College Recruiting in the Spring

We're working.... waiting on a few admission letters, talking to some other's, making and receiving phone calls, scheduling a few more visits.....and the beat goes on

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"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer

Correct me if I am wrong, but are all Official visits only extended in the Fall given that colleges maybe busy with games in the spring?

NCAA 2011-12 Baseball Recruiting Calendar

As I read this URL above, Sept 9 - Nov 6, 2011 is contact period which is mostly used for Official Visits from everything I've read and heard. D1 schools only gets to host 25 recruits for Official Visits. I've not experienced an OV in the Spring for baseball, but I guess it is possible during the March 1 through JUly 31 contact period, as long as the school hasn't gone over hosting 25 recruits already.

From the NCCA website....

Contact period is the time when a college coach may have in-person contact with a prospective student-athlete and the prospect’s parents on or off the college’s campus. The coach may also watch the prospective student-athlete play or visit his or her high school. The prospect and the parents may visit a college campus, and the coach may write and telephone during this period.

Official visit is a prospective student-athlete’s visit to a college campus paid for by the college. The college can pay for transportation to and from the college, room and meals (three per day) while visiting and reasonable entertainment expenses, including three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest. NCAA recruiting bylaws limit the number of official visits a recruit may take to five.

Unofficial visit is any visit by a prospective student-athlete and their parents to a college campus paid for by the prospective student athlete or the prospect’s parents. The only expense the prospective student-athlete can receive from the college is three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest. The prospect may make as many visits as he or she likes and may take the visits at any time. The only time the prospective student-athlete cannot talk with a coach during an unofficial visit is during a dead period.

Mine did his last visit on April 30th and signed on May 1st. Colleges are ALWAYS recruiting. It is their life blood. What better time to show off their program than a home series?

At the mid level D1 programs If the top players are signing in the fall or earlier and only 27 of the 35 players on the roster get $$(I think I have heard that is the rule)then would you say most of the kids signing in the spring get little to no athletic $?

How do some of theese schools that seem to sign 15-20 players in consecutive years do it? Are some kids signing knowing they are really only trying out for a position come the fall?

BBoy,

All 27 have to receive the minimum which is 25% which equates to 6.75 scholarships. If the school is fully funded at 11.7, then the remaining 5 scholarships are divided up according to either talent or position.

I think this discussion is getting twisted around between scholarship $ and roster positions. Also keep in mind that BOF's son is playing for a top D3 and could have received academic money/FA even very late in the recruiting process. The NCAA recruiting calendar posted in above thread is D1 only.

quote:

BBoy400 said... At the mid level D1 programs If the top players are signing in the fall or earlier and only 27 of the 35 players on the roster get $$(I think I have heard that is the rule)then would you say most of the kids signing in the spring get little to no athletic $?

That is a very likely scenario. You may make the 35 man roster in the Fall, but get no athletic money. If son is a good student there may be academic money depending on the situation. You'd have to wait another year to get a shot at athletic money.

quote:

BBoy said....How do some of theese schools that seem to sign 15-20 players in consecutive years do it? Are some kids signing knowing they are really only trying out for a position come the fall?

They simply overpromise and under deliver or over recruit becasue they don't know who is coming and going into their program. You have transfers in (JUCOs & other) plus transfers out (unhappy players), possible freshmen recruits that got drafted (may not attend) and rising seniors that may or may not puruse a professional career as all possible player leaving a program. These are a lot of moving parts, and the more a program operates like this the (possibly) more volatile it gets.

I would think most incoming freshmen into a program described above are trying to make an impression on the coach, and get a sniff of playing time. Remember that freshmen is competing against players already in the program, JUCO transfers that have at least a year or two of experience and other freshmen. I would also say that most of these players coming into a program like this are not used to sitting the bench. That becomes a difficult situation to deal with. JMO.

quote:

All 27 have to receive the minimum which is 25% which equates to 6.75 scholarships.

Not all schools are fully funded; but is 6.75 scholarships the minimum a school can have if they are funded at all? Otherwise, how do they meet the 27 at 25% rule?

D1 college baseball programs may have a maximum of 27 players on athletic scholarship. That's a maximum; they may choose to have fewer players on an athletic scholarship.

If a baseball player gets any athletic money, his athletic money must be no less than 25% of a full grant in aid.

D1 Schools have to meet minimum levels of expenditures. The rules are complicated, but roughly speaking, a school must fund baseball at 11.7/2= 5.85 equivalencies, or spend a total of $1.3M outside of football and basketball with at least 38 full grants (19 for each gender), or or provide 25 full grants for each gender outside of football and basketball.

So I suspect that most D1 schools will have at least 6 baseball equivalencies.

As usual 3FG is correct, with back up to help us mortals understand. The lowest level we found a D1 to have was 6. (and they did not have a very competitive program) Many conferences have minimums that override NCAA minimums. For example I believe the Big West is 10. Just something else to be aware of.