My son is just finishing up his sophomore year in H.S. and might be recruitable for football, so we’ve been following along with what some of the older kids we know are doing. Several are visiting colleges (D1) and participating in photo shoots, wearing the school’s uniform, posing with the head coach, etc., and they or their parents are posting about this on social media. But for one (at least) we know that if he gets other offers he’s unlikely to pick the school he just visited. Anyway, it struck me as odd to take the photos, etc. knowing that isn’t a first choice. But maybe that’s standard. It does explain how when they do sign, the photos can be instantly tweeted out by both the school and the athlete. What do you all think?
It is a pretty common in football at the D1 level at least, and has been for a few years now. Lots of schools have kind of photo booths where they have their recruits take pictures in a jersey, with the coach, a trophy, whatever. When my son was getting recruited Dartmouth was doing it in their then new locker room with a couple of mannequins showing off their new uniforms for the upcoming year, Yale had something similar, and Penn had something IIRC in their then pretty new weight room. I think it is harmless and is pretty widely understood to be a recruiting tool for both the kid and the school, rather than evidence of a commitment on either side.
Football is a money sport. In wrestling, they just Photoshop you into the singlet when you commit!
From what I see, football is the sport where the athlete announces all offers before making a commitment.
I agree with Ohiodad, it is very common in football at the D1 level and all of the Ivies and many NESCAC schools even do it. It also helps give the student-athlete extra exposure, since all college coaches are on twitter now, and sometimes if they see a player announcing an “offer” from Yale or Bucknell with a photo from the visit, that may lead toward generating more interest from other similar schools for the student. A lot of high powered high school programs also now have recruiting specialists on staff and they encourage these types of twitter postings, because it only adds more buzz and interest for their program.
I assume psychologically it helps “anchor” the choice if the student actually sees themselves in the uniform.
Of course if everyone does it, it doesn’t help that much anymore.