Invited walk on vs. Roster spot

there is an enormous difference between the two. the invited walk on road is a very difficult one. the guaranteed roster spot is a vastly superior offer. if the two schools are, in fact, close it would seem difficult to turn the roster spot down.

I am new to all of this - can you explain the difference between the two?

With teams only allowed to scholarhsip 27 of 35 rostered players, that means a minimum of 8 players are walk ons.

All colleges have open try outs. Most are a sham and the kids don't really get much of a look. An invited walk on means that the coach is looking to work the player out with the team, probably all fall, not just for the 1 day open tryouts. A question you should ask the coach is, "does the invited walk on spot guarantee a roster spot?" If it does guarantee a roster spot, and Junior can't get cut, then there is very little difference between the scholarship offer and the invited walk on offer. Conversely, if the invited walk on spot is without a roster guarantee, I would have no expectations of making the team, just the opportunity to compete for the spot.

A scholarship comes with a guaranteed roster spot. He could still get cut, but that is very, very rare and usually involves a disciplinary problem.

This has been discussed a lot on the hsbbweb through the years. Go to the top of the screen,click on "find" and do a search of previous posts. Read them all and then be ready to ask the coach some tough questions. The more you know about the specific offers the better. Have seen lots of kids get cut after fall with walk-on spots. They may have misunderstood the coach or just decided to take a gamble on making the team.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Thanks CPLZ & CaBB. I did search hsbbweb before posting and read the articles, etc., they just seem a little dated. As a result of recent limitations on roster and BB money, I get the sense that the landscape is different than it was 2+ years ago. Much of the info/advice does seem timeless, however. I do feel better prepared. Thanks.

Terk,
The landscape is actually very similar. The differences between then and now, are that now you must offer a minimum 25% scholarship where before you could offer any amount...

now your roster is capped at 35 players, when before there was no cap...

now you are limited to 27 scholarship players, before there was no limit.

It is true that before the invited walk on spot carried less importance than it does now, because then, a coach didn't worry about his roster size and could offer a couple of hundred in scholarship money to a kid...but the tiger in the weeds, was still that with the unlimited roster, the coach could cut all those "book money" scholarship kids and wouldn't care. Now, any kid on scholarship takes up one of the valuable 35 roster spots AND if he has a full roster, at least 8 players are walk ons.

CPLZ thank you for the update on this post. I have a question for you my son was told by a Div II school that they would send him an Administrative Letter of Intent. To me that sounds fishy.

There will be no athletic money he is academic scholarship only.

Sounds like at best this would be is a invited walk-on is that would you would say also.

Also the coach of this particular school stated that he had only 3 full scholarships is that possible? He carried a 35 man roster I believe.

Thanks in advance for your response and input.

May I suggest this:

when my last guy was going thru the process a Major Division I school came out of the blue and offered him--I asked a simple question--can you send me a letter outlining the deal ?--two days subsequent I got a letter stating the following:

He is on the team
He has a uniform with his number
He has to earn a starting role
He has to earn the right to travel

NO--it did not talk dollars but that would be taken care of and the letter came to me before he visited--it was not a letter of intent but a simple good faith gesture on their part--the deal was made after the first night of his official visit a week later-- to this day my son and I still are "tight" friends with the head coach and the recruiting coordinator and that is some 12 years

Obviously now with the sophs and juniors committing so early a letter of this type cannot happen but for the senior it certainly can--I think a letter can avert a huge problem and it also tells you something about the coaches

Just a bit from my experience

some of the assumptions above are based on full rides for all schols; reality probably suggests something different, many "full rides" would be directed at pitching. One of the scouts we talked to last year from a mid level (Ohio) D1 said he only had 1 player on his roster with a full ride, and was looking at one potential last summer - and he was a juco transfer. Many position players may be lucky to get 50%.

Minimum is 25% and 50% is a pretty good offer. The rule changes really took effect for the HS graduating class of 2008. So posts that are 2 years old would still apply.

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
Terk,
The landscape is actually very similar. The differences between then and now, are that now you must offer a minimum 25% scholarship where before you could offer any amount...

now your roster is capped at 35 players, when before there was no cap...

now you are limited to 27 scholarship players, before there was no limit.

It is true that before the invited walk on spot carried less importance than it does now, because then, a coach didn't worry about his roster size and could offer a couple of hundred in scholarship money to a kid...but the tiger in the weeds, was still that with the unlimited roster, the coach could cut all those "book money" scholarship kids and wouldn't care. Now, any kid on scholarship takes up one of the valuable 35 roster spots AND if he has a full roster, at least 8 players are walk ons.

CPLZ - for the 8 walk on spots, how common is it for those to be "guaranteed?" In other words, is it only scholarship players that are "guaranteed" a roster spot or is it possible/common for an invited walk on to also receive assurances as to the roster? Thanks.

There are a number of "guaranteed" roster spots for invited walk-ons. However, you must be careful in learning what that means. The guarantee may extend only through the fall season, when there is no upper limit as to the number of players. The only time a guarantee becomes meaningful is when it extends through the entire year.

Why not do as I suggested above--request a letter spelling out what they are expecting from the play and what they ae offering

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Why not do as I suggested above--request a letter spelling out what they are expecting from the play and what they ae offering

TRhit, I intend to. That is a good suggestion. I am just trying to get a better understanding of things so that I can ask the right questions and better understand what it is they do (or do not) put into writing.

It's fairly common to guarantee those spots.

One of the questions you may want to HAVE JUNIOR ask..."Have you ever cut a recruited player?"

..."Coach, is my offer a guaranteed roster spot for next spring?"