Where is the interest?

quote:

My advice is always: don't wait, don't guess, have your player pick up the phone and talk with the coach of the program he is interested in. Be prepared to receive both good news and bad news

RHP, One additional possiblity. You won't get a return call. Like it or not, it happens way more than it seems like it should.
For those who truly believe your son is a DI player and has showcase rankings to support your feelings, he probably is. Unfortunately, DI college recruiting isn't an exact science for players who are not at the elite level.
Many fall through the cracks. Please believe it isn't all that bad that DI coaches have either a different view of your son's ability..or they have no opinion. justbb politely described that no calls and invites is an indication that your son isn't viewed with interest at the DI level or just fell through all those cracks. If that happens, there are plenty of great DII and DIII programs where his talents will be valued and where he can have a terrific experience.
To answer the question posed in this thread, if there isn't interest by this point, there probably isn't at the level you had hoped. We went through the same feelings and process and didn't have the HSBBW to find answers.
It is very hard to accept when your son and his coaches call persistently without any results or responses. But we learned that once you accept it and move beyond it, you will find schools where your son can thrive and where he really is wanted and in the end, it doesnt't matter if it isn't DI.

infielddad,

IMO That is some great advice you are giving.

IMO the proactivity that counts the most, is when they are contacting you.

Not that the other way has never worked. But, If they don't contact you, be prepared for a let down. Or do what infielddad suggests. There is more than one way to climb a mountain.

The music is faster now, and far, far less chairs..................

Find a seat.

I am not sure what the "Elite" level is, but when talking to some schools about other high visibility prospects, there are times where they say that they did not know that the player was interested in their school and got excited when they got in their pipeline and even commit!

Would you consider a player in the top 1000 an elite player?

quote:

Is your son at, or was at, the college he attended because of you being proactive? Or did he end up there because the college was proactive about recruiting him?

It's obviously best to be on the end of having the school be proactive about our sons. I have known kids though that have taken the proactive approach themselves and ended up having very successful careers at very large schools. We have a couple on HSBBW that I'm aware of.

My son and I just talked about this ver topic yesterday because he did, with the exception of one school, talk with only those that came after him. He has a teammate from JUCO that he would love to come to the four year he now attends. The friend told my son over the weekend "they haven't called about me". My son told the friend "call them". Our view on how to handle this has changed since he went through recruiting. Not all schools can know about every player out there and sometimes you have to be willing to put yourself on their radar.

Now, if you're talking about AZ, Nebraska, Stanford, Miss State...... I don't think there's any harm in contacting them, but I also feel certain they pretty much know who they're going after with an A, B, and C list.

If you're a player that's not hearing from anyone, you have no choice but to be proactive!

lafmom,

Good point, that makes a lot of sense.

HR04,

An "elite" player is hard to define. What I might think is an "elite" player,someone else might not. I'd rather think in terms of having the "potential" to be an "elite" player. There are more of them than there are present day "elite" players. And all of those potential elite players don't end up at big DI colleges. (see infielddad post)

quote:

PGStaff - A question for those who have been through this and ended up with a good scholarship offer.

Is your son at, or was at, the college he attended because of you being proactive? Or did he end up there because the college was proactive about recruiting him?

For us, I'd have to say YES & YES ... I'm not sure we'll ever really know what made the difference!

We were pro active.
I advise anyone that pro active is the way to go if the school is not going to see you play. Very important to have a good DVD and you must follow up.
The DVD has to show you can play at a high level. Like a showcase it can make or break you.

You have to be proactive the day you start playing high school ball. Freshman year. Attend camps at different colleges and showcases. Then you have set yourself for the the colleges to be proactive. It pays in the end.

My sons offers came from colleges that saw him at D1 showcases.

Now my next son is a 5'11" Freshman in high school and he is throwing a 76 mph fastball. He will be at all camps and showcases for the next 3 years. Hoepfully improving each year. Hopefully the schools that see him every year contact him later.

[if there isn't interest by this point, there probably isn't at the level you had hoped.]

ouch...but that's kind of where we're at now. This morning I sat with my son as he filled out a college application for one of his "reach" schools. The list of "reach" schools are grown recently. Just the way it goes.

Son recently had a recruiting DVD made. Might generate some interest in schools that we hadn't pursued early on.