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In a couple of months my 2018 will likely have to decide his Baseball/College future.  He's still flirting with chasing the D1 dream (is a late blooming catcher). 

Question:  Has anyone had experience playing at a JC for a year and transferring to a high academic D1?  It seems like most of the D1 transfers are to State schools in non-Power 5's or are to the low in the standing Power 5's in a colder area. 

 

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AD2018 posted:

Hmmm....think you can transfer after 1 year of JC.  JC coach is promoting it as an enticement.

You have to qualify to transfer  and there are specific rules for qualifications for different situations plus you have to have enough qualifying credits to transfer.

Maybe someone can be more specific on that.  

I suggest checking the rosters of Vanderbilt, Stanford, Wake, Duke, Northwestern, etc.. Casey Weathers went JuCo to Vanderbilt about twelve years ago. He was recruited to be their closer. He was good enough to be added to Team USA. He was drafted in the 8th round after his senior year. I’m going to guess there’s a sliding scale of how much a player brings to the table immediately and being able to transfer from a JuCo. 

9and7dad posted:

Son had a teammate who did it.  Player started at a Power 5 freshman year, transferred to a JC, then on to a high academic for the last two years.  Got drafted as a senior.

+1.   Here's the rub.....with a high academic school the challenge may not be so much about what the coach wants but what Admissions will allow. 

Good luck!

No direct experience, but a fair amount of observation.

I see you're in CA.  You can do a lot of nosing around school websites to see where kids have gone.  This  link is useful because it will take you to every Juco program in the state.

http://www.cccbca.com/landing/index

You can also look at the rosters of the 4 year schools where you would like to see your kid after a couple of years and see if they include many Juco transfers.  The top privates listed by RJM will have very few transfers. But there are more at high-academic publics.

The Juco closest to me has a grad who is a senior starter at Michigan.  High academic P5 program, though cold.  This Juco has 2 recent Cal commits, as well as at least one recent transfer to another UC (though one of those went pro instead)

UC's can and do take Juco transfers after Freshman year.  But as a practical matter it sounds like that wouldn't apply in your son's case, as these are kids who are committed in the fall before they have played a single JuCo game.  Typically they are kids who need to get their academic act together, or kids who decommitted from other programs late.

Bottom line I think is three things.  1 - California residents are fortunate in that the UC system has a number of Juco transfers built in.  If a student does his job in the Juco classroom, there is room for him in at a UC.  2 - players who really excell on the field will earn 4 year opportunities, high academic and not. 3 -  even assuming a kid is 100% qualified academically, getting a slot at a high academic D1 is really, really difficult, regardless of whether you go Juco first. You have to get in the conversation before worrying about things like conference, weather and standings.  

Last edited by JCG
RJM posted:

I suggest checking the rosters of Vanderbilt, Stanford, Wake, Duke, Northwestern, etc.. Casey Weathers went JuCo to Vanderbilt about twelve years ago. He was recruited to be their closer. He was good enough to be added to Team USA. He was drafted in the 8th round after his senior year. I’m going to guess there’s a sliding scale of how much a player brings to the table immediately and being able to transfer from a JuCo. 

Casey Weathers attended 2 years of JUCO before transferring to Vandy.

 

 

 

fenwaysouth posted:
9and7dad posted:

Son had a teammate who did it.  Player started at a Power 5 freshman year, transferred to a JC, then on to a high academic for the last two years.  Got drafted as a senior.

+1.   Here's the rub.....with a high academic school the challenge may not be so much about what the coach wants but what Admissions will allow. 

Good luck!

My cousin was one of four transfers accepted to Harvard one year. He transferred from another Ivy. It had nothing to do with athletics (he ran track at the first one).

TPM posted:

As far as I am aware, one cannot transfer to D1 from JUCO without their AA degree. That's approximately 2 years of Juco.  Not sure if that applies for D2 as well.

 

 

Things may have changed. But I think at one point if a player was NCAA eligible out of high school he could transfer after one year. 

