I just learned something that I’ve never heard of and thought I would bring it to CC to get the hive’s thoughts. Scenario: A top football recruit at my son’s high school committed to a D1 program. He will be graduating after this fall semester then heading off to the D1 school where he will be enrolled in the Spring semester and I assume participate in college’s spring training. This is the first I’ve heard of this possibility. I played D1 volleyball (also a fall sport) 30 yrs ago and coaches didn’t ask us to graduate a semester early from high school. My S19 is also being considered but for D3. Why would a coach require a recruit to graduate early and miss out on Senior year stuff (i.e. graduation, prom, etc.)? What are the benefits/drawbacks for the recruit? How is eligibility affected?
Not uncommon at all for football. Enrolling in spring allows them to be ready to play in the fall rather than redshirting. Plus they can get some credits under their belt to lessen the course load during the season.
Graduating in the fall (late typically rather than early) does give a D1 recruit an edge. You are slightly older and can participate in spring practices. How often it happens, I don’t know. The guys that do it are hoping to get the play time and experience needed to play pro-football. Jimmy Clausen is one person that I remember went the fall graduation route.
For D3, I’d just graduate with his class. You are playing the sport for fun. Enjoy your senior year.
As previously said, enrolling in college in the Spring HS is common, especially for QB’s, since that’s the most complex position to learn. Spring enrollment gives the player a head start on Fall competition, when most of the freshman enroll. Coaches may or may not “suggest” it, but the player and his family make the final decision.
Got it, thank you for the responses! Learn something new every day!
Happened to a friend of ours who’s daughter played tennis at one of the academies at Hilton Head Island. She graduated in the fall and attended her southern state flagship school the following spring.
@4MyKidz: This is not uncommon.
P.S. Although typically done to get a head start on academics & preparation for the upcoming football season, I suspect that it may also be encouraged in appropriate situations so that the recruit is less likely to have a change of heart & commit to another school.
Also, the student athlete should still be able to attend his senior prom if he takes a current student & should be able to participate in the graduation ceremony.
Eligibility doesn’t start till the season actually starts right? From an athlete’s perspective, getting the playbook, learning the position, and becoming familiar with the coach/team dynamics & system are plusses to starting early. Negatives: possibly getting hurt during spring training, little time given to adapt to college from high school since other athletes have spring semester and summer. and of course missing the senior yesr festivities with classmates you’ve known since prek. Luckily this particular player is a fabulous academic minded student who is also a little more mature (age & mindset) than the average high school senior. This player has the ability to be a starter as a freshman for this big D1 program. Hopefully, he still gives 110% to his high school team even though I’m sure his mind is on his college future in a few months.
No, eligibility starts the day you start at college after a high school graduation.
There was a post last year about the USC players starting early (spring of what should be HS graduation). I think there were 10 or so on the roster out of the 25 freshmen allowed.
I don’t think many players stay an extra semester in high school, @HPuck35 . Most school systems wouldn’t allow a 5th year high school student to play. If athletes want an extra year, they may go to a post grad year at a boarding school as they wouldn’t be under the high school athletic association rules.
This trend started around 10 years ago and now most D1 football schools will have a few do this every year. In addition to giving these kids a head start for school and for spring practice, these kids are counted from the previous year’s scholarship limit rather than the current year. So a school could over-recruit for a given year past the 25 limit if they didn’t do so in the previous year and assuming they would be under the 85 total limit.
The mid-year recruit is now starting to come into play for college basketball as well. Kansas has a key player come at the end of December, and Marquette got a top player from Wisconsin who opted to go to school rather than play for a third straight state championship (he was injured). Usually you wouldn’t see this in basketball since the season would be smack in the middle of play.
Thanks for the explanation @ProfessorPlum168 ! I knew it had to be relatively new.
This is extremely common in Texas and includes some kids who are not academic stars. What I don’t know, and would love to find out, is how some of these kids can graduate early when Texas has some specific high school graduation requirements (four years of English, four years of math, etc.) I wonder if they are conditionally enrolled at their colleges until they complete the high school graduation requirements. I’ve actually asked this question of a local sportswriter here in Austin, but never got an explanation. I may have to nose around on that some more.
It happens in baseball too. Saw a couple of Twitter posts recently about kids giving up their senior HS seasons and enrolling early. Those guys will likely play when they arrive. They will graduate high school early, and be playing D1 baseball weeks later when they could/should be playing their final season of high school baseball.
they have to have a transcript showing a high school graduation in order to get through the NCAA clearinghouse, and I don’t think they can practice with the team until they have that, so I don’t think they are still high school seniors. With planning, it is not that hard to graduate early - take two English classes one year, two history the next, take an online class, take a summer school class.
It is unfortunately becoming common in big time power five football. About half the class at places like Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama are enrolling early so they can get right in to the training program and most importantly can get the extra reps afforded by spring practice. Personally I think it sucks for the kids, who are forced to give up the last chance to just lounge with their buds and be a high school kid. But there are huge advantages for the schools, so that is the way things are trending.
And yes, you have to be a high school graduate to participate in NCAA sports, so everyone enrolling early is graduating in December. The way I have seen it done is that a kid will take a summer class or two during the summer between his junior and senior year to make sure he meets the minimum standards for a state diploma. We are starting to see issues crop up where a particular high school has graduation requirements in excess of the state minimums, so kids are transferring to other schools with looser requirements and then losing their senior year of eligibility. It really sucks.