My son got injured the first game of travel post junior summer. All the schools who wanted to see how much he improved from the previous summer disappeared. He chucked the sling (separated shoulder surgery from falling while rehabbing from torn MCL/PCL) two weeks before senior high school season began. He had a good season. But he wasn’t college prospect strong.
My son had nothing to gain academically with a PG year. So the strategy was to get stronger over post senior summer and play Legion to prepare for showcases in the fall. Even though any offer was likely to be for the following year he would start attending in January. He would take two classes in the fall at the local JuCo likely to be accepted by any college. At the time taking only two JuCo courses didn’t start the five year eligibility clock.
Two of the previously interested colleges screwed up the plan by making offers for the following year in August after verification of recovery from his travel coach. The Legion team made states. So he faced some top pitching. He had applied and been accepted to two colleges interested in him where he didn’t need baseball help to get accepted.
He made a quick decision and jumped on a plane. Freshman orientation had already started. He was told to try to walk on freshman year. He was forewarned the walk on spot would likely go to a pitcher. But he had an offer for the following year.