Football?

Has your son tried to contact the coach in question?  Might be worth blowing a call into him if there is interest there.  Your son should be able to call him, but he can't contact your son (I think, my son is out of the recruiting game so I've lost track of contact periods).  If he does not answer, have your son leave a message that he is going to call back at a specific time.

There are a lot of positives said about multi sport athletes. But when it all nets out college baseball coaches want the best baseball players not the best baseball players who also play football. 

Both my kids were multi sport stars in high school. No one ever made a big deal about the other sports. The only question asked both was how they balanced homework with a fall high school sport and fall ball. Being a time management and self discipline question it was relevant.

Had a few coaches tell me the exact same thing that you were told. Football players, in some instances, are used to be coached hard and carry the perception of being tougher mentally and physically. Whether that's true or not is debatable.  

I know that Joe Maddon is on record as saying he loves football players for the very reasons Shu mentioned. 

Every school we talked to loved the fact that my son played football and kept up with him on how that season went. They also liked how he shut down baseball in the fall because most of them played football in high school back in the day. There is a different mentality on a football team and the people we talked to wanted that attitude in the dug out. Several the college announcers have brought it up as well (read it in the bio). 

During my son's recruiting journey, I had a Pac XII HC tell me that he LOVED that my son played football.  At first I thought that was odd, but he explained that he feels it helps a kid to compete, and focus on a team effort as opposed to showcasing all the time. 

d-mac posted:

I know that Joe Maddon is on record as saying he loves football players for the very reasons Shu mentioned. 

Maybe he should cut Rizzo and pick up Tebow.

If a baseball player (primary sport) also wants to play football, he should keep it up as long as he wants, because more than likely it won't hinder his baseball chances.  But I'd never equate this to encouraging a kid to play football if he has no desire to do so.  My kid still enjoys playing football, so he does.  Generally, I think there's only 3 or 4 baseball players at his high school that also play football.

I may be reading too much into your question, but it sounds like you are suspicious that the HS football coach is trying to mislead your sophomore son into continuing to play football when he might prefer to focus on baseball in the fall. If so, the only way to know for sure is as joe87 suggests... contact the coach. I would go so far as to have your son ask the football coach to arrange the contact. "Just give me an exact time to call him."

Lots of baseball coaches love football players because they're usually good athletes and they're tough. But they love baseball talent even more. Talent usually wins out, but football might be used as a tie-breaker.

hshuler posted:

Had a few coaches tell me the exact same thing that you were told. Football players, in some instances, are used to be coached hard and carry the perception of being tougher mentally and physically. Whether that's true or not is debatable.  

Ha! never looked at it that way.   That did make me laugh shu cause as you know we have a 40 year veteran - old school legend for a coach.  And yes if you are soft you are finished with him lol..

Texas 2 Sons posted:

Newbie fellow lurker for 6 months, decided to jump in.

I have a 2019 that is being told by 1 of his HS football coaches, that a certain D1 (his alma mater) is looking at him but wants to make sure he's still playing football. Claims D1 coaches prefer football players because they're tougher and harder workers. Has anybody else experienced this or knows if there is any truth to this statement? I personally don't see it to be true, but wanted to check.

Welcome to the site.  

Well, of course, to start, you have to consider the source.  His HS FB coach tells a strong D1 baseball prospect that a D1 school is looking at him and loving that he plays FB.  Certainly cause for bias there.  That said, it could be absolutely true.

Colleges look for great tools.  Could be baseball-specific skills, speed, athleticism, competitive mentality, baseball mind, etc.  The more, the better.  Typically, a good FB player has some of these skills built in, so it can be desirable.  At the end of the day, it is the sum of those skills that each player brings.  These days, there are more and more opportunities for "baseball only" guys to get into specific conditioning programs that can make up for not playing other sports.  That said, IMO, currently, there is still very good value in the conditioning and mindset a FB player comes away with, other skills being equal.

One of the challenges, of course, is for the multi-sport guy to keep up with the baseball-only guy in terms of maximizing development of baseball skills to the point where he gets the attention (and commitment) of the desired school or level of college play.  Give and take.  Pros and cons.

Everyone talks about multi-sport athletes but in the end I really don't think a baseball coach would say "oh, you hit .475 with 14 HR's your senior year, but you only played one sport so no"....just don't see it happening.   My son played at a school with a good baseball program, but also very good basketball (multiple state titles) and very good football (12+ year playoff streak).   Our baseball coach teaches at a different school, so as a result, he isn't "buddies" with football or basketball coaches.   My son played varsity soccer (fall) and baseball.   He played basketball thru junior high, but he couldn't do it in HS, though I'm not sure 3 sports would have allowed him to keep his grades up.  Over my son's 3 years on Varsity baseball, we had 2 kids who also played football, and one of those kids also played basketball.  Other than that, nothing....mostly because the basketball and football coaches expected you to be their sport first....and baseball a distant second.  My son knew by 3rd grade he wanted to play college baseball.  The soccer coach was very accomodating (no summer workouts expected of him) and he ended up all-district his senior year so the coach was happy to have him.  A lot of it depends on the school.  A high school in our league is a "baseball school" with very average basketball and football.  At that school, it's baseball first and the basketball and football coaches know it and really don't have a choice.  My son would have loved that option...but it wasn't the case for him

Buckeye 2015 posted:

