HA D3 Timing

My son was an outfielder so less recruited than pitchers. Most D3 invitations to visit and offers were made August through November/December depending on application deadlines. Also not all HA D3 have ED and some kids who  say they will apply ED dont and some dont get in.  The coaches are not resting until applicatons end and neither did we just in case something fell through on eother end

Many D1 high academic prospect (Ivy/Patriot) will have committed by their Junior year of high school.  A lot will also commit by Sept of their Senior year.  Typically not many admission surprises in the Patriot as most coaches do an admission dept. pre-read with some level of certainty.   The player will also be advised of whether to apply regular or ED. Ivy's will also do their homework with a pre-read during the recruiting process whether it is "likely" that a prospect will be admitted.

Patriot and Ivy are earlier. AKA - offers and commits have already been happening since June. For the most part they will be rounding out classes in the coming weeks. HA D3s mostly use June and July to get names on a list. August is when invites and more of the serious dialogue starts happening. Transcripts, SAT/ACT, phone conversations, etc. The fringe D1 players usually start to move towards the D3 reality in August/Sept.

From the few D3 coaches I've talked to they basically said that September is the time unless it's a can't miss guy or the grades are there and SAT doesn't need to be retaken. I know of a few kids with HA D3 offers. They will be the top guys in their recruiting classes, but they're still holding out for the D1s that don't return all their calls and do just enough to keep them interested. By the time school starts and the weather starts changing it's probably time for them to start being a more realistic. 

PABaseball posted:

HA D3s mostly use June and July to get names on a list. August is when invites and more of the serious dialogue starts happening. Transcripts, SAT/ACT, phone conversations, etc.

Agree, August.  See this thread from March, called "D3 HA timing"

https://community.hsbaseballwe...m/topic/d3-ha-timing

Every player and school is different.  "High Academic" means different things; for the most selective schools, ED with coach support is crucial.  Many HA schools (such as those at Headfirst) are not as selective, so depending on the player's grades/GPA, he might get in RD; their recruiting goes into the spring, so those play out differently.

• May - Junior year: suggested to son he should email the HA D3's as a hedge to Ivy's.  These coaches made an effort to see him at a few tournaments and had seen him 3-4 times by early August.  They knew son was pursuing Ivy and few other schools.
• Son was getting weekly texts and emails from few Ivy's asking for updates.  I knew this limited communication was evident of being a 3-5 guy on their board not a 1-2 guy.  
• Dealing with waning communication with Ivy's I told son he should be receptive to getting a few pre-reads done at three HA D3's he had on his radar as phenomenal plan B's.
• Pre-reads done in mid July, two Showball events left.  Ivy's just kind of died by mid August.  Son, sensing this on his own was already figuring out time slots to visit the HA D3's. By last week of August into first few days of Sept, he visited, and was offered support with ED application at his targeted HA D3's. 
• He went all in with Middlebury.  Now class of 2022.

Received HA D3 offers from late spring (after college season), with some offers being left open till the last minute before ED1. At that time, a couple of schools let it be known that they would take him ED2, if the ED1 choice didn't work out. 

   I would say that my player was a borderline D1 guy with strong measurables, so he could stretch the regular timeline more than others. 

   Most of the action was in Sept and early OCT, though. Gets pretty hectic, as most schools want you to visit.

Yes for us a lot of action began to happen mid to late August up to late October early November. Most coaches waited until after the summer academic and ivy showcases as they were participating in them.  

Has with most recruiting i do believe position needs determine order of recruiting. My sons coaches were busy contacting/ recruiting pitchers in the spring thru summer while he as a OF much later.  It was a an interesting time as it was a condensed few months. 

While the HA D3s are definitely getting some commitments now from the Summer camps and showcases, we saw a lot of activity with them all the way through the rest of the Fall camps and showcases.  The Arizona Senior All Academic event was heavily attended by virtually all of the HA schools--even some Ivy's were there.  That tryout session and then game is for uncommitted seniors with the academic credentials to be considered at many HAs.  That is mid-Oct.  And Showball and HeadFirst each have one last showcase in the Fall. Our experience was there was a major focus on pitchers at these events, and pitchers who were 85 and up got a lot of attention.  My 2017 had about new 10 schools contact him after pitching in the AZ event--there is an advantage to being a PO as there is almost a need for pitchers where some of the position spots may be filled earlier in the process.

So don't panic if your son is not yet set going into his senior year.  The HAs in particular have a really tough challenge of filling their recruited rosters--kids still need to get in through admissions, financial costs are high and uncertain until admissions decision, and multiple schools are competing within a limited pool of players who can play and meet the academic standards.  Teams will still be filling slots well into Spring.  Good luck!

Should add 2018 was a MIF, threw 90+ across IF, and threw 85+ on bump. He had zero interest with several Midwest D1’s which demonstrated interest.  He only sought to leverage baseball towards  HA opportunities.

edit: knowing positions could allow OP to gain perspective

Thank you everyone for your input.  This was helpful, as was the other thread that I somehow missed before starting this one.  Son has a good amount of interest from HA D3s, which is great, but I wanted to make sure we understood what to expect over the next couple months.  Particularly since he plays football so his ability to do fall showcases and tournaments will be limited.