My son is a junior and has been talking to coaches throughout the spring and has gone on unofficial visits. He was recently told by a coach in an email that he is a “top prospect”. What do you think that means? I don’t want to read too much into the statement if I shouldn’t.
It can mean different things to different coaches. I don’t know what division your son is looking at but has your son submitted his stats- grades/test scores- to see where he falls in the admissions pool? If your son is interested in this program, he should call the coach to ask exactly what that means- will the coach support him in admissions, does the coach expect him to apply EA, is there scholarship money, what is the next step??? It can vary greatly by division (D1, D2, D3, NAIA, etc.), by school and by coach. The coach should be able to clarify.
It’s likely puffery. You need to let the recruiting talk roll of your (and your son’s) back. Carefully watch what the coaches do, and worry less about what they say. At this point, I believe it is all e mail contact. How many times does the coach e-mail the prospect? How detailed are the e mails, how quickly does he respond when the prospect e mails him? Compare the actions of one coach with another. The hang up is that some coaches are really aggressive recruiters and some are more laid back. But over time, if you pay attention, you will develop a sense for which coaches are really interested in your son and which are less so.
I agree with @takeitallin It is always a good idea to ask the coach what the next step is. As the recruiting field narrows, the next steps will get more specific. Eventually, you will get to a point when real, detailed conversations can occur over money, likely letters, spots on a team, whatever.
Basically there are three categories of response from recruiters, I think:
- Silence. (Sometimes they will flat out say they are not interested, but I think more often than not there is silence.)
- "You are a top prospect" or "we are interested" or something of the sort. (I have always taken this to mean that if you keep improving you have a shot at getting an offer)
- "We are happy to offer you an athletic scholarship" (or a slot or tip in the case of Ivies/D3)
There is “yes”. There is “no”. Everything else is “maybe”
I agree with Fenway’s post above. Very early in my son’s recruiting process, he had a D1 coach not only tell him he was a top prospect but came right out and said he would make an offer that would make college cost us very, very little. After another conversation or two, we never heard from him again. Before you assume it was because the boy wasn’t a good player, we ended up with more D1 offers than we could count on two hands, so that wasn’t it. Coaches say stuff - don’t put too much stock in any of it.
Thanks for all the replies. This is an Ivy League coach who has already explained that the next step would be an official visit. They are in very regular email contact and some of the emails are initiated by the coach. When my son emails him, the coach replies very quickly. The first thing this coach did was ask for grades/scores and then he called the school’s guidance counselor as well as a teacher he knows at the school. I guess we will have to wait and see 
At an Ivy, the next step will most likely be a formal admissions pre read which can start in July. In my son’s experience, that was the first really quantifiable serious recruiting step. At the schools recruiting him, each asked for a complete unofficial junior year transcript, ACT/SAT/ SAT2 score reports (all unofficial) and a list from his guidance counselor of senior classes before the pre read. They had all seen that data before, excepting the class schedule, but wanted a more formal submission for the pre read.
Did the letter apply the terms “top prospect” to that particular program or was it an admission that the athlete was desirable at all the programs?