Senior All-Academic Tryout / Arizona Fall Classic

I would attend the event and explain the circumstances to anybody that expressed interest. IMO he really isn’t committed. 

Same thought... actually, I never fully understood the idea of committing to a D3 school where you are not academically accepted yet.  

The wise advice always given here is to keep the foot on the pedal until there is a reasonable level of certainty (even then, keep doors and communication lines open).  Your description of his status is far from that...

"... this is one of those schools that does not have "slots" for athletes.  He has to get past admissions, and the school is extremely selective.  I don't believe the coaches would have recruited him if he didn't have a chance, but it's far from a sure thing.  His pre-read was not a slam dunk, but also not a "no"."

  It shouldn't be any problem to attend the event under those circumstances.

Cabbage Dad just my 2cents but here goes just 1 reason to "commit" -- if a player has multiple offers of admission support for a D3 (even those very few elite hA without slots), they can only ED to one school (true for any ED school whether D1 or D3).  You can apply internationally, to military academies I believe and also to state universities.  So once the player opts to apply ED to their top choice, they let the other schools know they have made a choice and those other offers tend to go away given most coaches have slots and just move down their list.  By default, the player has committed.

Now, the player can hope the other coaches take the news in stride and some may offer to stay in touch in case it does not work out.  But the player has been through a pre read, and while nothing is guaranteed, it does usually work out.  It is up to the player to understand what the chances are that it will not work out.

Now back to the OP -- 2020Prospect -- if it were my son, we would likely not go.  The cost of the event is much less than the travel for us, but for you this may not be an issue.  What is the purpose of going if your son is already intent on applying ED to his first choice school?  If there are schools going that have not seen him that are ahead of his currently committed school, then that would be a factor.  If he has suddenly improved in some way, then that would be a factor.  But you are nearing the end of your recruiting journey and I am not sure why you would go to an event that is for uncommitted players.  If you do choose to go, it might be wise to alert the coaches of his ED school that you already paid for the event, travel etc and plan to go, as they may be there!  Or they may find out you did go, given the small baseball world and the fact they are highly selective and HA like many school there,

Meanwhile it is not really necessary to keep the recruiting ball going unless there is a school your son would rather go to (that has not told him no) instead of where he is applying ED.  If for some reason it does not work out ED, you have time before ED2 and before regular applications are due to then reach out, perhaps with the help of your travel or HS coach or both -- to other schools then.  

Again, just my opinion.

I'm mostly inline with 2Boys, but I can see a tiny bit of wiggle room.

First of all you have to apply for the All Academic game tryout, and to submit that with incorrect info would not be an honest choice or fair to other applicants.

To Adbono's point, a commitment to a D3 college _is_ a commitment, once the ED app is in. You're signing a contract that says you will attend that school if admitted (absent some limited mitigation circumstances.)

But that said, if ED app is not in, and taking into account that the coach doesn't have a "tip" with admissions, you could make the case that the kid is not fully committed until the app is in the mail.  In that case, if the kid has another equally desirable target school (which doesn't seem likely) that does have coach tips and has not seen him play, but will be at the event, then maybe it's OK to go, but only if the kid is honest with the coach and says, "I'm applying ED by the deadline, but if  a school of equal quality should offer me a guaranteed admission before that date, I'm going to have to weigh my options."  Coach may not like that, but he knows the kid isn't guaranteed to be there next year, so that means he's looking at other options as well.

Of course the biggest PITA for your son in this situation is that he's going to have to do some RD applications.

Thanks guys, very informative.  I learned some things.  Still, it seems that this player is not yet to the point where it wouldn't make sense to keep opening doors as backup.  And, I'm not sure why the coach at school A would be upset if the acceptance is far from a sure thing.

We use the word "committed" for D3 recruiting but I don't think the players are committed until the school officially accepts them when their ED decisions go out in Dec.  Submitting an application ED does not mean the student/player has to withdraw all other applications - that does not have to happen until they are accepted by their ED school (I googled just to be sure).  Non-baseball playing students are allowed to submit applications to additional schools as back-up in case they are not accepted (ED), why shouldn't baseball playing students have the opportunity to do the same (from a baseball perspective)?  Esp if the school in question in this situation does not provide recruiting spots for the coach.  

Of course this is just my opinion.  When my son submitted ED (with coaches support through admissions, which he needed) he did not apply to any other college or do any additional work recruitment wise while he waited for the decision.  

What would be the point of going and communicating with new schools? To let them know you'd love for them to be a backup option? If he doesn't get in he can always apply to other schools, explain the situation and show up the first day of tryouts. If you're good enough they'll keep you, they don't have scholarship guys to account for. Recruiting means the least at the D3 level, your game determines your role, not so much the commitment you made. 

