In any division the student can just quit. Nothing happens for that year and the student keeps the scholarship for that year. Many students use the recruiting to get into the school and never play; whether he/she intended to play is usually not known, but I know kids who did it at Georgetown, Williams, Rollins, Salisbury. Obviously, it’s a bigger advantage at some schools than others. A girl from my daughter’s team is returning to the school but not the team, so she didn’t renew her scholarship. I thought that was rather stupid as she could have signed, then quit, and kept her money for next year. It is done all the time and I guess she’s just more honorable than I am because I would have taken the money and then made the decision on whether to return to the team next fall.
Starting this year, the Power 5 conferences (big Div I) are going to give 4 year scholarships instead of a series of 1 year ones. Once a student has completed 2 years, he gets to keep the scholarship even if he quits the team.