Official recruiting announcements - 2014

Ohio State had three of them on its roster last fall, and two of the three (Culberton and Morrow) had been at Akron.

I wonder if people call them Goldilocks.

 

Transfer news: Shane Campbell, a left back/left center back, is transferring from Penn State to Louisville. Looking at Louisville's situation, and having seen Shane play a bunch, I think he will probably step in right away and replace Jimmy Ockford at center back (drafted by Sounders). The two were teammates at Reading United this summer in PDL, and I see Shane having no problem stepping right into the starting lineup at Louisville.

The move makes sense for Campbell, he was thrown around way too much this past season because of his versatility (and holes that PSU couldn't find anyone else to fill), and everyone in the stands could see his frustration...as a diehard PSU fan (and ALUM) I hate to see him go...he was very fun to watch, expect to see this kids name a lot in the coming years..

 

Didn't UCLA tweet a few? Anyway, it seems like SD State is among those increasing their foreign contingent with the addition of 3.

 

Sarle must have started school in the fall.

Sarle must have started school in the fall to be eligible for this fall.

Do you lose eligibility or will Sarle have two years left ?

East Coast, West Coast, East Coast ... not sure what's next for Dom.

 

http://unhwildcats.com/sports/msoc/2013-14/releases/20140221b7uwyr?item=0

 

Bruins Announce:

http://www.uclabruins.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30500&ATCLID=209403890

 

Goes to show why official announcements are so important. As recently as last June, TDS was reporting that all of the following players were part of UCLA's class:
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/boys-commitments:-ucla-lands-hs-star_aid28887

Ryo Fujii (now UCSB)
Felipe Liborio (???)
Steve Martinez (???)
Rolando Munoz (???)
Brian Pacheco (???)

Still possible that one or more of the question marks shows up on campus this fall, but that's a hell of a lot of turnover.

 

Word on the street is that UCLA is offering more schollies than it actually has. For example, Chase Gasper was originally a UVA verbal. About 2 months before the signing period, he switched his verbal to UCSB. Then, shortly before the signing period, he switched yet again to UCLA. Apparently, UCLA's late offer came at the expense of Ryo Fujii who got his offer revoked just a day or two before signing day (maybe day of?). Anyway, since quite a few of his Galaxy teammates are heading to UCSB, UCSB quickly offered and signed him. And UCSB had the available scholly because Gasper had bailed on us at the last minute (see above).

I don't know what happened to the other players listed above, but it wouldn't shock me if Salcedo is hoarding recruits and then yanking offers as signing day approaches... or perhaps even delivers the bad news on signing day. I know Fujii discovered that UCLA was pulling his offer at the very, very last minute. Pretty much left him out in the cold.

Like I said, I don't know about the other recruits for sure, but I'm pretty certain I have the Gasper/Fujii situation correct.

If you like, you can follow my twitter timeline from February 6 to see how it unfolded.

Twitter: GauchoSoccer

 

Now I know why west coast teams struggle when they get to the NCAA Tournament. Bad mojo from all the dodgy recruiting practices.

 

As I understand it, this despicable practice is commonplace in top tier NCAA Football.

 

How did you make the leap from UCLA to "west coast schools" based on my post?

Perhaps Vom Steeg engages in the practice, but according to a very recent TDS article, he says that he doesn't, and he acknowledges it may be to UCSB's detriment:

“I’m still very uncomfortable with having conversations with kids and parents and saying certain things and telling them this is the offer and this is what’s on the table, knowing that if everyone did come, you’ve got a problem,” Vom Steeg said. “Over the past two years, it’s created a problem for us at UCSB because I really do have a difficult time recruiting kids off the fact that someone may leave or may not show up. Maybe I’m just slow to the game I guess.”

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/coll...tm_campaign=General_02_03_14&utm_medium=email

I'm not even sure how much UCLA does it, but it did appear to happen to at least one recruit this year.

Collegesoccer, if you have any examples beyond UCLA, I'd be curious to know what other information you have and would like to share.

Personally, I don't have a problem with a 17-18 year old kid changing his mind. They're 17-18 after all. But I think it's wrong for a coach to make a commitment to a kid and not follow through on it. I hold coaches to a much higher standard. Plus, if the practice becomes commonplace and public, it would likely hurt recruiting for that school as its reputation for keeping its word declines.

 

To add to what you've said, the consequences of a player backing out of his commitment simply aren't that great. Every program has churn, and while dealing with it is a significant annoyance for coaches, it's also a part of their job. (The TDS article highlighted Francois, but he was actually lost this past fall due to academics rather than the pros).

In contrast, the consequences of getting a scholarship pulled can really pull the rug out from under a player. Fujii was lucky to have an appealing fallback option on his doorstep, but not every kid is going to be so lucky.

 

Memphis appears to be taking the daily announcement route. For those keeping count from another thread...2 foreign players of 3 announced. 0 in staters.

http://www.gotigersgo.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/022114aaa.html

 

It obviously has everything to do with one reported pulled scholarship in one program and nothing to do with an antiquated selection process that works to the west coast schools detriment.

 

Clearly sarcasm hasn't reached the west coast. Not sure that this year that antiquated process worked to the west coast's detriment.

 

http://ucasports.com/news/2014/2/6/MSOC_0206144713.aspx?path=msoc