My son was recently offered a preferred walk-on at Rice. Any thoughts on Rice or being a preferred walk-on?
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quote:Originally posted by gntwin:
My son was recently offered a preferred walk-on at Rice. Any thoughts on Rice or being a preferred walk-on?
Rice is a fine academic institution. I am not sure what else there is to say about their baseball program. They are the elite of the elite. Your son would obviously have to be a good player to even receive this type of offer. He would be taking an enormous risk however whether or not he would see the playing field at Rice. If you (and Coach Graham) feel this is more of a developmental issue rather than a talent issue it may be worth the risk. If that is the case, a better strategy might be to go to a JUCO where Coach Graham can keep an eye on him for a year or two, get his playing time in while adding strength and try and earn a scholarship at Rice as a sophmore or a junior transfer. Another option may be to find a D1 that will offer him at least a partial scholarship as that might indicate he would have a better opportunity to play than as a preferred walk-on. If you and your son are patient people and have faith in his abilities to overcome, are willing to take the "ultimate" baseball risk, it could be the opportunity of a lifetime. Tough decision imho and since it is still early, it may be a good idea to see if there are other and perhaps better fits out there. I suspect there are in this case. Good luck.
ClevelandDad - thank you for your feedback. He does have offer offers from mid to high D1 schools where he would play right away. But he really wants to go to Rice given the education he would get. Rice is out of money. Apparently they do not give many freshmen money (with the excpetion of top line pitchers) but sophomores get money 90% of the time. Definitely a risk. Hopefully Rice does not over recruit like UGA. thanks again.
great program, great city! :-)
Rice does most of their recruiting from TX, Houston area for a majority of it. If you're in GA and get invited as a walk-on, I'd say that's pretty special.
Coach Graham still has ties with the local JUCO community, especially San Jacinto JC (very strong ties), and Coach Arrington there.
Rice does most of their recruiting from TX, Houston area for a majority of it. If you're in GA and get invited as a walk-on, I'd say that's pretty special.
Coach Graham still has ties with the local JUCO community, especially San Jacinto JC (very strong ties), and Coach Arrington there.
Rice pulled their offer of a roster spot - glad we know now what kind of people we were dealing with rather than when we got there.
After going through the recruiting process with my son, my advice would be to never take a preferred walk-on at any college. The guys on scholly will make the roster. The chances are extremely slim a preferred walk-on will make the roster. Remember, all coaches lie to get you on campus. If your son was offered a preferred walk-on at Rice, there is another school for him with a scholly offer. Play the schools against each other. Most of all, have patience! Good Luck!
quote:The chances are extremely slim a preferred walk-on will make the roster. Remember, all coaches lie to get you on campus.
This varies from program to program. There are quite a few schools which have already posted their fall rosters and you can easily see how many walk-ons there are based on how many players exceed the maximum 30 athletic scholarships now allowed by the NCAA. For example, one D1 here in Texas has 41 players (11 preferred/regular walk-ons), meaning that at least 6 will have to be cut by January to meet the maximum allowed roster size of 35. Another D1 program in Texas has 34 on the roster (4 preferred/regular walk-ons), meaning that NONE will have to be cut after the fall. Some programs guarantee their walk-ons a roster spot and some don't. You have to do your homework and find out what kind of program you're dealing with.
Also, there may be some coaches who lie, but there are many more who don't. I don't feel comfortable painting all coaches with such a broad negative brush.
Some of the higher academic schools will guarantee roster spots for kids who do not get baseball money. They kind of mimic the Ivy's - coaches are allowed to get a certain number of kids admitted by the school, and they offer roster spots.
Whether a kid gets BB$ or academic $$ or just financial aid, makes no diff to the coach, and the players are all treated the same. They don't bring in more than 35 players, so there is no "over-recruiting." You are admitted to the school, you are on the team, and it makes no difference what financial package you are operating on.
Not every school, but I found several that operated this way.
Whether a kid gets BB$ or academic $$ or just financial aid, makes no diff to the coach, and the players are all treated the same. They don't bring in more than 35 players, so there is no "over-recruiting." You are admitted to the school, you are on the team, and it makes no difference what financial package you are operating on.
Not every school, but I found several that operated this way.
