SluggerDad posted:PitchingFan posted:Any college that has JV recruits to fill spots and make money. They are required to fill that JV to bring in money for the program and ultimately the school. They give you a few thousand dollars and you give them many thousand dollars. That system works great in any industry. I know no player or parent of player goes there thinking I'm just going to play JV but that is reality for 90% of them in any college. They bring in a couple of players who have a legitimate chance of making V as freshman and then bring in others to fill the spots on JV, make them money, and hope one or two will grow into a Varsity player. I tell players all the time that if you are looking at a school with a JV you need to honestly ask the coach are you being brought in to play Varsity or JV. Then you have to decide how important it is to you after the coach answers. If he answers Varsity, then ask for a guaranteed spot. If his answer is JV with a chance to play varsity at some point, then you are a JV fill in player which is okay for some guys who just want to continue the dream or enjoy the game.
GUARANTEED SPOTS? What are those?
I'm not sure if this was sarcastic or serious, however, when my son was recruited for a D3 he was offered a guaranteed roster spot in the spring of his freshman year ONLY. After that it was up to him to stay on the team. We also asked the coach how many players he was bringing in at my son's position, he told us, and we had to trust his word. As it turns out, he was being honest and only brought in one (my son).
Also, as my son went through the process and filtered through the D1 interest he received, he realized that he might "make" a D1 roster at these schools...but he would never play. After coming to that realization he began to target D3 schools, however, he wouldn't even entertain schools that had a JV. He had too many friends that had gone that route and never ended up playing and gave up after their sophomore year when they could see the writing on the wall.