Over-Recruiting or OverZealousness

Good post...but (slightly off topic) I doubt the accuracy of the '5.6% play D1' stat.

Over the course of 4 years in high school, there were about 30 different guys on my son's teams. 361 NC high schools x 30 kids = 10800 kids. 5.6% of that would mean that over 600 kids are now playing D1.

My thought is just that the D1 club is more exclusive than 5.6%...more like 1% or so I would think. That is why the D2 or D3 schools ought to be a comfortable option for most kids.

 

A quick check of the High School Baseball Web's webpage suggests that it's ALL NCAA institutions; so, the 5.6% would apply to Divisions I, II, and III. Thanks for keeping me "honest," UK7. Meanwhile, I stand by the essence of my original point.

Link to webpage:

HSBaseballWeb Probaility of Playing College or Pro Ball Page

 

Prepster, your post was already a good read. Your point is dead on. The only reason I mentioned that stat thing was personal. Thanks for that link. Enjoyed it.

 

The 5.6 percent is accurate nationwide... That's for D1,D2 & D3 combined. We in NC are very fortunate. NC has 17 D1 programs. Arizona has 2, Florida has 8, Georgia has 6, Virginia and South Carolina combined have 19. We are very fortunate.

I did some checking earlier. There are about 2,700 freshman slots available at D1 colleges nationwide. There are about 125,000 HS players graduating each year. Nationwide, only 2 in 100 HS players go on to college. In our state, the percentage is higher.

But this means that these colleges in NC are also very attractive to out-of-state players. Some of the All-State players from Vermont, or New York, etc will end up playing down in NC. Just because they come from a cold-weather state, don't think that they can't "play". They are great players and they will be also working hard to get their shot on the field.

College ball requires dedication, commitment and lots of hard work. You must go into it with the same attitude that you did in your freshman year of HS. That you will work hard to prove yourself. If you go into it with an attitude that you've already proven yourself, you will likely be disappointed.

Do you're homework, study the roster, look at past signing classes. Is the college over-loaded at your position? Did they just bring in a top player the year before at your position? If so, playing time may be hard to come by for awhile. If you are a pitcher, look at the innings pitched by the staff. Are they concentrated in a small number of players or are the spread out throughout the staff? This will give you an indication of the coaching style and the number of chances you will receive.

Look at the number of JuCo transfers. JuCo transfers are normally done to fill in the holes in freshman recruiting. Bringing in a JuCo player the year before at your position isn't necessarily a negative. It could be read as the position may be available within a year, depending upon the draft.

The 5.6 percent doesn't cover NAIA (2 colleges play NAIA in NC) or the JuCo's. JuCo ball is prevalent in NC, but SC only has 3 colleges playing JuCo ball. FDTech started their program only 2 years ago and is still maturing.

 

To compound that, many D1 Colleges do not fully fund their allotment of baseball scholarships...

 

The NCAA is reviewing baseball scholarships finally. Currently, this is just in the baseball committee and the work is being done for the D1 programs.

Two proposals are being studied and nothing has come out of committee and nothing is in the legislative cycle yet (that also takes years).

1. Increase the number of scholarships in D1 from 11.7 to about 14.

2. Increase the number of scholarships to 27 and restrict them to tuition, fees and books. Do not allow scholarships to be split. Do not include housing and food in the scholarships. This is based on the D1 average of 26.8 players on the average D1 team receiving some type of athletic award.

Proposal #1 won't have a huge effect. Many schools won't fully fund the slots anyway.

Proposal #2 is different. It's designed to balance the recruiting between the big boys and the mid-majors. Everyone would be on an equal playing field in terms of money and the difference being "sold" to the players would be in the school, academics, etc. Because of that, I expect that it will receive too much opposition, but it's still intriguing.

 

I won't mention the name of the school or Coach, but in a recent candid conversation with a coaching friend he mentioned how the program had been asked to increase the number of incoming freshman they brought in so that the team roster size in the Fall rose from 32 to 45 players. The facts are they know that many of these kids won't end up making the team.

When asked as to how many of those freshman players they were really counting on he said 12 -13. The reality is that small programs also use their athletic programs as recruiting programs for the school in general with no real expectation that those kids will play. How much of your offer is non-athletic aid?

Be careful about future promises -- It has already been said quite well by several people.

#1 go to the school because it is a school you would attend if sports ceased to exist. Make sure it is the school, not the coach you're picking (they do take other jobs). Have a long talk about the reality of playing time at the different levels, those schools do already have some pretty good players and yes your child will be competing for maybe the first time in their career.

 

:fan_wave2

VERY GOOD THREAD...

Sometimes you make what seems to be a good decision until your already enrolled in a program and its to late to back out.
Then your all of a sudden 1 year maybe more behind your class.
It takes alot of dedication and hard work to get back that lost time not only on the field athletically (is that a word ?) but also trusting in your new coaching staff and program.
I asked a few extra questions this time and now i think my son has a greater chance to achieve some of his goals .
At least we feel more positive about his future and more trusting in his current coaching staff than before.

 

Am I reading this right? Is this for baseball? How many players are on the final roster when 32 to 45 freshmen are brought in? What kind of promises could possibly be made to these guys? I've never seen numbers like this. Forgive me if I'm missing something here.

 

RedBear GOOD CATCH

You read it right - I wrote it wrong, what I should have said after reading your post was.

"I won't mention the name of the school or Coach, but in a recent candid conversation with a coaching friend he mentioned how the program had been asked to increase the number of incoming freshman they brought in so that the team roster size in the Fall rose from 32 to 45 players. The facts are they know that many of these kids won't end up making the team."