D2/D3

The top D2’s and D3’s recruit from the same events as D1’s. D2’s and D3 schools typically have a different profile so I would try to figure out where your son fits best. D3’s typically are high academic schools and $$ help is usually a result of academic scholarships. If your son fits this profile then the Stanford Camp or Headfirst, or GPA camps would be the preferred events. If D2’s then I would make a list of the target schools for your son and start talking to them directly. Depending on the region they will go to various regional events.

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
The top D2’s and D3’s recruit from the same events as D1’s. D2’s and D3 schools typically have a different profile so I would try to figure out where your son fits best. D3’s typically are high academic schools and $$ help is usually a result of academic scholarships. If your son fits this profile then the Stanford Camp or Headfirst, or GPA camps would be the preferred events. If D2’s then I would make a list of the target schools for your son and start talking to them directly. Depending on the region they will go to various regional events.

d2 or d3 you may not find much of a difference in price even with a half scholarship from a d2.my advice would be find the school that is the best value that he likes.

catcher5dad,

Just speaking from our experience, my son was signed by his DII after being seen by a ML scout that was at a Perfect Game event in August of 2008. He was aggressively recruited by several DII's up to the early November signing date. I also noticed his school signed ten guys, five high school and five Juco, this past fall in the early signing period. So some DII's are pretty aggressive even when the DI's are most active. Overall though, I think that there are still opportunities even into the summer after senior year as I have known several guys who were signed as late as July. Just stay proactive. The DII's that recruited both my son's all had their own camps although we did not attend any of them since they had seen son at Perfect Game and the Area Code tryouts already.

The D2's that went for my son really cranked up in the late spring of his senior year the D3's really cranked up in the early spring. Many of them from a recruiting service which sent out videos and coach evaluations. Make sure the service is a good one, some have awful reputations. D3's and D2's came out of the woodwork once the service got his stuff out there.

Lots of D3 coaches are present at area D1 camps, and high school all star events. No one really talks to them because they are all worried about going D1. Make sure your son does, that will definitely help. Often, coaches think a better player would never consider them and don't try to grab them. If he shows interest, and he's a good player, he'll be surprised.

My son was found at a tryout for a state run all star game. Crowded day, poorly run event, lots of good players had no time to warm up and performed poorly. The D3 coaches found the gems that the high school coaches running the event completely overlooked. My son thought he had the worst tryout of his life, yet the coach saw something, and came back when he had some great games. The coach said he recognized the tryouts were poorly run and took that into account.

A few DIII's run summer camps and prospect events. They don't tend to have much staff, so PG evaluations and SAS stuff really help them recruit especially if your son is not in the same state. Lots try to get players that have been overlooked or are unhappy with their choices the summer after their senior season.

My son's team has transfers from SEC schools, and many kids who turned down D1's because either they knew they wouldn't start, or the schools were academically poor or they just didn't want to play D1 ball.

Also, when comparing D2 to D3, realize that D2's tend to be the "B" state schools as far as state funding goes. Not all of them, but many. We found that they were usually much more poorly equipped and funded than D1 and D3 programs.

A majority were commuter schools and most were well below the majority of D3's academically. Again a general observation, there are certainly exceptions. Even some of the top d2 programs had far worse facilities than any high school my son's team played.
Many had to do lots of fund raisers just to get basic equipment.