When Should a Player Commit to a School?

nhmonty, there are always exceptions, but most D1 schools wrap up the majority of recruiting by early fall of a prospect's senior year. Opportunities may arise in spring and summer following high school graduation, but they will be spotty and unpredictable. For example, certain schools may be looking to pick up another pitcher or two or fill a gap for a particular position. Or, if a D1 program has some unexpected losses due to the draft, it might want to pick up a player or two in early to late summer (depending on when and if the draftee signs).

If a D1 makes an offer to your son this summer or early fall, your son needs to determine whether the school is a good fit for him. If the school is one of your son's top choices, it would probably be prudent to verbally commit. However, if your son is unsure of the school, it would be advisable to wait and see what else pops up. D2 and JUCO programs oftentimes wait until the majority of D1 recruiting is wrapped up and snap up the "best of the rest." If your son is interested in going D2 or JUCO, he can afford to wait a few more months before making a decision.

Hope this helps. Best wishes!

The first thing for me to ask is how many campuses has he been to and seen? Has he seen the team in action to get a feel as to how they play the game and what the coaching staff does?

At this point in time prior to July 1 he has not, in all probability even met the coach face to face and he has not met the guys he is going to be playing with

There is so much that goes into the choice baseball wise. I am not against early commits so long as the player has seen and done enough to know his decision is the right one

quote:

I am not against early commits so long as the player has seen and done enough to know his decision is the right one

Good point.

While a player is waiting for offers to come in, it is wise for him to make unofficial visits to various campuses in order to interact with coaches, learn more about their coaching philosophy, and tour the school. The more visits that you make, the easier it'll be to make comparisons and decide what's right for you.

Couple of items:

For those invited to "Junior Days", take advantage of them when you can. As TRHit said, meeting the coach, seeing the team play can give you a good feel about possible fit.

In addition, if time/$$$ are available, go take some unofficial visits (during JR year), particularly if a D1 prospect.

As many have mentioned on this site, most D1's try to wrap up recruiting in the fall of SR year.

To the original poster, the "when" can't come into play until you get an offer. Just curious, has your son received any offers to this point?

I should have clarified my question. Should he get contacted/offered after July 1st (no quarantee) he has a ton of due diligence to do. Most importantly relating to academics, which in my opinion are more important than baseball.

My concern is I have heard that often times if a coach wants a player they pressure them with we have only x amount of spots and x amount of dollars. If we can't get you we have to go to the next guy.

My son has three days off until July 28th which includes 3 baseball road trips down south for tournaments. Then football starts in mid August.

This winter/spring he was invited to 4 D-I Jr days but could only attend one due to basketball and baseball committments. We no longer hear from 2 of the schools even though, within 2 days replied he could not attend and the reasons why and he told them he wants to keep in touch. He is a three sport athelte so he doesn't have much time for visits to schools.

If someone is interested in him will they give him the time to make a decision that is best for him and the school?

To answer the question, no he has not been offered anything because he is a Junior (July 1st is the date I think they can contact him). My gut feeling is he has had minor contact with some coaches but he won't tell me and I don't want to know.

My son is in a very similar situation-plays 3 sports, and considers academics to be a big part of his decision. We have noticed less e-mail in the last 2 months as well.

My son just sent out an update/schedule email to about 30 schools that have contacted him or that he has interest in. He updated his academic and baseball stats, and listed the events he will be attending. The reaction to this e-mail has been favorable and I would strongly suggest it.

I have heard from some 2009 grads that the 3-sport players have a disadvantage of not being able to showcase in the fall and winter. You really have to sell yourself in the next two months. I also know of some players that do the verbal commitment earlier than July 1st that regret it later.

It sounds like your son and mine aren't those "can't miss players" that are on the top of every coaches list and getting early commitment pressure. So we are going to do what we can this summer, and see what it amounts to. If he gets a call after July 1st, from a school he hasn't researched, he will not jump on it until he has visited and met with coaches. I'd rather he get it right, even if it costs him a take-it-or-leave-it offer.

nhmonty, blprkfrnks has given you some good advice. Sending an email accompanied by a summer schedule to numerous colleges of interest is a great idea, and now is the time to do it.

