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Reply to "Draft or College?"

Backdoorslider, TPM and others have made some great points. My son was in a similar spot with theirs. He had committed to LSU and was getting a lot of pro interest leading up to the 2015 draft. We had in home visits with multiple teams. Son and I talked about what it would take to buy him out of LSU. I knew deep down inside the number was a stretch, but I agreed with him. Selfishly, I didn't want my son going pro out of HS. I felt it was better to go to school and mature in his case, but I agree that each situation is unique. Son was sort of a late bloomer as far as attention goes. We live in rural USA and he just hadn't gotten the exposure. 

What is important is to not get caught up in all the attention. It's human nature to let your head swell and puff your chest out when MLB teams are sitting in your living room and coming to HS games to watch your kid. Most of us are pretty humble people and try to keep a low profile, but it still takes a toll on you mentally. 

Signability is a big issue that you don't realize until you have gone through the process. A power 5 school can certainly help your draft status as it validates your ability, but I also think it can hurt your draft status as pro teams may realize it will take more $ to lure you away from that school. In the end, your son has to decide which is more important, college or pro. My son just felt like playing in front of 12,000 fans, traveling by charter jet and a good chance to make it to Omaha outweighed riding a bus from town to town playing for peanuts in front of 100 fans at 18/19/20 years old. Obviously he will have that experience that if he plays beyond college.  It was just gonna take a pile of money for him to skip the college experience and I couldn't have agreed more. A year and a half in, even with his injury, he has never regretted his decision. I wonder what would have happened had he signed out of HS and immediately required TJ?  Would the pro guys have been as patient?

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