RJM posted:
TPM posted:

As far as I am aware, one cannot transfer to D1 from JUCO without their AA degree. That's approximately 2 years of Juco.  Not sure if that applies for D2 as well.

 

 

Things may have changed. But I think at one point if a player was NCAA eligible out of high school he could transfer after one year. 

I don't think it has changed but I doubt very much that a high academic program would go through that process unless the player was a real impact guy who would make a difference.

It's not unusual these days for top D1 programs to carry JUCO grads, not sure that the high academic ones with transferring, but I am assuming most require a 2 year degree.

 

Last edited by TPM

You can find admitted and enrolled transfer rates in every school's Common Data Set. Many of the private HA schools are in the 1-2% range. UCLA is closer to 15%. So it's a wide range. Earning a spot on a D1 roster is tough. Limiting D1 to HA reduces those chances tremendously. Now add in the transfer equation, and you're really stacking the deck against yourself. If he believes in himself and he thinks that he will excel as a juco freshman then transfer, that's great but I wouldn't limit the plan to D1 HA. Take a look at the UCSD roster. Quite a few JC guys. And the weather is perfect.

OP, what is the goal here? (Next year, next five, next 40.)

is it to find a place to play at D1?

is it to leverage baseball skills into a D1 where he wouldn't get in but for baseball? (I'm assuming his grades at JUCO were near perfect.) For example, there are a handful of JC transfers into baseball programs at most Ivy schools.

if its about leveraging, look at high academic schools regardless of division.

 

A big factor in the equation (particularly as it relates to California) is transferable units and limitations based on which are automatic feeder schools.  Those aspiring to a HA, of course, tend to have a strong academic goals.  It has become more and more difficult to get all JC units (or 4 yr schools for that matter) to transfer.  It is helpful when there is a feeder pipeline from specific JC's into specific UC's or CSU's but then you are limited to just a few schools who may or may not have a recruiting need at that particular time for a player with your son's attributes.

While it seems only logical that any California JC classes would transfer to any CSU, that is definitely not the case.

RJM posted:
TPM posted:

As far as I am aware, one cannot transfer to D1 from JUCO without their AA degree. That's approximately 2 years of Juco.  Not sure if that applies for D2 as well.

 

 

Things may have changed. But I think at one point if a player was NCAA eligible out of high school he could transfer after one year. 

According the NCAA website, if you are a qualifier out of high school you are eligible to transfer after one semester of JUCO as long as you took 12 hours and made a 2.5.  Summer school does not count and if you transfer for baseball or basketball you cannot play until the Fall term.  

It's on page 15   http://www.ncaa.org/sites/defa..._2_Year_20170721.pdf

RJM posted:
TPM posted:

As far as I am aware, one cannot transfer to D1 from JUCO without their AA degree. That's approximately 2 years of Juco.  Not sure if that applies for D2 as well.

 

 

Things may have changed. But I think at one point if a player was NCAA eligible out of high school he could transfer after one year. 

Nothing has changed.  A player can transfer from a JUCO to a D1 after one year - but its best to do that w/ the blessing of the JUCO HC. Don't underestimate the importance of that little detail.  Also, JUCO kids are on D1 rosters from coast to coast at all levels of play.  They are in the SEC and they are in the SWAC.  JUCO guys transfer to all types of D1 schools - including high academic. Cabbage raises good points about the transfer of all academic credits, so do your homework.  A lot of kids would be better served to take a closer look at the JUCO route.  I hear academics used as a reason not to consider JUCO, but that is not always valid.  Some JUCOs have way higher academic standing than others - and the gap between the best and worst is considerable.  With a little more consideration given up front, many might find that JUCO is a better option than they thought.  Especially if the 4 year option that they want doesn't present itself.  But take a look at the numbers in the 2018 signing class (and these are HS only) :  Tennessee - 22 ; Texas 19 ; Arkansas - 19 ; Louisville - 17 ; Wichita State 17 ; Vanderbilt - 18 ; North Carolina - 16 ; and on and on.... Add a few JUCO guys to those numbers and you have over 20 kids coming in one class.  Guess what?  10 are going somewhere else after their first semester. So, how good of an opportunity is that really ??? I know that you Vanderbilt guys are gonna say that 10 or so of Vandy 2018 class is gonna get drafted - so no need for me to hear any more of that.  I will only be convinced of that if it happens, which is unheard of.  But I digress.... Point being they are all over-recruiting and not by just a little.  