That being said, unless travel and all that is already paid for I would just skip it. No sense in reaching out to new schools now. We're 5 weeks out from ED applications being due and realistically they're all done 2 weeks prior. Part of committing to a school is being able to get in academically. If the coach can't guarantee admission then it probably isn't a school he should be committing to. 

PABaseball posted:

What would be the point of going and communicating with new schools? To let them know you'd love for them to be a backup option? If he doesn't get in he can always apply to other schools, explain the situation and show up the first day of tryouts. If you're good enough they'll keep you, they don't have scholarship guys to account for. Recruiting means the least at the D3 level, your game determines your role, not so much the commitment you made. 

That being said, unless travel and all that is already paid for I would just skip it. No sense in reaching out to new schools now. We're 5 weeks out from ED applications being due and realistically they're all done 2 weeks prior. Part of committing to a school is being able to get in academically. If the coach can't guarantee admission then it probably isn't a school he should be committing to. 

I am again probably showing my relative ignorance with D3 as I certainly have more direct experience with the other levels.  Still, I have had a fair number of players from our program end up going D3.  Most of those players still considered baseball to be a very big part of the equation.  

Again, the OP says acceptance is far from a sure thing.  With recruiting at other levels, coaches generally would be more than happy to take a drop down should things not work out at the player's first choice.   OP is a senior.  Sure he could wait to see what happens with the ED acceptance process but wouldn't he be in a better spot if he has already had some dialog with other schools where there may be some mutual interest?  Wouldn't he potentially be in a better spot if some schools saw him at the event and became interested, and in turn became solid options should he not gain acceptance to school A?  I know D3 recruiting often happens late, but by mid-senior year, the later in the game it gets, the more challenging it becomes in many ways... time to generate interest, time to visit, etc.  It is definitely worth while, IMO, to avoid putting yourself in a last minute chase or settle scenario.

So the real question is, did your son have more options before he committed to this one school for ED?  And if so, what were those options?  With extremely selective schools, ED is almost a necessity for admission (and even then doesn't always work); so, backups need either to be schools with ED2 where coaches can give support, or schools where he could be admitted RD without official coach support.  Only you know if such schools are out there.  At that point it will depend on how good his baseball skills are, combined with how good his academic record is, every coach knows the combination that fits his school.  Still, unless his baseball skills are outstanding, it would be better for him to be some degree "recruited" at those schools - meaning coach saw him at a showcase, camp, or visit - rather than just to show up in the fall.  If he has not been seen by anyone except his ED school, then go to AZ.  He'd just have to be prepared for strange conversations with coaches, along the lines of "I'm committed to XXX, but I'd like to play for you, too."  Coaches do talk to teach other; chances are if they hear that, they will ask the ED coach, so be prepared for that, too. 

Keep your foot on the gas.

Did your son go the classic and academic game as a junior?  Then you know that that tryout is a meat market, and the senior event may be even more crowded. If you're worried about your son being accepted ED, then go.  A coach at a school with no slots will understand your concern.  I'd also let other coaches know your kid is gonna be there.  Maybe he lights it up and some other school he actually likes takes a shine to him and piques his interest. People have the right to change their minds. We kept at it with both our boys even after the coaches assured us their pre-reads were sam dunks.  A pre-read is NOT a guarantee.  And for each of my boys, a kid that was in their recruiting group, who they got to know on the campus overnight visit, was NOT admitted.

If you're concerned about your son taking someone else's spot in the tryout, then still go.  I don't think your son's being there is going to prevent someone else from trying out.   

Also, if you haven't been to the event, beware the 60 yd. dash.  It's a slow track.

You've submitted a pre-read in good faith.   Your son will be submitting an ED application in good faith, yet there are no guarantees by admissions or the coach your son will be admitted.   The risk is all on your son, and for this reason I would attend the showcase for the purposes of possible RD application to another school.   You are dealing with a process where the outcomes are not always positive.

My son kept in communication with some schools after he committed and applied ED to a D1 HA schools with slots.   He fully intended to honor his verbal and ED committement.   I suggested to him that we only get one shot at this, and we are taking on all the risk.   A reasonable person needs a contingency plan in life and in college baseball recruiting.  I strongly encourage your son to attend the showcase.

I think it is better to keep all options open , as you never know what can transpire.  Especially if you are close to the event. It is a cool event.

We had "almost" commited last year at this time but still went. My son wanted to keep his options open. He made the academic game(pitcher) last year after being extremely dissapointed as a junior and not making it.  If you make the all academic game there are a lot of HA D3 schools as well as D2 and many D1.  We had a lot of contacts at the event last year. son still ended up at the original school but It is good to have a plan B and C .  Good luck and have fun!