Son's official visit at a nearby (90 min. commute) D3 went well. He enjoyed his stay and hanging with the team. Likes the campus. We got to see the football team in their conference championship.
My wife and I got a good read and feeling on the head coach. Seems like an honest, upfront genuine guy. Said he was planning to bring in 3 middle infielders, but don't hold it against him if there's a 4th come next fall. When pressed for where our son is on the current list of 3, he was honest and told us "3rd" - which is better than not on the list at all.
Bottom line is that he offered our son a spot on the roster. We politely pushed for clarification and were promised that it wasn't just a fall tryout, or just a fall roster spot; it's a full one-year spot, which obviously includes the Spring team. Their roster is usually in the low-30s, but could swell a few with their recent CWS appearance and repeated conference championships.
But at this point, that's pretty much all we can ask for. We promised coach we'd get son's app in within a few weeks, so that we can all bring this to closure by end of calendar year.
Coach called son this past Sunday evening again, just to see if he'd started the app, how his basketball season prep is going, what he's doing for Thanksgiving. Reminded me of JH's story about getting a phone call every Sunday night and how that made him feel.
Son is on cloud 9!
Thanks to all for your help. We'll know soon how much merit aid he'll get and if this is doable financially. As cliche as it might sound, it really IS about finding the perfect fit for YOUR son. We realize that the road ahead will have its bumps too and that playing time will be earned - maybe freshman year, maybe sophomore.
Having been on this site since he was about 9 years old, it's been a long journey learning about the recruiting process. But we couldn't be happier just to see him have the opportunity to play at the next level.
