Over-Recruiting or OverZealousness

Numbers

 

jhbaseball, good post. Your right on the money.

Also let's not forget those situations where an incoming freshmen has performed during the fall and has seen where his competition is for playing time. Then when he gets back to school in January there are a couple of JUCOS or transfers that have enrolled over the holidays. Not sure if any player can get a "warm and fuzzy" feeling at any time in his college career.

 

Apparently alot of kids are paying their own way to schools like Charl. Southern. Not enough grants to fund everybody's way. So a kid who comes for free is just asking to be disappointed. I can't lay that at the coach's feet.

 

Yes, but South Carolina has a recruiting advantage over the schools in NC. Most of their in-state recruits receive "hope scholarships" from the lottery monies. It doesn't cost the schools any money at all to bring these kids in. That's why a school like USC can bring in 25+ recruits each year and spend their athletic money on out of state recruits.

 

How much $$ does each kid get? Does he have to play baseball or is this offered to all students? I suspect it must be that way. Otherwise the NCAA wouldn't permit baseball program to have an advantage over other states, would they?

 

It's offered to all students (in-state) and there are some guidelines and restrictions, like maintaining a 3.0 GPA. There are other states that participate in like program, Georgia for example. Again through the benefit of their lottery program.

Schools throughout the NCAA are crying "foul" in this recruiting practice.

 

South Carolina HOPE Scholarship
The South Carolina HOPE Scholarship is currently $2650 per year for a maximum of one year.

The South Carolina HOPE Scholarship is for incoming freshmen with a 3.00 GPA on a 4.00 Grading Scale who did not receive the LIFE Scholarship or Palmetto Fellows. A student must be a legal resident of the State of South Carolina that graduated from high school in S.C.; or successfully completed a home school program as prescribed by law; or graduated from a preparatory high school outside S.C., while a dependent of a parent or guardian who is a legal resident of this State and has custody of the dependent, and must meet residency requirements for tuition & fees purposes. The student must be full time at an accredited SC college, which is 12 credit hours or more. The student must read the Terms and Conditions and accept the award via Cougar Trail.

The HOPE Scholarship is for the freshman year only. Students may gain eligibility to receive the South Carolina LIFE Scholarship beginning in their second year. See the LIFE Scholarship below for more information.

Additional information about the S.C. HOPE scholarship can be accessed through the SC Commission on Higher Education's website.


South Carolina LIFE Scholarship
The South Carolina LIFE Scholarship is currently $5000 per year for a maximum of four years.

General Eligibility
A student must be a legal resident of the State of South Carolina that graduated from high school in S.C.; or successfully completed a home school program as prescribed by law; or graduated from a preparatory high school outside S.C., while a dependent of a parent or guardian who is a legal resident of this State and has custody of the dependent, and must meet residency requirements for tuition & fees purposes. A student must be full time at an accredited SC college, which is 12 credit hours or more. A student cannot receive a LIFE Scholarship and the Palmetto Fellows.

Freshmen Eligibility
To receive a LIFE Scholarship, an entering freshman must meet two of the three eligibility requirements:
Score 1100 on the SAT or 24 on the ACT
Graduate High School with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 Grading Scale
Rank in the top 30% of graduating class
Continuing Student Eligibility
Minimum GPA of 3.0 on 4.0 scale*; and
The completion of a cumulative average of 30 credit hours per year that has past after the student's first enrollment in college. This means 60 credits after the second year and 90 credits after the third

 

Many of these posts seem to discourage a player from taking that offer from the Big U. " Be realistic" "Be aware" " Do your homework" etc. etc. I agree you have to do all of the above. I also believe that if you have confidence in your ability and an exceptional work ethic that you should reach for the highest rung on the ladder that you can achieve. If you turn down that offer from Miami {just an example} for fear of playing time, you will always regret it. When you are my age you will always wonder if you could have played on the big stage, and all of those fears and doubts will seem so petty. Will it be competitve, absolutely. News flash, it will be competitive everywhere you go.You will have to bleed to crack anybodys line-up. There is just that many good players that want to play college baseball.
I dont condone blatant over recruiting. Its not hard to tell who these coaches are. When you press these coaches on this subject they will quickly start talking about how all of this talent helps the program. They are so focused on the program that many young mens careers become collateral damage. Once a player feels he is not the victim of over recruiting then my advice is play at the highest level possible. Go and compete, make your mark and never look back.

 

You are right

Yeah, I agree ss05... No question that kids should shoot for the highest goal possible. I think that this post was started with the idea of an alternative in mind. My posts weren't geared toward discouraging the thought of going to a high level division I school. I think that is every kids ultimate dream. What we got were responses and opinions on what to do if, or what to do before hand, while also watching for some red flags. We also stated that; yes, there will be competition everywhere. My posts were an opinion I have on taking a smaller school and making it what you want to become. I think that we saw some very good players making the choice to go to some smaller schools last year. Here are a few:

Blake Ketner-Catawba College
Tom Porter-Elon
TJ Worrell-Lenoir Rhyne
Brett Shore-Davidson
Andrew Morton-Belmont Abbey
Ryan Allred-Pfeiffer
Eric Lovett-Mt. Olive
Josh Drewery-Gardner Webb
The whole App State class went with the idea in mind that they were going to turn that program around (I guarantee it)

Just a few names... and not all of the legitimate players that went to smaller schools that could in some way help those schools make a big jump. Yes, it is ok to go to that smaller school and help them make a jump.

 

Other notables who were 2005 NCBCA All-State picks going to D2 are

David Bumgarner - Lenoir Rhyne
Ryan Caldwell - Lenoir Rhyne
Josh Strickland- Pfeiffer