should a prospect wait to get information from the school they really want to attend

If it's your dream school, then you NEED and SHOULD be contacting them! Don't be bashful - it sounds like you're in a good position!

Champ2121,
lafmom is spot on! Get pro-active! Put a one page profile together of yourself, including a picture (cut and paste on a word doc is sufficient), personal info/stats/contact (6’6” lefty should get there attention), HS and traveling team affiliations, baseball stats, include 60yd time and pitching velocity if available, coaches (HS, travel, and legion) and pro-scouts that have seen you play with contact info, and school stats (GPA and test scores if available, ACT/SAT). Mail this to the head coach at Illinois, Dan Hartleb and/or the pitching coach, Ken Westray. Address these men by name, not “dear coach”. Have your HS coach follow up with a phone call (or you and/or your dad if he will not). Get on Illinois website and go to a camp so that they came see your skills for themselves. Let them know you are interested in Illinois. Good luck

champ - You're getting good advice. By all means, contact them yourself.

I know of more than one very top player who initiated contact with the school he ultimately chose to attend.

Not to sound repetitive...but definetly contact the school if you are interested...don't wait for them! My son is now playing for the school that HE initiated contacted with.

I have been following this thread today and have wondered about the motivation or logic expressed in the intial question. Agree that if it is your dream school that you can indeed take the initiative and contact the coaches.

What about the baseball aspects of the decision? Illinois is not quite the biggest power in the Big Ten IMHO. My question: What about Georgia Southern? They are not exactly chopped liver? In fact, I am not sure that some wouldn't consider Gerogia Southern to be an upgrade over Illinois. If you are a baseball player, any Southern D1's that are interested should also be considered for nothing more than the exposure that you may miss at the northern school.

Clevelandad...good advcie a dream school must still be a good fit: Acadecmics, needs, coaches you relate to, the right types of players and students you will be spending the next 4 years with....

justbaseball...Think we both know one of those self initiated DI kids....5th inning 2-1 Puerto Rico

Thank you everybody for the help that you have given me. I greatly appreciate the info that you have given me.

quote:

Illinois is not quite the biggest power in the Big Ten

Obviously they aren't OSU or UM, but Illinois did win the Big Ten regular season championship.

Ratboy,

Sorry. I meant no disrespect to Illinois whatsoever. I was just pointing out that the kid may already have someone that WANTS him AND provide a pretty fine baseball experience as well. If there is some magical attraction to Illinois, then by all means see what opportunities may indeed exist there.

If I may...I'd like to add that you should try to honestly assess their return interest in you. If they're just genuinely not interested, then its time to move on. Seems obvious I suppose, but no one said it so I thought I should.

Justbaseball...right you are as always, LOVE is such an important part of the fit/equation...

contact them... letters/phonecalls whatever works
make sure if they are letters they are hand written so coaches know that it isnt some letter your giving 100 other schools and make sure you and NOT your parents are contacting them