How many players

it is called marketing the school and its program

I would not worry to much about how many players are on the email list because my sense it will vary depending upon the school. Feel blessed that your son is on the list, however, don't get to excited unless other things also start to happen like a personal call from the Recruiting coordinator or head coach. Even then don't get overly excited but it is a step up from the mass email. The more calls you get and hopefully a request to do an official or unofficial visit will mean even more than the personal calls. Just remember that the coaches cast a wide net not knowing who will pan out, but they need to keep thier options open thus the size of the email lists.

The list that counts the most is the list of the top players they are really seeking to sign and where you are on the list. If you are number 5 on their list of prospective catchers to sign they may continue to communicate with you until they are able to sign one of the catchers before you. Keep working on your craft and don't get to enamored with what they say to you until they say we want to make you an offer. Until then you are a free agent who should seek out as many opportunities as you can and not wait until a particular school determines that you are their number one.

what matters is they know who your son is

john - I recommend not trying to think too much about this. If its a school your son is interested in, he started out as 1-in-half-million HS players and if he is now 1-in-1,000, that would be pretty good! How would you/he know if you'll end up being the 1-in-10 signees or not at this point?

Maintain contact with schools of interest, no matter what you think the odds are. With both of my sons, I thought their chances at the schools they ended up at were very long shots at best. But they just stayed 'in-the-game' with them until they were the 1-in-10.

Good luck!

quote:

...We do respond to the ones that ask to fill out questionaire, want high school schedule,

These schools are more interested. I said more interested, not very interested.

Ultimately your son should be figuring out who he wants to be seen by where for this summer. Don't wait for them to come to you. Use their contact to respond back with his summer schedule. There also may be schools your son is interested in that don't know who he is. Don't limit the search to these letters.

To prove a point to a parent I got an ACC program to send my dog literature. All it took was filling out the online recruiting form as they had done for their son. The parent thought the school was recruiting him. I'm not saying don't value the letters. Just don't over value them and make assumptions.

His sixty time was awesome. But his hands were suspect.

I would think that the number is different for every college. I know when my son went on a spree of doing online questionairres, he would out of nowhere get emails from the school, usually inviting him to camps and whatnot. He was smart enough to figure out that the only reason he got them was because of the questionairre. We figured that if the actually had interest later on, it may help that he showed interest first by filling out the questionairres. He would even get emails from random schools that he never contacted, and would get all excited seeing them in the inbox. But after reading them, he would realize they probably got his name from his summer team, or something. They all sound like a canned speech a telemarketer would give. Someday, somebody will invent an email program that can take your name and position and put it in the email to make it seem like they know you are a left handed pitcher or whatever.

The emails he(we) really dug were the schools that would respond to him after a showcase or something where they saw him throw. Heck, sometimes I wonder how much of that is honest interest, also.

My dog has not gotten any recruiting mail - but my 2012 son who has NEVER played football in his life - has gotten football recruiting letters and camp invites. We got a kick out of that!

My son got a letter from a college that said we saw you at X showcase, and were interested. However, he didn't attend that showcase, and at that point, had never attended a showcase.

My dog received a credit card offer in the mail once, with a $1,500 limit.

Wow!! Way too make it seem even more difficult to find my 2013 a home. Now I'm depressed

When meaningful, the recruiting process is a highly personal one. It's about player and coaches getting to know one another sufficiently that they can commit to one another.

This is not to say that it has to be drawn out over a long period. Just like romantic relationships, the courtship can be a short and vigorous one.

However, as long as the correspondence seems "canned," then it's probably not the case that a player is considered a serious recruit by the program. As soon as communications begin referring specifically to observations the coaches have made, posing questions beyond those found on the questionnaire, and that sort of thing, it's safe to say that they consider a player worthy of being on their recruiting board.

A related thought:

Even though a player may only receive routine communications from a program, at least the communications indicate that there is some level of awareness that the player is out there and might be a prospect. This "awareness phase" is, perhaps, the most critical period in the entire recruiting process; for it is during this phase that it's largely the player's responsibility to move himself up from the "awareness phase" to the "recruited phase."

How is that done? Mainly by (1) working diligently to become the best player and student he can become, (2) initiating personalized communications with those programs/schools that seem to make the most sense for him, and (3) finding ways of making it possible for the coaches from those programs to see him play on a first-hand basis.

It's up, principally, to the player. Consistently and properly done, he can move himself up on college recruiting boards that are appropriate for him.

I remember my son being at the same point during his junior year in college. There were several schools that consistently emailed him, and he tried to keep a back and forth thing going with the recruiting coordinator.

After he was seen at 2 well attended showcases on consecutive weekends (and performed at both) the "tone" of the long time emailers changed as well as many additional schools started emailing. As Prepster has stated, this was the time when my son moved to being seriously recruited and not just on the "list" of receiving canned emails. It is a process which occurs over time.

think about this--there are hundreds of kids NOT getting mail or emails----wake up folks-- at the very least they know who your son is

quote:

How is that done? Mainly by (1) working diligently to become the best player and student he can become, (2) initiating personalized communications with those programs/schools that seem to make the most sense for him, and (3) finding ways of making it possible for the coaches from those programs to see him play on a first-hand basis.

It's up, principally, to the player. Consistently and properly done, he can move himself up on college recruiting boards that are appropriate for him.

Yet another large nugget of 'gold' from Prepster!

... and when it gets 'real' in terms of recruiting, you will know it. No way to miss it.

Agree about Prepster's "gold." I've added this thread to my favorites.

I believe our son's doing this; just a bit anxious about how he'll be seen as a 2013 in the midwest that wants to go east. I've been told repeatedly to not worry about it, so I'm trying not to.

Thanks Prepster.

Thanks, guys. Just like you and so many others here, I'm just trying to get some honest thoughts about the process out there.

Redsoxchicago:

I don't think geography tends to play much, if any, role from the coaches' perspective in the large majority of cases. Undoubtedly, some will be interested in gaining as much insight as they can into the strength of the player's comfort level with the prospect of playing sparingly in front of friends and family. However, the player can usually put them at ease by convincing them that he's thoroughly researched the school and program; and that his family has come to the collective decision that the move is a good one for him.

Best of luck to your son!

Prepster:

Thanks for the insight.

I wasn't clear enough. Like his brother before him who's now at school on the East Coast, our second son is going to be more than ready to leave home and the Midwest for college and the East Coast. My concern is about exposure this summer to the college coaches in the Northeast. Travel team is playing touraments in Chicago area (2), Illinois, Indy, Notre Dame, Cinny and Charleston, SC. He'll also go to HF in August and a few camps at highly selective schools. Just want to make sure we do as much as we can in getting him in front of the coaches at the schools he's best suited for (as most on this site have advised). Based on discussions with others on this site, we have a plan. I'm just a wee bit impatient!

Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

Gotcha!

Thanks very much for the clarification.

That sounds like a busy and productive schedule. Since, like most of us were when we were in your shoes, you're impatient; I'll resist the temptation to tell you that I'll bet he does fine in attracting the attention of the coaches of interest to him.

red sox cicago-----have his summer coach bring the team to ourjuly tournament

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
what matters is they know who your son is

Yes and IF they want your son, they'll throw in some high value beachfront property in a Florida swamp to get em to sign.

Ilook at it a bitdifferently as did my son--- if it 5or 500 it matters not--- the player still has to win the spot---which he did--- cmon folks it is a very competitive world