I've been reading some of the threads in this forum regarding getting recruited. What a wealth of information! I was just reading MarkSmiths thread (congrats on your son's offer) and realized that the time to start making serious decisions may not be way down the road, but potentially right around the corner for my 2022. As an incoming Sophomore he had better start preparing for a lot of things beyond improving his baseball skill set. The most important is creating a list of schools that are a good fit for him not just in baseball, but academically, socially, and geographically as well.
This is my oldest kid, so I have absolutely no idea how to approach the selection process. If you asked my son where he wanted to go, he would say he wanted to be a Florida Gator. But that's not an educated answer. It's based on how cool the UF football games he has attended with a friends family were and the fact that the Gators Baseball team gets plenty of television coverage. I'm sure he can't tell you what their strongest academic programs are or answer any other questions that might help him decide if UF would actually be the right fit for him. Not to mention the microscopically small percentage of all college baseball players that are good enough to play in a program like that. I'm all for him aiming high, but want him to take a minute to really give some thought to the things that are important to him so he can identify some schools that would work for him if he falls short of his lofty first choice.
I'm aware how little money is available for baseball scholarships, so let's assume there will be none. We live in Florida, and out of state tuition is not within our means, so I think he only needs to be - at least initially - evaluating schools in Florida. I can pull up a list of every D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and Juco in FL and read the front page, but what resources and tools are out there to get real information on these schools? What are some of the questions we should be asking? How does he create his list of schools that are his dream schools, second tier, fallback options, etc....? Thanks in advance.