited, but will the drive to compete and excel for these athletes start to understandably fade? Coaches also have to be in a tough place too as they need to manage these athletes emotions and expectations as well.