What to do when...?

Kid I know in similar situation had the coach confirm he was the only one they were recruiting at his position, for that class, before he verbally committed.  I don't know what else you could do with these early decisions happening ahead of "the old schedule." 

There are obviously a lot of factors to consider in this situation, but IMO, I would not sign but would keep options open, including the possibility of JUCO for a year to get "re-recruited."  Once your son signs, he's limited his options and lost much of his "control", because he'll need a release from the Letter of Intent, as well as permission to talk to other schools if he chooses to transfer.  And, may not have a lot of options if/when he decides to transfer, because he's been committed to this school for so long.

This is something I often hear in consultations with athletes and parents who want to transfer.  I'll ask them "what other schools recruited you?" and often the response is "I committed early and didn't visit or talk to hardly any other schools."  So, when they do obtain "permission to contact" other schools, they don't have many other contacts to call on.

My son was/is in similar situation, and at this point, I am pretty sure he is going to go the JUCO route. We feel it is a great situation for him, and unless a crazy good offer comes from a D-1, he will stick with his amazing JUCO opportunity.  I definitely agree with Rick.  I would give it a long look...

So it begs the question -- what are the advantages of committing really early?  From both the coach's and player's perspective?  To me it seems like way too much can happen over 3 years. 

I agree with Golfman.  I just don't see the logic from the player's position to commit so early.  I know having the recruiting process over early is a great relief, but it's just so risky to take yourself off the market too soon.  What happens if the coach changes his mind and pulls the offer.  It happens, then where is the player left?  He's left scrambling at the end, which is never a good position.  In my view, the only way the recruiting timeline stops moving up is for players to stop committing so early.  There is no penalty for the coach, the player takes the risk - and I'm not sure the reward is all that great.  If you are a high enough level prospect to commit as a Fresh or Soph, then you'll still have value later in the process.  If you don't, you'll likely be one of the sad stories of a pulled offer or even worse, getting to your school and having a bad experience.  Easy to say that the players should wait, tough to do with an offer in front of you.  I get it.

This is more of a question than an answer, but at some point at some schools maybe a player has to commit early or miss his chance to play. For example, there is a  Pac 12 school close to us that has been snapping up area sophomores right and left.  It's a dream school for many kids, so maybe they feel that there will be no money or roster spots left if they wait.

i believe there are 2 separate answers to this depending on who is to blame.  if you and your son didn't do your HW and didn't realize how many players there were at the position then that is you fault and I believe you should honor your word.  If the school over recruited at that position after receiving you commitment and they didn't honor their word so you are free to go elsewhere.

Playball, assuming that this is not totally a hypothetical scenario, I am curious to know what type of dialog there was over the few years between committing and getting ready to show up for freshman year.

Curious question.  Assuming he is not a pitcher, obviously there are always a bunch at every program did he really think he was the only C/CF/MI on the radar?

I have heard a number of college coaches say they only recruit up the middle position players and the ones that don't win a spot become the corner guys.  No doubt there are corner guys with power that factor in. 

I asked them about it and the philosophy was that 90%+ of the best athletes/players in HS are up the middle.  Based on the HS baseball I have seen that seemed about right to me.