Big news tonight from the NJCAA. The big question is why would they make this decision? I spoke with many JUCO coaches tonight to see if they knew why the NJCAA did this. Every single one of these coaches was caught off guard.
I just posted a new article with all the quotes from these guys.
Here's the link if you'd like to check it out:
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I’m not convinced why is the question we should be asking right now. Will learning why change their decision? No. Here’s the question I’m asking - what is this going to do? What will the impacts be. My 2021 verbally committed to a JUCO in July. Will he actually be there next fall?
My 2021 told me the news today. His take was if he goes the juco route, he’ll be playing against 24 year olds, so he better keep working in the gym. If nothing else, these kids are learning to deal with adversity.
So if you are a freshman this year in JC, you could potentially have 6 years to finish your college baseball career and play for 5 of those seasons? This uncountable year in JC, 2 more years of JC, then move on to a 4 year program, red shirt a year, then complete your 2 playing years there. If I am a player who knows they are not ever going to play beyond the college level and getting out and getting a job after college is not a priority, I would go this route. Play as long as you can.
I don't think this assessment is right. It does not change the overall count for present freshmen for how many years they can play so the only ones who will take advantage of it is those that can't find a place to move on to. The sophomores that are not drafted or high enough and cannot find the spot at the level they want to go. Talking to a couple of juco coaches they will only offer it to one or two of their players. Remember, if the coach does not want to keep you, then it is of no use to you. Plus unless the colleges change their hour rule it is useless what the sports side wants to do. Unless you are behind in classes or willing to take meaningless classes for a year there is no place for you so I do not think it is as big a deal as it is being made out to be. The real reason they did it is because of football. Many football teams only played a couple of games and there are several basketball teams that they feel will get the same thing so that is why they did it.
@ARCEKU21 - as someone who put himself through college, I can tell you one thing for sure. College gets expensive quickly, and life can come at you fast. Give it a year or 2, and I have to believe all this craziness will sort itself out.
@adbono @PitchingFan @JRudd_Scout so if someone goes this year as a 2020 HS grad and plays JUCO, do they transfer next year as "Freshman" vs the 2021s that will graduate HS and attend College in 2021 and the Corona SOs (Jrs in 21) who didn't draft, Corona FR (SO in 21) and 2020 True Freshman (SO in 21)?
Tomorrow, we'll be able to clear a lot of this up. I'll be interviewing the NJCAA President & CEO, Dr. Chris Parker, for a podcast coming out later this week.
I’ll have the full interview with Dr. Parker available on YouTube tonight around 9 PM. I’ll post link here for you guys.
JUCO Talk with @JRudd_Scout / NJCAA President & CEO, Dr. Christopher Parker / College Baseball
Thank you will listen/watch later
The JuCo HC that I’m closest to says that this decision was made to level the playing field across the country. It had already been ruled that the 2021 season will not count against a players eligibility if his team didn’t play at least 50% of the games on their schedule. Apparently there was enough speculation that a significant number of programs (especially in the NE) wouldn’t get half their games played. So rather than have some players granted an additional year (and others not) the NJCAA decided to make the 2021 season not count against every JuCo player’s eligibility. No coaches that I have spoken with think this is a good development.
Did we time travel or was this for Fall sports only?
Baseball hasn't started yet....
@Eokerholm posted:Did we time travel or was this for Fall sports only?
Baseball hasn't started yet....
Premature decision without a doubt
This is HUGE.
Great news for JUCO option, for those to step up there game, get some college classes under you and NOT burn a year of eligibility. Also gives them a jump academically and physically on the HS athlete graduating in 2021 and going to D1-3.
Example Current Juco in fall ball 2020, gets a free year to play/school and comes in as a NCAA "Freshman" next year if they transfer in Fall of 2021.
There will be a huge sucking sound as the NCAA athletes concerned about playing time will be shifting to Juco.
Assuming there are spots of course.....
Is that about right, @adbono
I agree that more talent will be headed the JuCo route over the next few years. However, I don’t think spending more than 2 years at any JuCo is a good plan for academics. I have never been in favor of redshirts being put on JuCo players (except in case of injury) for the same reason. It’s hard to predict whether an additional year of JuCo playing eligibility will help more players than it hurts. IMO it just spreads out the roster logjam to the JuCo ranks. Therefore I don’t think it’s a helpful decision.
I'm expecting a great purge over the next 6 weeks. JUCO's and D2's will also purge players to make room for the kids who are getting dropped at the top D1's. There will be some very tough conversations take place over the next few weeks.
You will also have 2019 D1 drop downs who will have 2 years of JUCO baseball and be able to re enter D1 next year having used zero eligibility. They will be freshmen and 2020s will be sophomores along with all the covid sophomores. Even bigger mess.
@baseballhs posted:You will also have 2019 D1 drop downs who will have 2 years of JUCO baseball and be able to re enter D1 next year having used zero eligibility. They will be freshmen and 2020s will be sophomores along with all the covid sophomores. Even bigger mess.
Exactly!
This is the best social media community I’ve ever seen. 😂 I didn’t know it was possible to have an internet site where people can have reasonable conversations on polarizing issues.
Personally, my “day-after reaction” is somewhat different to the responses I’m reading here. I’m still trying to process it, though, and get feedback from coaches on the information provided by Dr. Parker.
