The link below is a thread from just over a week ago on Recruiting Slots at HA schools and my reply. I think the HC is just being honest and giving you a totally fair read on the situation. Does he have fewer "slots" this year, maybe, can he sneak a few more guys over his slots, doubtful due to deferrals.
What to do? He's not using a slot on your son as noted above. You must try to be as realistic as possible on his chances to get in. In a normal year if acceptance is 20%, for 2021's it might be 10%-15%. Everyone thinks their kid will get into these schools but in normal years its an absolute crapshoot. What would I do? Apply ED and be prepared to apply to 10 other schools in mid-December or tell the coach that while this school is your #1 choice and you are committing to playing baseball for him, his comments give you pause on actual acceptance and you would prefer to apply early action, and then apply to the other schools of interest. Just my 2 cents...
https://community.hsbaseballwe...20#64092996560767020
Thank you to all for your replies and opinions. The HC said he has limited his offers by at least 50% because of the possible affect of deferrals. He is using a slot for my son, but normally he gets more slots. He said he is only using two this year where normally it is 4-5. Even before COVID, he couldn’t guarantee admission to this school, but he has never had anyone rejected. Their normal acceptance rate is around 9-10%, so who knows what it will be this year. However, he said he has only submitted candidates and used his slots on players that are academically competitive. I don’t think any coach and school can realistically guarantee admissions, but using their pull and slots you have a very good idea that it’s likely. Additionally, this school only has early decision and regular decision...no early action. Our son reached out to admissions to ask about how many deferrals are in place and if it will affect next years yield. They responded saying they expect to admit a larger class to accommodate the deferrals.
Our son has had 99.9% of the communication with the coach, but everything he tells me has coincided with the few conversations I have had with the coach. I feel he is being honest, upfront and with good intentions. I have no reason not to believe the coach given his reputation and from the conversations we have had with existing roster parents and conversations our son has had with past players.
I told my son to keep up with communications from some other target schools and prepare to apply on short notice to other schools. All of the other schools have stated to let them know if admissions or otherwise fall through, but that they have to keep recruiting.
The true challenge for my son is how to keep up communication with schools that have showed interest and reaching out to additional programs knowing he would prefer to go to the school and program he has committed to joining and that ticks every box. I suppose it’s all a leap of faith, but have always have plan B.