With football, it seems that every scholarship offer is posted by the player on social media as an accepted practice. Is it different for baseball? I see some posting their offers but not nearly as many as with football. I wondered if a player should only post once committing to a school for baseball. Thoughts/opinions? Thanks!
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Generally with Baseball you only post commitments. But that is slowly changing. Different times, different generation. I would advise only posting commitments.
I have seen posting of football offers by student athletes, and wow does it strike me as gratuitous. Look at how awesome I am and how much interest I have garnered!! That is my opinion only and I am sure many see nothing wrong with it! The more cautious route certainly would be to only post commitments.
In other news, I wanted to let everyone know that I am blessed to have received an offer to no longer post on HSBBweb!
#blessed
I may be wrong, but I think offers in baseball are different than in football. Can't players renege on verbals in football? They may be trying to start bidding wars. Baseball isn't as flashy as football anyway. Acting cocky in baseball only gets you beaned.
Qhead posted:In other news, I wanted to let everyone know that I am blessed to have received an offer to no longer post on HSBBweb!
That has to be one of the best things I've ever read.
As the OP's question. It is different for various reasons.
First, the money at stake in salaries, to the programs, and to the schools is too big in football to risk losing over honoring a gentleman's agreement. Some conferences may agree to not go after verbal commits from within their on conference, but that is as far as it goes.
Also, baseball has an incredibly effective minor league system for developing players out of HS. So most of the talented players playing college baseball want to be in college and are there for that opportunity, Most won't risk doing something that might upset a coach/program like posting all their other offers.
Football has a better minor league system, it is called the NCAA Football Bowl Series. Most of the young men playing FBS from the SEC to the MAC don't just believe that they will make it to the NFL, but are playing college football specifically because it is the NFL's minor league.
I think back to a young Cardale Jones' tweet: "Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain't come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS"
He took all kinds of heat for that, but he shouldn't have. This is the truth of FBS football more often than not. North Carolina, one of the most respected academic public institutions in this country invented classes that didn't really exist for the sole purpose of keeping their football and basketball players eligible.
UNC has a great baseball program, but they weren't doing that for the baseball players' eligibility.
Remember when Cecil Newton was reported to have told Miss State, "It will take more than a scholarship to get Cam." Or Cam reportedly said that his dad chose Auburn because "...the money was too much."
I'm sure inappropriate things happen in college baseball, but never anything on the magnitude of the examples above. It is different because the majority of football players educational intent and experience is different. College football players to a much greater degree have already entered into self-promotion because it is a bigger part of the world they live in.
cebu75 posted:I may be wrong, but I think offers in baseball are different than in football. Can't players renege on verbals in football? They may be trying to start bidding wars. Baseball isn't as flashy as football anyway. Acting cocky in baseball only gets you beaned.
I believe offers in football are different. It's common for a football coach to make offers to many quarterbacks, for example, knowing that he will only take one of them. The catch is that numbers two through n on the list aren't allowed to accept the offer until number one is no longer available. So in my mind these aren't really offers at all. Maybe an expression of interest, or a spot on the board, but not the same as a baseball offer.
The economic reality is that football brings in money, alumni, boosters and headlines. I believe the number is 80 or 85 scholarships per D1 FBS team. So, one of the ways a football recruit can separate himself from others is to tell anybody who will listen on social media just how important he is by sharing the number of offers. I kind of get it, but at the same time I don't like it. To me, the player is trying to brand and bring attention to himself when he hasn't done anything yet on the college field.
Baseball doesn't have quite the hoopla, or the money or the headlines. Best case is you have 11.7 scholarships for 35 person roster at the D1 level. The supply/demand and economics are vastly different. Baseball scholarship dollars are rare which is why you'll hear many on this website ask if the recruit is eligible for academic scholarships in addition or in lieu of baseball money. Money is tight with almost all D1 programs because they are not generating their own dollars and rely on donors and contributions. The dollar is so tight that you can hear that eagle (on the back of the dollar) scream! I think the baseball players that are fortunate to receive rare baseball money are appreciative and more more discrete.
So, when is the right time to let others know that a recruit has a) received an offer b) accepted an offer and committed and is c) admitted. In baseball, I've not seen recruits publically mention offers with details and tagging their name to it. Possibly others have, but I don't think it is a good idea. I like to think that sharing verbal commitments is with family and those that matter is a good first step, but I would not post publically. Once it becomes official with admissions then recruits can crank up the ol' twitter machine. Yes, I prefer to keep it close to the vest and that is how my son played it. He doesn't like attention drawn to him, and he always wanted to keep options open with other coaches and programs if something should happen.
As always, JMO.
If you do post offers or commitments, be sure to get the name of the school correct! I guess if I was a coach at a school and offered a kid and he cant even promote the correct name of the school, I would really wonder about his ability to stay "eligible". So kids, please make sure that you get it right when you post it... It is not The University of Army or The University of TCU etc. (typically the U stands for University) or the new one where kids are posting that the committed to play in the XYZ All-American Game on ESPN 8... Now get off my lawn!!!
Great feedback and discussion. Thanks to all who have commented!
I hadn’t seen baseball offers posted at all until the last month and it has been mostly 2021/2022 kids. Maybe with new rules they are trying to let coaches know they are talking? No idea. I was shocked the first time but I’ve seen it 4-5 times in the last month and they are even numbering the offers like they do in football...my 1st D1 offer, my 2nd D1 offer, etc.
"Remember when Cecil Newton was reported to have told Miss State, "It will take more than a scholarship to get Cam." Or Cam reportedly said that his dad chose Auburn because "...the money was too much."
Someone had to bring up Cam!
I heard it was about $180000. If so it was one heck of a ROI! There is not a big school out there that wouldn't pay that (or let a booster pay) for a national championship if they could get away with it! LOL
back to the original topic, I think football and basketball have led the way, at some point baseball will probably begin to follow
Each sport seems a little different, so different norms apply. My son has some lady friends who committed to a D1 soccer program. When they announce on social media, they will generally say “I have committed to play D1 soccer at” so people know what level they are committing to.
Its just kids being kids. A lot of the stuff people get wrapped around the axle about are really pretty insignificant
In general, purely from a negotiating standpoint, think it would be better for the players if the information/data were all public -- who the school offered, how much, etc. And I think it's better for the schools/coaches if that information is not publicly available. Since my sympathies lie with the players, I hope it becomes more common -- even standard -- for offers to be publicized. JMO That said, my son followed the baseball norms in place currently and did not publicize offers.
