While catching up on another board here this morning, a comment caught my eye that I think deserves a bit of visibility here. It had to do with an observation that a DI program's entering class had 7 JUCO players in it.
If you're a player who is intent upon joining a DI program as a Freshman, it would be important to know how many JUCO players tend to be brought in each year by a coaching staff. Some programs bring in very few, while others bring in quite a few. Either approach can bring a successful outcome, and coaching staffs tend to follow one direction or the other.
I'm always reminded of the comment of a friend who was a fellow player's dad the year our sons started at different universities. When our teams met in a mid-week game, I asked him how it was going for his son. His reply, "Great...until the first day he arrived and learned that there were 4 right-handed JUCO transfers above him who had just transferred in!"
The player, a talented right-handed pitcher, went on to succeed there and play professionally. I've seen others buried in a similar environment.
The point simply is that it ought not to have been a surprise to him or his parents that his class was comprised of a number of JUCO transfers. That particular coaching staff tended to bring in quite a few each year.
If you're seriously interested in a program, try to learn as many of the coaching staff's tendencies in advance as you can by spending quality time with players who are currently there. This is but one of a number of traits you can learn if you ask good questions and listen hard to what the current players have to say.