Regarding July 1: July 1 is the first day colleges can call a prospect, but coaches get around that with high-level prospects via email and phone calls to prospects' high school or select coaches. Offers also can be made prior to July 1 while a prospect is on campus during unofficial visits and junior days. My son did not get any calls until mid-August, but still ended up with interest from 3 D-1's. However, the fact that he was most likely a "second tier" prospect meant that he did not have the luxury of delaying his decision for long. The schools he talked with wanted decisions within 3-4 weeks following his visits to their campuses. Since your son has not gotten evidence of heavy interest from schools yet, he may fall into the same category as my son.

Don't fret, though. It'll all work out. Trust me!

Much depends on which schools are showing interest. There are several of the top programs that will be done recruiting in July for the 2010 class. This doesn't mean they have anything but verbals, but they're still pretty much done. It is the main reason we added a 2011 National to the end of this year's national for seniors. It was the college coaches that asked for it. Many are looking at the 2011 class even in June.

Might not pertain to many but something to think about.

Based on what you said and did not say, you should widen your search to D2s, D3s, NAIA schools and JCs. There is a school for everyone.

Don't just count on an offer in July. You may get one in the Fall or the Spring or not at all. One predictor might be what has happened in the past to players like your son at his position and at his school or league - whether all league, first year varsity, all county or state - Where did they go?

This summer, go to at least 2 college camps of schools you are SURE he could play at based on tuition, academics and athletics.

A few points to add:

To clarify, verbal offers can be made and are often made well before July 1. More communications open up under NCAA rules after July 1, but a whole lot can take place before then, and if you've been asleep at the wheel until now, it's time to get cracking.

Notwithstanding your son's having e-mailed his reasons for missing a junior day, put yourselves in their shoes. Probably someone else came forward and did what it took to be there, making it easier for them to get to know that kid. Maybe they liked that kid and offered him. Your kid might come across as a well rounded athlete. Others might think he was not fully committed to a future in college baseball, preferring to put his other activities first and not doing what it took to pursue the school's opportunity.

Your son should:

Get linked up with a team heading to the WWBA events in East Cobb and e-mail all the programs he cares about to make sure they know his game schedule while there.

Check out camp opportunities at any schools in which he has strong interest based on academics and baseball as well as any other considerations important to him/you. Camps are expensive and I don't recommend that you do a lot of them, but if you go there with a plan you can often end up having a heart to heart with the head coach or the recruiting assistant or both.

Make sure he's on a fall team playing in fall weekend showcases in your region. And if he skips that to play football, see the comments above.

Many major D-1's get the pick of the litter and as PG indicates, may be close to done lining up the kids who'll sign NLI's in November this year. But many mid-majors tend to wait to see who's still around after that all happens, so there are still lots of opportunities to be had in the next 4 months and beyond. My main concern is that somewhere you got the idea that this all waited until July 1 before it broke loose. Sadly you were misinformed, so you do have to get on your horse at this point.

Monty is being a bit modest here. I dont think his son will be waiting too long for the offers to come in, his son just has to do what is right for him. Although Ive never seen him play, heard Montys son was quite the player. Im sure he will do fine, just a question of what is most important to him and to you as well. Your son will be at all of the big events this summer, so Im sure that he will attract interest from those who dont already know him. As far as the degree of contact goes, son didnt hear from a couple of schools for a bit, and now that their season is over, its like they are back on the recruiting train again. Good luck to you and your son.

Thank you High Cheese for the nice words. My son has a full plate this summer with Tournament of Stars in a few weeks. He can't wait to play against Bryce Harper. Then East Cobb and PG in Ft. Meyers.

Thank all of you for your advice and the more advice the better for us.

Its funny, after I sent out my blog request today, my son got two D-I on campus invites after July 1st and invite by White Sox area scout to Northeast workout -this is crazy.

Want to add a bit to Midlo's comments regarding Fall ball:

Your son needs to decide what is most important. My son had an opportunity to play Fall ball his SR season. I am confident it would have helped his recruiting opportunities.

But he also was a football player, who had played the previous 3 seasons. (FYI, our HS has an outstanding football program). He decided to play football.... and his team won the state championship in 2007.

He was a late signee to play DI college baseball. Again, do I think he would have had better options for college baseball if he had played in the fall.....absolutely! Would my son have traded for having those options and bypassed the football state championship ring.....NO WAY!!!

Your son has to decide what his priorities are, and remember that actions have consequences (good and bad). He just needs to be prepared for either outcome.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

In our case, turning down the first offer would have meant no scholarship to go to college. I'm glad son liked the program.