Originally Posted by Midlo Dad:
"Son called his committed college and they were MAD. Mostly at other college. 2 hours later they came up with a very nice offer themselves that had just come open."
I'm not a big fan of decommitting generally -- the better path is to wait to commit until you've reached the point where you are so sure you'd never have to consider decommitting -- but when someone offers you no money, they have to know this is a risk. And from what you say here, it sounds like your original school was taking your son for granted. They had the money there, they had promised to look into getting your son money if it was available, and yet they didn't keep their promise to give him that money. They were going to keep it, never tell you guys, and maybe use it to get yet another guy instead. Until your son's sudden attention-getting performances forced their hand, when suddenly the money magically got offered to your son, thereby demonstrating that they had money available all along. Serves 'em right for not playing it straight with your son.
Were they really mad at him, or do you suppose they were just kicking themselves for not getting him 25% and thereby getting his signature on an NLI when they had the chance? They let the April signing period slide by and they took the risk.
It all sounds like a whirlwind and very exciting for your family. Congratulations.
For others' sake, though, I'd be interested in knowing what your son did or did not do prior to making the verbal for recruited walk-on status. I take it he wasn't a 90-94 guy until maybe this spring, but surely he had to be upper 80's last fall in order to have reached his new level this spring. My expectation would've been that, had he been in a recruiting-oriented travel program, he would've gotten money and gotten an NLI signed last fall. Just wondering how it happened that he got passed over before.
But I'll bet a lot of people who did pass him over are kicking themselves now!
Midlo, great comments, I think they were mad at him for a moment, because he wasn't "loyal". Quite frankly my son went thru that same distress in his mind about being loyal. But when money came very suddenly from them, he felt he needed to look out for himself because loyalty may not have been a 2 way street. Not sure but it looked that way as you said. they did get over it very quickly with my son. They definitely were mad with other college who put in an offer before he decommitted. Quite honestly I don't blame them even though it forced thier hand to make my son an offer as well.
As far as last summer, I think it was a combo of things. He was definetly NOT sitting 90-91 and hitting 94. In fact that was his top end ever documented. Last summer he was at 85-88 and hit 91-93 a few documented time. I think the biggest reason he got what he got last summer was his lack of effort off the field. He simply wasn't ready for the effort it took to get a D1 scholarship when it came to marketing himself. After being on here for several years I gave him plenty of ideas but he wasn't ready. He loved and continues to love his HS experience. He did not want to think beyond it. He did the ACT, went to the correct showcases for him, etc but did not want to really delve into choosing a college because that meant he was going to move on. So he hesitated. He answered calls from colleges, but he did not pursue. I thkn they felt he wasn't interested in them. And they were right. Not because of that particular school but because it was moving on. Once his HS senior year actually started, then he bagan to think more about it, but that was late August. Most D1 money was gone or so we had heard. He finally in September wanted to go to a couple specific college camps. We went. He lit up the radar gun with 88-89 consistently, touching 90. He was asked to one to come back and visit,they were going to make an offer, he scheduled it 3 weeks out, friday before we were to visit, go call that someone else had accepted that money. so he then accept his only D1 offer as a preffered walk on where we were told they like him and he was a money but have no money.
I don't think last summer he was where a major conference would be gushing over him but would consider him, I do think he was where he fit a mid major very well but he hesitated and they moved on. He certainly wasn't MLB ready last summer.
During fall and winter he dedicated himself to a fantastic HS senior season, both in basketball and baseball. He was and is driven to be excellent and it has showed in his results.
Good luck to him going forward !