Goosegg posted:

OP, what is the goal here? (Next year, next five, next 40.)

is it to find a place to play at D1?

is it to leverage baseball skills into a D1 where he wouldn't get in but for baseball? (I'm assuming his grades at JUCO were near perfect.) For example, there are a handful of JC transfers into baseball programs at most Ivy schools.

if its about leveraging, look at high academic schools regardless of division.

 

It's more about trying to max out on everything...high academics + high quality Baseball. Right now, the choices have been D3--high academics, D1/D2--w/not great academics, or JC---delay the decision for a year.  It's going to come down to the schools that accept him and then the choice may be more clear.  

AD2018 posted:

It's more about trying to max out on everything...high academics + high quality Baseball. Right now, the choices have been D3--high academics, D1/D2--w/not great academics, or JC---delay the decision for a year.  It's going to come down to the schools that accept him and then the choice may be more clear.  

Did he apply to any HA D1s?

Well, his applications are all out, so waiting to see options is great. Once those decisions are in, he could call the coaches and pursue a potential walk-on route. Also, club baseball may be an alternative at some schools.

Most high academic D3s carry a pretty steep sticker price (don't know your financial ability) with no academic scholarships - but on the back end, lots of great employment opportunities.

I do know several seniors (including one who got an offer to Indiana during the summer post-graduation) who get offers all the way through the year.

on the JC front, would he live at home or go away to a JC? The few kids I know who went away to a JC had big problems balancing academics, serious dedicated baseball,  social lives, haircuts, eating, paying rent on time, etc. Lots of additional (and unnecessary IMO) pressure for a kid just trying to find the student union to have to live on his own.

But, you're casting a wide net and keeping options open; all he can do now is play well and continue getting good grades and not succumb to senioritis.

 

Goosegg posted:

Well, his applications are all out, so waiting to see options is great. Once those decisions are in, he could call the coaches and pursue a potential walk-on route. Also, club baseball may be an alternative at some schools.

Most high academic D3s carry a pretty steep sticker price (don't know your financial ability) with no academic scholarships - but on the back end, lots of great employment opportunities.

I do know several seniors (including one who got an offer to Indiana during the summer post-graduation) who get offers all the way through the year.

on the JC front, would he live at home or go away to a JC? The few kids I know who went away to a JC had big problems balancing academics, serious dedicated baseball,  social lives, haircuts, eating, paying rent on time, etc. Lots of additional (and unnecessary IMO) pressure for a kid just trying to find the student union to have to live on his own.

But, you're casting a wide net and keeping options open; all he can do now is play well and continue getting good grades and not succumb to senioritis.

 

Yes, has applied to several High Academic D1s.  For sure if any of those come through, he'd be connecting with the coaches about walk-on prospects.  A couple of those D1s are fairly prestigious and if by chance he got in (a long shot), he'd likely go the club route.

The JC is local and is about as good of an academic JC as there is...but it's still a JC.  The issue with JC is giving away a year of the college experience and being on a team with less academic oriented players.

For the sake of argument on transferring here are the 2018 top 25 D1’s. There’s probably someone here who knows something of each.

Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Penn, Duke, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Brown, Cornell, Rice, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Cal, UCLA,  USC, Virginia. Wake, Michigan, UNC, BC, William & Mary and Georgia Tech.

I’m thinking Power 5’s are a lot more flexible on transfers than Ivies. 

Last edited by RJM

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