I'm with Fmr coach now Dad.
My 2021 MIF/CF had serious interest from a Big 10 team and an AAC team. To a lesser extent, a Big 12 team. And yes, we learned what serious interest looks like and it doesn't look like. About a month ago, it felt like my son was really close to an offer from the AAC program and getting closer to the Big 10 team.
Due to travel ball this summer, my son was seen by a higher end JUCO out of KS (lots of great JUCO ball in the Jayhawk conference) and got offered after 1 day/2 games. Visited, got a very generous offer, and a month to decide. My son was the first position player they offered and 2nd overall 2021. It was clear he was "loved."
He's a smaller kid at 5'9" 160ish as of today, but every one of his measurables fall within the D1 ranges for MIF and CF and he's stricken by the bright lights that come with playing D1 ball. But he committed to the JUCO two weeks ago and every day it becomes clearer and clearer that he made the absolute right decision. His JUCO coach supports kids playing only 1 year of JUCO ball given they're ready to move on. The coach has an exemplary record with academics and with sending kids to D1 programs. So my son is going to take a 1-2 year detour to develop (and hopefully get taller!) and ready himself for shorter stint playing D1 ball.
Back to what Fmr Coach said. "I guess my theme here is if you have a ‘21 and you have an offer I’d take it , as long as the school is in the ball park of being a fit. I just don’t see the amount of slots available as most years. Especially for a position player. The NCAA took a huge dump on the ‘21 class and a lot of very good players are going to end up not playing past HS in many cases."
Yep. My take is that many schools are laying back on their 2021 classes because they can. They're already going to have massive numbers on campus this fall. if there is a class where you can afford to go lighter than usual, I think 2021 is it. You essentially have two 2020 classes this fall and then go heavier on 2022 if need be and you have time to do so. I am absolutely worried about many of my son's peers. I think many are holding out for sexier offers that simply aren't coming. It took my son some time to get there. For the longest time, his thought process was "I am good enough to play D1, so I WILL play D1." I think he'll ultimately end up right, but not straight out of high school. He's got another year of high school and then 1-2 years of JUCO to develop while the rest of the college baseball world figures out how to operate best in the Covid era. Find a good and safer spot to land. Don't waste time with a gamble this large.