Recruited walkon

JustBB,
My son's friend was recrutited walkons last year as freshman, even got starts. Was told this year may be eligible for scholly. Shows up in fall and there is no money, no walk ons this year.

bob50,
Am I understanding then this boy was cut in his sophomore year?

_______________________
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer

Why don't coaches be forthright with a kid? It's just not the redshirt issue but we have heard rumors that some schools over-recruit and sign many more NLIs than they are prepared to follow through with. Heard of 75-150 players showing in the fall, then getting cut. A lot of them with NLIs in hand. Players then transfer to other school if they are released.
Anyone else heard of this happening?

Is this common just at DI or do other schools do this? It sounds pretty frightening to me!!!

lhpmom

The operative word you use is "heard"---I advise parents and players never go by what they have heard because in most times what they "heard" is nowhere near what the story was in the beginning--be sure of your facts.


justbaseball

A recruited walkon in most cases gets treated differently than a kid who just walks on in hopes of making the team.

The recruited walk on in most cases is a player who the coach wants but does not have the money for. The following year $$$ should free up and he could be given a schorship.

One has to "read" the college coach here and follow your gut feelings

TRhit

TR,
This is exactly what happened. No money available for extra scholarships. It may have been a good way to kiss the kid goodbye. Or it may have been over recruiting, or too many large schollys given out. He was told there would be some $$$ available by the fall/winter, he was not even given a chance to try out.

LHPmom,
I never heard of 75-100 showing up at a large D1, but I have heard of large numbers at JUCOS. Don't know if this is true or not. As TR says, we hear things sometimes that are hard to determine if true or just a story.

Catching is a pretty demanding posistion and with the amount of games colleges play, sometimes with double headers on saturday and another game on sunday and non-conference games during the week, most coaches would kill for more than one catcher that has skill. No matter what position you play, there is always going to be competition and being recruited or being awarded money is not a guarantee for playing time by any means.

BBNE1 ( hey how many ID's do you have?)

With a max of 11.7 baseball scholarships available at a D-I program how many full scholarships do you think they give out with a 32 man squad ???

Not a heck of as lot!!!!!!

IS your son a senior this spring?

TRhit

D-1 schools have 11.7 scholarships available to them (if their school funds all of them). Most sign 15-25 players per year. You do the math. No player in my experience has every signed a full scholarship to a D-1 school. I'm sure they exist, I just don't know of any. Coaches bring in more kids than they can possibly keep and then after fall practice, basically cut kids by finding them other options. If you don't feel okay with this, you are going to be less than satisfied with college baseball.

PCDad,
I have two points concerning your comment.......

quote:

---

Most sign 15-25 players per year......Coaches bring in more kids than they can possibly keep and then after fall practice, basically cut kids by finding them other options.

---

1. I believe very few D1 teams if any, bring in 15-25 players a year.

2. With the exception of an ASU type program, there are very few colleges that can provide "other options".

I can assure you coaches do quite a few things within the numbers allowed. Coaches place many of their freshmen and sophomores with junior colleges throughout the country. All I can say is look at the recruiting lists and follow up the following year. I apologize if this sounds critical of the system as I certainly don't mean to. It is simply a way of life at the D-1 level for any but the very top recruits. Many parents don't understand this during the initial recruiting process and become disillusioned and confused later. It is simply the reality of partial scholarships for most sports (other than football and basketball)

PCDad,
I don't think you're giving the recruitng process or the integrity of the D1 coaches much credit. I've monitored this site for some time and if that situation was the status quo, it would be a well traveled topic.

Maybe others on this site with more D1 knowledge than myself can confirm your statement. I feel from our experiences that parents need to ask good questions and expect honest answers from coaches. Yes, there are a situations that a small number of the 280+ D1 schools will over sign recruits. But in most of those cases coaches that oversign expect some of their blue chips to get drafted, and sign. If anything, parents might be surprised with a redshirt season, not a trip to a juco.

I think parents need to understand all of the possible senarios, but at the same time expect that what is told of them during the recruiting process is the truth. Like I said PCDad, I may be way off base and talkin through my backside. But that's the impression I have.

TR is right you should be able to "read the coach" after checking the roster, talking with the coach and evaluating the prospects, assuming you have a realistic view of your abilities relative to current rostered players.

The fact is that many times State U. attracts kids who would turn down better offers to play for their dream team, and often do. Ask yourself are you better than the out of state scholarship player the coach brought in last year. You will probably need to be to make the team.

