Early Commit

Yeah Vandy is one of those schools that kind of, well..... poos poos the "do not commit early" thing in my book. I'm sure my son would have jumped at that opportunity, congrats and best wishes for him to thrive in Nashvegas.

Congratulations backdor and backdor son. A great baseball program and a wonderful school to get a degree.

 

Yes, we live in a suburb of Nashville,  Vanderbilt made a great offer, we know many former and current players... Ethan gets to pitch there this season for his high school team.... when everything lined up, had to do it. 

 

It was funny on the visit, every time we turned around we met a MLB'er   I mean like 5-6 of them, strange they were all there on the same day at the same time. It was fun

Excellent news!!   Cool news,  good luck to Ethan.

Congrats, bacdorslider! My 2016 just signed his NLI to Vandy last week. Teammates in a couple of years!

Wow.  That's huge.  Congrats.

In terms of baseball, pitching -- and maintaining pitchers' health -- and academics, you can't do better than Vandy. Congratulations!

Thank you for all the well wishes, its a big opportunity, hopefully he realizes the opportunity, works hard in the class room and on the field, stays humble,  and make the most of it. 

 

I just noticed today that March 1st my 2013 RHP who is at Tennessee Tech plays Vanderbilt.... hummm

Just saw first 2020 commit (Arizona) on Perfect Game website today.  It just keeps getting earlier and earlier... wow...

I saw that this morning as well.  Was going to start a tread to see if anyone else thought it was crazy.  As a parent of an 8th grader I find it very hard to believe that he'd be able to pick the right spot for himself 5 years down the road.  

 

Well I think that's too early... I kinda thought 2018 was early, but his situation is unique.  My other sons did not commit until after their Jr. year in high school.   Even for the blue chippers, I think soph year is early enough.  too much changes.

Agree with this as well as MKbaseballdad.  Just seems really early to try and lock up a kid.  

Vandy!  I would say it is never to early to commit to them!  Pretty awesome!  Congrats!

Would agree that Vandy is an incredible opportunity and most kids would be really fortunate to have the mix of academics and athletics that Vandy can provide.  But does a kid who is 2.5 months into his 8th grade year really know what he wants or needs from a college or what best fit would be?  Some really unique kids may, but I would bet majority of kids going into junior year are still unsure.  Even opportunities at top programs may not be the best fit academically or athletically for a lot of kids.  I guess its true like has been said on here numerous times, each kid and situation is unique.  Not saying a kid shouldn't commit, just strange seeing 8th graders already committing.

I tend to agree with you, 8th grade is young.  Each case is different.  2018 is playing a pretty high level of travel ball, played varsity as freshman, knows the program at Vandy from being a local kid and has three older brothers that play at a high level so he was exposed to the process earlier.

 

Also for some say top 200 in a class, the top five power conferences are going to come after you... if you do not embrace the process they will keep recruiting...they have to.....

 

Now with my 2013 recruiting, we waited, he did not know if he wanted NAIA, JUCO, D1 D2 his recruiting was all over the map and different amounts in the offers, out-of-state verses in-state... it was not so easy.  He was not being recruited by top teams and could wait.

 

What we did do in all 4 cases was to not commit until we felt we could not better our hand. Including, location, school, monies offered, coaches, teammates, 2 yr or 4yr. 

 

2016 is a high academic guy, we had to wait until this year and he did an ED to Tufts University.   Which is kind of like a commitment.  He basically told all the D2's and low D1's he was not interested , some were offering  him 90-100% money (total package) ... that's what a 34 ACT and 4.46 gpa will get you.

 

 2018 it's only a commitment.  He has a lot of work in front of him... it does make is easier to have this step out of the way...

Congrats on all the success for your boys!  Very exciting and it sounds like you have seen all the options/variables so really value your input.  Cant stress enough the academics as that may make or break an offer and being able to afford the schools of choice.  Thanks and we wish all your boys the best!

First off, congrats to BacdoorSon.  Glad to see you tie that up.

