Early commits and academics

I have seen it said many times that the GPA allowed is directly correlated with the MPH of one's fastball!  The short answer is yes, you can be accepted with lower academics.  However, I think what level totally depends on the school.  You never know, the coach could have offered based on a stipulation of a particular GPA/ACT Score.  Therefore, if the kid doesn't reach those specified levels, the offer isn't valid. 

My son experienced this when he committed with the very specific "at minimum a 25" on his ACT.  Ultimately, he determine it wasn't the right place for him, but he did have a 24 at the time, and he is getting 27's on his practice tests.

Yes, standards are lowered for athletes. How much depends on the college. For how many recruits depends on the college. A D3 coach at a top academic told me  he was allowed six exclusions per year. Athletes were accepted with unweighted 3.5 and 1300 (math and English) on SATs where a non athletic student might not get accepted with a 4.0 and 1600. At an ACC baseball program I was told there were players on the team with 2.3s in high school. I'm guessing they were the ones who became high draft picks. I know of a kid who attended a strong academic ACC school once he finally got the NCAA minimum in his last try on the SAT. He needed an 820. He got 400 for filling in the correct bubbles for his name on the test sheet.

By the way. Do you think Yale won the 2013 NCAA D1 hockey championship with a bunch of skating valedictorians?

And if he's a really terrible student... he has NCAA eligibility requirements to worry about.

http://informedathlete.com/imp...ibility-requirements

In baseball, coaches generally have only a few opportunities per year to help players get admitted, and the degree of assistance is only a light thumb on the scale.

If the grades and test scores are where they belong, baseball can smooth the way through admissions.  For example, my son didn't bother write two optional essays on his application because he figured (correctly, as it turns out) that the admission committee's whole person assessment of him would begin with his academic measurables and end with the coach's scholarship offer.

However, any baseball player who expects his baseball skill to earn him a free pass from admissions is likely to find diminished college options.

In the case of an early commitment by a student who may not be academically qualified, the risk is borne entirely by the student.  From the coach's perspective, the early verbal commitment means the player won't go to another school.  If the player fails to develop, the coach can get out of the offer simply by not helping him get admitted. 

And you'd better believe the coach has a better back up plan than the student.

Sounds reasonable to me. It also let's the coach have an easy out.  "I would really like to have you, but unfortunately, you didn't pass admissions.  It is out of my hands."

In general, yes.....athletes are admitted through the "back door".  The rest of the student body is admitted through the "front door" where they have to compete with the general applicant pool.  This polcy can extend the reach of some athletes into schools they might not ordinarily have access to.