Early Committ: What does that mean?

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What does early commitment really mean?

Very cool and a great question. The boy will be making his decision soon.

FWIW. This question was posed at the Standford Camp this year. Coaches response " A uncomfortable 10 minute conversation"

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1)Is the commitment binding by the school?

Not binding for either the school or the player. Each is depending on the other's word.

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2) Could they, will they recruit other kids for similar roles?

Sure. Your next question gives one of the reasons. A good team thrives on internal competition.

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3) What if there is an injury between now and freshman year? There is a long time between now an 2011.

Depends on a lot of factors, including severity of injury, probability of full recovery, and the nature of the coaching staff.

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4) I assume we stop all the showcase and recruiting stuff, since we have a commitment. Right, we are committed..

Well, I sure wouldn't pass up an invitation to the PG National, or the AFLAC game, or to the Tournament of Stars, etc. These events are fun, prestigious, and offer exposure that might come into play for the draft. And your next question provides another reason to continue to get exposure from a variety of events.

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5) What if staff changes at the school, does the commitment persist?

Of course not. If the staff changes, even already enrolled and contributing players may get cut. There is no reason to expect loyalty from the new staff. Nor any reason to expect them to have the same evaluation of the player.

3fingered, very good answers as always. Its what makes this site so valuable.

What a tough decision.

The first question is; was it a school he was targeting as a top school before this? It sounds like it is.

Would he be able to afford to continue at this school without the scholarship? A friend's son early committed at this exact time with a full scholarship. After one year they pulled his scholarship and he can't afford the school.

If you're getting this early interest, wouldn't you expect to get the same interest in a year? Is this a fluke offer, or are others showing similar interest.

A 2011 getting an offer in person DURING the event !!!
A lot of gray areas here

As to whether a violation occurred, it depends on how the offer was conveyed and accepted. If they were e-mailing it could be fine. If they spoke face to face, that's not grey, that's a violation. Yikes.

As to the original questions:

1. It is morally binding, but not legally enforceable. These commitments are sometimes broken, very rarely by the school, somewhat less rarely by the player who changes his mind. Bad behavior by the player in particular can lead a program to rescind its offer.

2. Yes, nothing ever stops this and in fact it is the norm. Your son should expect to have competition ahead of him, in his own class, and coming in behind him. But that will be true anywhere, so it doesn't really help you choose between one school and another.

3. Once the NLI is signed in November of your son's senior year, any subsequent injury would not absolve the school from its obligation for his freshman year. Beyond that, he could be non-renewed. But you don't have to get injured to be non-renewed or even just see your scholarship amount reduced. That can happen year to year for any number of reasons. You need to check out the coaches' reputations on such things. But even that won't protect you from the possibility of a coaching change, which is ever present.

4. Not necessarily. Many do stop, just to save money. Others play on, with an eye towards the pro draft, or just because they love to play against the best competition they can find.

5. Once the NLI is signed, both sides are bound for the freshman year. Coaching changes don't justify the program changing its mind, nor do they justify the player's changing HIS mind. So make sure your son likes the school, not just the coaches! After freshman year, either you've earned your keep in the eyes of the boss, or you haven't. (Starts to sound more like a job than a game, huh?)

Not sure who posted it recently, the early commitment only ends the recruiting process.

Make sure that this is what you want, lots of things can happen in two plus years.

Please help with the main point of the posting, Early Commit.

There was no face to face meeting, neither before, during or after the event.

Again, looking at the pros and cons of an Early Commit VS waiting for junior year.

I am thinking what it boils down to is if you did your homework first and one of your dream schools comes by with a great opportunity, it should not matter whether it's your freshman, sophomore or junior year, if you did a thoughtful analysis of what you were looking for upfront.

Then you need to walk through the risks on both sides and decide.

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Originally posted by BaseballDadNH:
Please help with the main point of the posting, Early Commit.

There was no face to face meeting, neither before, during or after the event.

Again, looking at the pros and cons of an Early Commit VS waiting for junior year.

I am thinking what it boils down to is if you did your homework first and one of your dream schools comes by with a great opportunity, it should not matter whether it's your freshman, sophomore or junior year, if you did a thoughtful analysis of what you were looking for upfront.

Then you need to walk through the risks on both sides and decide.

