"I am not going to stand on my pulpit and proclaim that my son would have never gone back on his word, no matter what. I would like to think I know, but I just don't. We took the same approach when the pro guys started coming around. Son was advised and followed the advise to never give them a specific number. We had multiple in-home visits, and to their credit, I can't remember a single scout pressing son for a number. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, son had an injury in April, the same one that is being corrected today. We just didn't get a diagnosis then. I can tell you that once he shut down, there were NO more scouts! While I understand why, it was very hard on a 18 year old kid that was being shown a lot of love for 6 months to have that disappear overnight. He questioned himself and his ability. We talked about this a lot and all I could do was encourage him. My faith leads me to believe that God is in control and He has a purpose and plan for my son's life. But that character issue is a two-sided coin. Unfortunately, the college or pro team has the ace up their sleeve. You break NCAA rules if you ask for advice, yet the teams are advised and they do this everyday for a living. In my estimation, they should be held to a higher standard because they are adults with all the resources, and the players are kids with parents that have very little knowledge."
^^^^^^^
THIS!!!!
Great point. We saw the massive statistic book regarding players who sign out of high school versus going to college. We were told how college coaches don't do this or that from the scouts and the opposite regarding pro ball from the college HC. All of this was tremendously stressful with absolutely no guidance. In hindsight, all you can do is go with your gut and hopefully chose what is best for the individual. The jury is still out for me.