A few questions, and then I'll give some background.
What is the recruiting landscape like for a player in the spring of his senior year?
What academically elite D1 colleges still recruit at this point (top 50 US News and World Reports rankings)?
What academically elite colleges would recruit a player who did not apply to their school already this late in the game?
Do the Ivy's or other elite college recruit this late in a seniors HS career?
What would be best way to get out new information or film to these schools that have already said good luck going forward?
Now some background: My 2016 son has played a fall sport in addition to being a true utility player RHP/C/MIF his whole HS career. He conditions and lift weights year round but doesn't play baseball from September through mid December since he's fully committed to his fall sport and we always felt like we wanted to rest his body from all the throwing he does during the HS and summer season. He plays on a competitive of a travel team as he can in the summer, but definitely not a big budget ultra elite team, and has never gotten any real offers outside of D3 or non local D2 schools. He's had several high academic D1 colleges email that "we like what we see on film but would need to see you in person", a few have sent back notes that he could walk on if admitted (but most of these just seem like the coach is giving a canned response even though they sometimes mention watching his film) He's also never attended one of these college camps since his numbers just weren't where his hitting coach said he needed to be to be seriously recruited and it would not have helped him.
Last spring at his peak his exit speed off a tee with BBCOR was 88, and his fastball off a mound measured with a Stalker was 81. He was a very successful HS player with exceptional stats in a less than stellar league. He played very well in the summer in a much more competitive environment but no additional college attention came from it.
He decided that he needed to pursue his fall sports option and didn't get back into baseball until January, to his pleasant surprise in his first workouts back his exit speed had jumped up to 90, and he threw 85 on a mound at what was supposed to be a 60% effort. Both pitching coach and hitting coach said these numbers will only get higher very quickly, and he's also at the level where he is a now a viable prospect for an Ivy league school or lower end D1.
He's now 20 lbs heavier than last year and his lifts are in line of what would be expected for someone his size and athleticism. He's now 6 1" 190 and is a big strong kid and his 4 years of weigh lifting is very obvious on his frame.
He's a high academic kid with a 33 ACT and 3.7 GPA with multiple honors/AP courses.
He's applied to, and been admitted to, (or received a likely letter) from multiple schools including a few academically elite D3 schools who's baseball coach would like him and offered some level of "support" in admissions even though my son made no commitment and applied EA. He's also been admitted to several D1 schools that offered no support in admissions but are giving him the basic "you can walk on" email. He's applied to the top 6 UC's as well but has never had any personal contact from them, even though they are are all dream baseball/academic schools for him.
If he had to decide tomorrow he'd attend a very expensive D3 school where he'd be happy and playing baseball, but wishes he'd run down more D1 options before this point. He is OK with his D3 college choices, but wasn't sure about the D1 schools. He would not consider Juco, NAIA, or a non elite academic school. He will attend a school he would be happy at if he never played a sport.
He's a good athlete and doesn't care what position he plays.
A few questions since he's never done this before.
What is the recruiting landscape like for a player in the spring of his senior year?
What academically elite colleges still recruit at this point (top 50 US News and World Reports rankings)?
What academically elite colleges would recruit a player who did not apply to their school already this late in the game?
Do the Ivy's or other elite college recruit this late in a seniors HS career?
What would be best way to get out new information or film to these schools that have already said good luck going forward?
