MidWest Mom,
In my experience, Ivy offers come after SAT/ACT scores are in. There is no way an Ivy can offer without Admissions signing off on a pre-read requested by the coach. However, I do know of a case where the Ivy coach has overstepped his bounds by offering prematurely and this had led to serious problems for the recruit. It took the recruit months to get his recruiting momentum back but he is on the verge of committing to one of four excellent schools at this time.
The Likely Letter is meant to compete with D1 scholarship National Letters of Intent. Every year there are a handfful of recruits fortunate enough to choose between an Ivy and a D1 school. The Likely Letter is an assurance the recruit will be admitted thereby reducing risk. Without a Likely Letter there are less assurances but typically the recruit is supported by the Coach (as a slotted athlete) with the recruits Early Decision application.
My son was very late to the Ivy process as he was considering a few D1 schools. Serendipidity stepped in, and we started on a new path after HeadFirst after my son had turned down some D1 offers. If I had known what I know now, we would have never waited that long and we probably would have been done 6 months before my son verbally committed to an Ivy in 2009. My son's school had 5 Likely Letters and 3 slots with coaches support in his recruiting class. Five LLs still seems to be a very normal number for Ivy baseball teams per year, and I follow this pretty closely.
There is a lot to this process, and it can be very confusing and nerve wracking. This inexpensive book does a very good job of explaining most questions you may be having right now.
https://www.amazon.com/Essenti...336419915&sr=8-1
I hope this helps. Let us know if you have further questions.