Check and see if the coach has a good record of placing kids at JUCO's if they don't make the team. What's plan "B"?

Gossenol Hawks of the Western Australia League?

http://www.ragincajuns.com/Baseball/baseball.htm

Please understand that I am not trying to be overly critical of D-1 coaches/recruiters. If anything, I believe student athletes and their parents don't do a good enough job in establishing the fit for themselves and then become disillusioned later. For the record, my son signed with a junior college out of high school and signed in the early period in November with a D-1 school. I have been very satisfied with all coaches who recruited my son and felt they were honest with us. I simply believe people sometimes let their dreams confuse reality and this is where the parents should help and not hinder the process. I do believe however, that all parents need to understand that scholarships are annually renewable and can be increased, decreased or eliminated depending on the circumstance. Again, this is not said to criticize but rather to inform. I believe the process can definitely serve a life lesson for all concerned and help in the maturation process for the student athlete.

PCDAD

You point is well taken

What you say is oh so true--now if all parents would realize it-- sometimes I think we preach to deaf ears in many cases.

TRhit

PCDad,
You brought up some good discussion. Maybe I am the "disillusioned" one because I did not encounter the points you've stated. I'll post a poll and see if we can get some other imput. Obviously we won't get a true representation of all the recruited athletes parents but the replies may help others going into the process.

Question guys..

If the recruited walkon is not offered a scholly at the end of his freshman year, then no release is required, correct? Won't he be able then to find somewhere else to play if possible?

"If you don't know where your going, any road will take you there".

If he was on the roster get a release from the AD just to be on the safe side--funny things happen--better to be safe than sorry

TRhit

I've seen the term "invited walk-on" used on this site. Is this the same thing as a recruited walkon? If not,what's the difference?

_______________________
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer

Good question M&M - would probably ask the coach if he used either description exactly what it meant. Can he get cut? Will he have a chance to compete as if he were on scholarship?

Interesting note - when our son committed to college, the coach made sure to tell him that from that point forward, it didn't matter to him that who was on scholarship - that he would still have to compete on an even basis with all the other players on the team whether they had scholarship money or not. His goal was to put the best 9 players on the field, regardless of how they got there.

In this case, I believe him!

________________
"Pitching is the art of instilling fear," Sandy Koufax.

No, neither term has been used. But in reading these threads it struck me I've heard the term Invited-walk on, and I wonder what the difference is if any?

I'm inclined to think they are the same thing.

_______________________
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Famer

tell him to go to a juco....

more playing time better options....has a chance to adjust to college life and to be away from home with a more better approach on education...better one on one communication with the teachers....also will feel more comfortable knowing the coach....i dont want to see a kid with a lot of talent go to a d1 and ride the bench and get discouraged...tell him to go to juco and then transfer to a d1 after 2 years where he will get a lot more playing time if he doesnt get drafted. good luck with all hope i could help

one more thing... i played d1 and i remember seeing all these walk on tryout..we kept one in the 4 years i was there....if invited he will be on the team but remember...if the program is strong they have some of the best recruits joining the team that they will consider first...sad but the way it works

recruited walk on; preferred walk on; invited walk on...

All mean the same thing...you are an AFTERTHOUGHT.

Doesn't matter what mom and dad tell you, very few get much if any opportunities to play much at the school.

If the coach didn't think enough of you BEFORE he invited you to walk on, what makes you think that he'll change his mind when you appear on campus and he has NO OBLIGATION (re scholarship money) to you?

For the one or two that are the exceptions there are hundreds for which this is the rule!

Stay away and go where you are wanted.

Beenthere, I think this is EXCELLENT advice.
Son was "asked", "invited" "begged" (wait, no-this last one was my wishful thinking ) to walk-on at a school he REALLY wanted to go to. We said, No thanks.
I'm so thankful for finding this site and learning this.......otherwise we might have made a HUGE mistake.

In some cases the "invited walkon" gets preference, especially at Division II and III schools--in fact I know a number of Division I programs that have but 2 or 3 scholarships allowed and their invited walkons are almost sure shots, especially if the player is getting a boat load of academic money.

Speaking of a "boatload of academic $$$". We were told that if you receive $1 of baseball money, then all other money you receive (academic) will count against the 11.7. It was my understanding that if a player would qualify for academic money if not an athelete it would be separate. I know this has been hashed over on the message boards in the past but I need more clarification. Coach says that he can get him a lot more academic money and financial aid than he could with what's left for baseball.