grateful, RipEm,
Thanks very much for your suggestions -- we also guided our son to talk directly to the coach, and it is from those conversations that my son got the impressions I mentioned in my first post. It is definitely not a school with a reputation of over-recruiting, and my son's expectations as a freshman are realistic, we think, based on analyzing the kinds of data you suggested. He is not expecting a lot of playing time, but because the roster is small this year, he does not want to make the coach even less eager to use him by requesting approval to look at other schools. That is why I was asking about how often coach's actually "cut athletes loose" by withdrawing their scholarship. He will likely wait till the end of the season, in the hopes that the coach might see him in action and change his opinion - but if he doesn't, I'm just wondering if my son will ever get that feedback, or whether he might be left wishing for another year. I know all coaches are different, so I appreciate any and all thoughts. Thanks again.