Everyone talks about multi-sport athletes but in the end I really don't think a baseball coach would say "oh, you hit .475 with 14 HR's your senior year, but you only played one sport so no"....just don't see it happening.   My son played at a school with a good baseball program, but also very good basketball (multiple state titles) and very good football (12+ year playoff streak).   Our baseball coach teaches at a different school, so as a result, he isn't "buddies" with football or basketball coaches.   My son played varsity soccer (fall) and baseball.   He played basketball thru junior high, but he couldn't do it in HS, though I'm not sure 3 sports would have allowed him to keep his grades up.  Over my son's 3 years on Varsity baseball, we had 2 kids who also played football, and one of those kids also played basketball.  Other than that, nothing....mostly because the basketball and football coaches expected you to be their sport first....and baseball a distant second.  My son knew by 3rd grade he wanted to play college baseball.  The soccer coach was very accomodating (no summer workouts expected of him) and he ended up all-district his senior year so the coach was happy to have him.  A lot of it depends on the school.  A high school in our league is a "baseball school" with very average basketball and football.  At that school, it's baseball first and the basketball and football coaches know it and really don't have a choice.  My son would have loved that option...but it wasn't the case for him

Agreed! I definitely don't think that a baseball only kid is penalized for not playing multiple sports. 

College coaches do love multi sport guys.  It's the notion that they are athletes, teammates and competitors.  However, you don't get recruited because you play two sports, but it's a nice bonus.  When all else is equal, this could be a point of separation for a coach.  I like two kids equally, maybe I'll take the chance on the kid who plays multiple sports...he's competing on different teams, he hasn't focussed on our sport 100% so he might have more room for improvement when he does give all his time to baseball, etc.  But, the two sport factor comes into play after a coach has acknowledged that your skill set and grades could fit their recruiting needs.  

BrianTRC posted:

College coaches do love multi sport guys.  It's the notion that they are athletes, teammates and competitors.  However, you don't get recruited because you play two sports, but it's a nice bonus.  When all else is equal, this could be a point of separation for a coach.  I like two kids equally, maybe I'll take the chance on the kid who plays multiple sports...he's competing on different teams, he hasn't focussed on our sport 100% so he might have more room for improvement when he does give all his time to baseball, etc.  But, the two sport factor comes into play after a coach has acknowledged that your skill set and grades could fit their recruiting needs.  

Agree with this, we had several head coaches at d1 schools say they loved multi sport athletes.  At the time my son was one- football and baseball.  he chose to focus on baseball when his hand was forced by our hs football coach. 

what I've told other parents of younger football/baseball players here is that yes, I believe they do like multi sport athletes, but I don't think you get "extra credit" for being a multi sport athlete.  They are going to take the best baseball player, period. 

I appreciate all the responses. I think my son is getting pressure from the football coach to play because he's a good athlete and can help the team. He also broke his ankle in the last game this year and had to have 3 screws put in it and is just now starting to get healthy. His 1st love is baseball, and it's the sport that will allow him to play at the next level. He only plays football because of the competition and the accolades..here in Texas football is king. He played basketball last year as a freshman and would love to keep playing if it didn't run into baseball season. In the end, I want him to play whatever sports he wants and loves. There are a lot of the better showcases and tourneys in the fall that I wouldn't mind he participate in, but his football coaches won't let him do any baseball during football season. I guess we'll see what he decides this summer.

As for now, we have a 1 game playoff for 2nd round tonight. He'll be manning short tonight...hoping for a win!

Texas 2 Sons posted:

I appreciate all the responses. I think my son is getting pressure from the football coach to play because he's a good athlete and can help the team. He also broke his ankle in the last game this year and had to have 3 screws put in it and is just now starting to get healthy. His 1st love is baseball, and it's the sport that will allow him to play at the next level. He only plays football because of the competition and the accolades..here in Texas football is king. He played basketball last year as a freshman and would love to keep playing if it didn't run into baseball season. In the end, I want him to play whatever sports he wants and loves. There are a lot of the better showcases and tourneys in the fall that I wouldn't mind he participate in, but his football coaches won't let him do any baseball during football season. I guess we'll see what he decides this summer.

As for now, we have a 1 game playoff for 2nd round tonight. He'll be manning short tonight...hoping for a win!

Yeah, as much as I love FB and FB players, the injury aspect is definitely something that needs to be factored in.  Good luck to him in playoffs!

Nobody ever cared that Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa, Manny Machado, Hunter Greene, and Kris Bryant were one sport athletes.  Mike Trout looks like a football player but only played Baseball & Basketball in high school

It is just like anything else in life, if you are truly great, you could show up at the ballpark wearing pink polka dot pajamas and if you hit 98 on the radar gun you are getting offers & getting drafted.  For those more on the bubble, maybe being a football player also will help, to some coaches.

Texas 2 Sons posted:

Newbie fellow lurker for 6 months, decided to jump in.

I have a 2019 that is being told by 1 of his HS football coaches, that a certain D1 (his alma mater) is looking at him but wants to make sure he's still playing football. Claims D1 coaches prefer football players because they're tougher and harder workers. Has anybody else experienced this or knows if there is any truth to this statement? I personally don't see it to be true, but wanted to check.

Yes, Corbin has stated many times that he likes kids who also play rougher sports like football and hockey.  Will Toffey is an example he has used.  As others on here have stated, what really matters is if a kidcan play baseball.