Due to injuries my son got his offer mid August, two weeks before freshman year started. Talk about organizing and packing fast. His plan had been to showcase in the fall and start college in January. He had been on their radar screen before getting injured. His travel coach/hitting instructor made a call explaining he was healthy. He didn't get any money and had to redshirt a year. All he lost was the fifth year to play four. Chances are if he received a fall offer and started in January he would have probably been the same scenario. The other alternative we considered was sit out a year, start in the fall and have five years to play four. Academically there was no need to PG a year.
Money was not an issue. He had already been accepted academically to the school in the spring and offered 50% academic money. He was a top high school student and passed six AP tests. I asked if the money could still be made available. It was.