baseballhs posted:CollegebaseballInsights posted:collegebaseballrecruitingguide posted:PitchingFan posted:They are not going to have younger guys sign NLI because the NCAA would not want to deal with all the kids who wanted out of them. I also think there would be very few guys who would actually sign them before their senior year. Again, you are not required to sign an NLI but strongly encouraged. I don't see how it levels the playing field.
I also believe that if a student athlete is signing a binding agreement as a sophomore or Junior, it would hopefully make them think long and hard about their decision. Ultimately, a majority of athletes are still making their verbal committments in the summer after their Junior year, which is the right/best time for both the schools and the athletes. Early committments, in my opinion, are not as big of a problem as it appears. Yes, there are the cautionary tales each year of a handful who lose offers or whose offers are reduced, but those situations often are due to other factors at play (drafted rostered players deciding not to sign contracts, players not getting drafted that the school thought they would, etc), more than the high school player not developing as the college coach would have liked.
Seems like trying to make sense out of nonsense. A student-athlete thinking long and hard at the age of (14 - 16) is a oxymoron. Like Odyssey going after the golden fleece. In my humble opinion, players should be playing, competing and enjoying freshman and sophomore years of high school. Do your research, visit some schools, etc. The summer before one's junior year, ok, let's ramp it up with some serious dialog (note, I understand this is not today's world).
Note, let's not forget How Kids’ Sports Became a $15 Billion Industry
It’s not today’s world because the most competitive schools have committed all their pitchers and a lot of their position players by end of summer rising junior year for the class. Not all, but most. The top 15 recruiting classes for 2021 have committed between 10-17 kids each. It’s about the same through top 25.
The question is when did the explosion of verbal commits at the underclass start occuring? (9th and 10th grade)