I don't get the point of this whole post. :noidea

I looked back at your first post, by now you must know your son has "it" (remembered that post).

You posted that your son, at the PG tourney, was offered an incredible scholarship to one of his dream schools. You could have left that part out, if you didn't want comments to follow. Right?

If you have already done your homework, and know about the pros and cons of early commit, why ask?

I think 3FG did a great job of answering each question.

Best of luck.

3Fingered's answers are spot on IMO.

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I am thinking what it boils down to is if you did your homework first and one of your dream schools comes by with a great opportunity, it should not matter whether it's your freshman, sophomore or junior year, if you did a thoughtful analysis of what you were looking for upfront.

Let me say this...and this is just me. I have an older son who played at his "dream school" which is also a top academic school. I know that program inside and out now. I have a younger son who may(?) get to play college ball too. He is also a 2011. There is enough uncertainty in everything that I would not let the 2011 commit to even his older brother's school at this time.

(Hypothetically, with 2 years of HS left) I still want at least one more year to better know:
* What type of school is the best fit for him academically (for 99% of the kids out there, this is still TBD IMO)?
* Where will his talent level be in another year (growing boys may be topping off or may have a lot left to gain)?
* What coaching staff changes might occur at that school (and there almost 100% for sure will be coaching staff changes)?
* Is this a son who can handle being far away from home or does he need to be close (lots of clues to be gained in the next year)?
* I'd want to visit the campus during the school year with my son...whats it like? How are athletes supported in the schoolwork? What majors do the players have? Whats the "feel" of the campus? I know at least one top stud player who committed early in his junior year who found these trips to be incredibly valuable..."feel" for the campus with school in session played a huge role in his decision.
* I'd want to go to some games and watch and observe.

There are others. My point is, having been through it once already the biggest education I got was that I didn't know anywhere near as much as I thought I knew and I read and read and talked and talked and asked questions galore. No way did I know what I needed to know when our older son was a HS junior even though I thought I knew it (all).

Take a deep breath. Your son must be very talented. Ask questions. Good luck!

I think justbaseball hit the nail on the head- he pretty much covered all points based on several years of great experience. I would listen to him carefully.

That said, congrats on a great accomplishment. It's exciting to know your son is really wanted. But, as justbaseball said, keep asking questions and visit the school lots of different times.

In our area of CA we had several friends that committed early (soph year). All the players have now finished their freshman year @ D1 colleges. I have seen the full spectrum of what can happen.

One friend is very happy, had a great year, had his scholarship increased, and is looking forward to a great season @ the same college. Another player @ the same college has been asked to return some of his scholarship to "help out the team".

Another player, verbaled early, redshirted his 1st year @ D1. Is working really hard to earn a starting spot next year. With verbaling early sometimes players don't continue to develop as the coaches projected they would.

Another player, verbaled as hs soph. did change his verbal before his senior year for unspecified reasons. From what I see so far there have not been any repercussions from his change of heart. He'll start @ a high end D1 this fall.

And this leads to another point- it's that time of year when existing scholarships are being renewed by coaches. This may be peculiar to our area of CA (2 of the players are @ nationally known D1 schools) but personally know a handful of players (D1) that did not have their scholarships renewed for next year. Tough choice for these players. Some are transferring to JC's, some are going to D2's (so they don't have to sit a year), and not sure what the others are planing.

When you put something out here you'll get all sorts of wisdom from some of the most experienced parents in the baseball world. The more you know, the better prepared you'll be to guide your son. In a perfect world this will be a great school and baseball program for your son. Do your homework between now and signing the NLI. It gives you plenty of time to read their previous rosters and talk to parents and players in the program.

Justbaseball great post.

I am not into this early commitment thing (two years of more before they arrive at school) and never will be. There is too much uncertainity, even with your dream school making a huge offer.
You can only understand this if you have been through it with your own player.

Having been through it once, with son committing a few months before early signing, would advise him to do it the same way again.

I know there are many who will argue this is the way it's done these days. IMO, if one is that good to get early commitments two years before his HS graduation, he'll have plenty of future offers.

If one is getting pressure to sign early, it's not always in ones' best interest to do so.

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I know there are many who will argue this is the way it's done these days. IMO, if one is that good to get early commitments two years before his HS graduation, he'll have plenty of future offers.

If one is getting pressure to sign early, it's not always in ones' best interest to do so.