 

As to ryno's comment, while I certainly agree in spirit of everything that Vandy is academically and "currently" on the baseball front, I completely disagree.  As has been beaten to death on this site, an early commitment is completely a one-way street (today).  An 8th grader (not Bacdoor's son, I know he's a 2018) has essentially taken himself off the market completely with respect to meeting and forging relationships with other schools, coaches and RC's.  If the landscape changes, he may find himself scrambling with much less leverage in the future.  Even Vandy could have significant changes on the near horizon.  This next comment is certainly not directed in any way toward Coach Corbin, but in general, violations may be found, AD's may change their level of support of a coach or team, personal family situations arise which may lead a coach to make a change or, as in the case of Auburn and Clemson recently, the good old termination may rear it's head when and where not expected.

 

My prediction is that these earlier commitments will take baseball commitments the way of basketball and football.  A commitment will merely be a bookmark for a player while he continues to fish around, make visits, and entertain additional offers.

 

A recent 2016 signee was on his third major D1 commitment, de-committing 5 days before signing an NLI for a different school.  Unlikely that the entire recruiting window for the school he signed with began after de-committing from his second commitment.  

Believe me we thought of what could happen in a three year period of time.  You never know, but if you do your homework you can make an educated guess.  That's why you should commit to the school first and the sports second. 

 

 

 

Congratulations!  It is great to have local boys to support at VU.

First off congrats bacdorslider to your family and son!!  Son's friend is a LHP at Vandy and loves it there. 

 

2016 son just experienced firsthand some of the potential pitfalls of committing early.  Pitching coach that recruited him took another high profile job about two weeks before NLI signing day.  Son was totally blindsided and pretty conflicted for several days.

 

In the end it affirmed much of what is preached here.  Go where you love the school.  After affirming some juco options and casually exploring other D1 options he met with the head coach at his original school.  Head coach assured him that he was one of his guys and that they needed him in the program and if he committed there because of the former pitching coach that was the wrong reason.

 

Prior to any of this his mother and I encouraged him to do all the things that non athletes do in a college search so he had attended a preview day on campus as one other general student recruiting event.  In the end I think that really helped ease his mind that this is the school where he wanted to be.

 

After some initial concern he is now as excited as ever to get on campus in the fall.  It also helped that the newly hired pitching coach called him very shortly after he was officially introduced. 

I completely agree, school first, baseball second, but often (as is the case with Auburn this year), commitments made by the old guard aren't honored by the new.

 

Real life example being lived out by HS teammate of my son.  The verbal commitment he made to an offer was never provided as an NLI for him to sign (in fact, HC called him night of the last day of early signing to tell him there was nothing for him).  So, while this is the school he wants to attend, he can't play baseball there and can't afford it without the scholarship that was offered.

 

Whether any of us with young players like it or not, early signing isn't just a trend and I do believe that it will ultimately lead to baseball commit/de-commit resembling what happens in basketball and football over time.

Yes this is terrible,  I think with a change  in the head coaches position, the NCAA should let them out of the NLI to pursue other options.

I think the only way to slow down the process is to move up the date to sign the NLI. If you could sign at any point in time, it would force the school to only offer the players they really wanted after they had fully evaluated the player. This is the only way I can see for the player to gain any leverage.

To use Vandy as an example for really early commitment. I would have committed my son to Vandy at birth lol. He would have committed there at 10. Definitely in the 8th grade but as a freshman there not even in his top 10. He has a STEM class full of seniors doing projects. As the only freshman in the class he spends the whole class talking with the teacher. She has really opened his eyes. Vandy is a strong school and strong in certain areas of his intended major but not very strong in the area of his intended major he wants to go into. So in 4 months his top school dropped out of the top 10. Now that's non baseball related which is where I'm trying to push him to make his decision. Truth is ,even though not a top school for him, if Corbin called he's say yes and no advice from me would deter it hahahaha. Hard, really hard to turn down that program.

On the other hand telling that got me thinking. It does really depend on the kid. My sister on a paper she wrote in the 3rd grade declared what school she was going to, what law school she was going to, and what city she was going to be a judge in. Got all of it right but the city hahaha. So heck she knew were she was going in the 3rd grade. I went to 7 different universities before I figured it out. So both extreme ends.