I agree with “anotherparent” and most everything above. Just went went through this with a 2022 who committed to HA D3. So, here is a dump of recent feedback.
I think a 1360 PSAT baseline plus studying plus superscoring will yield your son an outstanding result once all said and done. We had a fair bit of Coach discussions along the way- your son should be fine academically for pre-reads to most/all HA schools. IMO, if you go D3, the key for HA D3 is ‘supported’ slots which I have seen discussed previously.
Our experience is the first tranche of HA D1 recruits (as rising juniors- I.e. now 2023s) are committed end of summer ball/early fall. These generally are very ‘projectible’ players. For D1’s, throughout the year, you can browse Perfect Game recruiting data posted by school for 2023 to keep up on where the schools are as far as #of commits.
For D3’s, in the HA circuit we engaged, it heated up with the start of club ball season (for us that was end of June). July 1 is often a date in regards to pre-reads. We sent emails prior to club ball season and received some cordial responses with verbiage such as “look forward to seeing you play…” . We didn’t attend any D3 camps prior. Once they can come watch games, it got going. For us, the keys were:
1) a club team that plays where the coaches go. We found in our area that there are a couple of big draw, early season tourneys with loads of coaches. Most schools wanted to see a kid play twice, but certainly once. So, I would keep this in mind given there are a lot of options for coaches to choose from. Perhaps they can use their camp for this as well- I don’t know.
2) a trusted coach/insider recommendation. Our club coach tee’s up his players with colleges (with schedules of when to see a player). Through our recruiting meetings, quite a few coaches commented on the quality of our coaches’ club program and the reputation/trust of the coach. The coach at the college we committed to said this specifically.
Somewhere in mid July, it seems Ivy’s have zoned in on their players and starting to wrap up, HA D3’s are engaging their top choices and things really speed up.
Also- here are specific answers:
1) What happens at Fall Classic and afterwards? Will coaches talk with him right there if interested? YES- while, I don’t know that event, coaches reached out to us when interested without delay. Let's say he does well at academic game tryout and hopefully game! Will schools reach out to him even if he hasn't expressed prior interest yet? YES - our school ‘found’ us. I've told him that if he doesn't get more D1 interest after this particular event, it should be very telling about where he fits. YES…but there are some coaches with erratic recruiting communications so not always. Sound about right with COVID and the above description of skills? Or if he wants, should he keep plugging away at some Ivy/Patriot league schools?
2) Then what? The showcases wind down and the quiet period starts. He'll study for standardized tests and take them in winter. YES- a controllable variable He'll work out and shove calories in his face. As test scores come in he updates profiles and sends them to all the schools he's interested in. He writes schools with regular updates on his HS season in the spring. He goes to Headfirst and Showball in rising senior summer. for us, our HF was a few weeks after we committed and by the time of HF, half our college class was committed so check timing. Would you think the Stanford camp is also important for him? It sounds like senior summer is where the D3 back and forth really starts. Think recruiting would be typically aggressive for a kid like him? Or is D3 recruiting always more laid back? We found D3 recruiting pretty aggressive once into July. I advise having your kid play in front of his top choices somehow by end of July. I take it he goes to some school specific camps in senior year fall 2022? IMO, most of the supported slots are gone by then but with good academics may not be an issue for his admittance. Gets offers and thinks whether he wants to Early Decision one particular school. YES, supported slots want ED1 in our experience. Then happy life. Have I forgotten anything? YES, enjoy your process regardless of outcome.