This is your one stop shop for all things related to recruiting. I was looking over some of the commitment lists and I noticed UCLA has 8 commits for the '19 class and 12 for the '20 class! That is a total of 20 girls in just two classes. What is the world is going on?
Have you seen this?? This could be the start of major change. Paid/Official Visits move up but It looks like no talk at camps and no talk at unofficial visits before 9/1 of Jr Year BUT only softball and WLax prohibit phone calls. So in soccer you'll still get "appointment" phone calls set up through club coaches so assume still verbal commits from 9th/10th graders even though you can't talk in person at all. Going to be interesting. There will be a flurry of ID camps and visits right before this goes into effect for sure. I like this change but wish the date was June 15 or July 1 so kids could use the summer after Soph year to still do visits/camps rather than disrupt the school year and fall season. http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/ar...ges-recruiting-calendar-most-student-athletes The NCAA Division I Council has passed new rules that will push the recruiting calendar back for most prospective student-athletes. Under the new rules, approved this week in Indianapolis for all sports other than football and men's and women's basketball, Sept. 1 of a prospective student-athlete's junior year of high school is the key date. That is the date official visits can begin, instead of the first day of classes for senior year. Additionally, athletics departments can't participate in a recruit's unofficial visit until Sept. 1 of the recruit's junior year in high school, and recruiting conversations during a school's camp or clinic can't happen before Sept. 1 of the junior year. Softball coaches, in particular, had been vocal in their support of the rules change. Nearly half of Division I softball players received a scholarship offer in or before the 10th grade, according to NCAA Research, and softball has the most student-athletes who commit to a college as ninth-graders or younger. Softball-specific rules, which prevent phone calls between coaches and recruits until Sept. 1 of the prospective student-athlete's junior year and allow off-campus recruiting contact to begin the same date, also were passed and go into effect immediately. The changes were requested by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, and they align with similar changes that were adopted in lacrosse last year. "Thank you to our coaches for being the driving force behind the change and to the NCAA for voting to pass this impactful legislation," National Fastpitch Coaches Association executive director Carol Bruggeman said on NFCA.org. "The real winners are the softball prospective student-athletes, who can now make informed college decisions at an age-appropriate time." The new rule regarding official visits goes into effect Aug. 1. The new rule for unofficial visits is effective immediately. The council action isn't considered final until the board meeting closes April 25.
Agree that the no-talk until 9/1 rule is too late, given that college camps are held in the summer. After 9/1 everybody is playing. Should move that date up to the summer preceding junior year, IMO.
It's not like the Academic Requirements are tough at all and they can't all be getting money... so, weird-- as they seem to be over-recruiting. Should a lot of these girls mysteriously not get accepted, it will be clear that UCLA is adapting the Stanford strategy...
Recruit lots of National Team players at the same position, and despite coaches and admissions monitoring their grades along the way, voila, some don't get in. Basically over-recruit, keep players off the competitive market, then only admit the blue chippers you really like and leave the rest scrambling. Solely my opinion though. Stanford is a great team regardless.
Great take and it's exactly right...but for more then just Stanford. UNC is the main culprit on the East coast. But club coaches and parents don't care and kids don't do their homework. They all want status for their clubs, kids and themselves. All sides are guilty and it will lead to a lot of de-commits the next few years.
This new legislation affecting prospects and college coaches. I like the premise to stop early recruiting. Hope this works to end the idiocy of recruiting ninth and eighth graders https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/col...adopts-new-di-recruiting-legislation_aid44042
It doesn't change early offers, phone calls, and commitments. It is cosmetic but not much teeth to it to stop early recruiting.
Totally agree with this, but supposedly the next legislation in the pipeline is going to ban calls to club coaches (and high school though that is less important in wsoc). The only contact available then will be at camps. There was also legislation on the table to ban non-institutional camps such as club combines, recruiting service camps, etc. basically the only way to host a camp would be on your college campus, sponsored by your school, but it seems unlikely to pass or didn’t pass...we will see.
I posted about this (#2). Could mean more than we think. Apparently, starting this weekend, a current Soph, or younger, cannot do a campus visit and talk to a coach. No face to face interaction allowed on a visit. Same policy for camps beginning this summer. No more come early/stay late and we'll talk (again, apparently). Enforcement is always an issue but these coaches usually rat each other out if there are clear offenders. The appointment phone calling will continue but will kids still commit before Jr Year if they can only do a camp and call the coach? How many? Since they can now pay to bring the player to campus Sept 1, won't plenty of kids just wait and do a paid weekend visit in their Jr year? Will be interesting to see how coaches and conferences react to this. Since softball and lacrosse cannot even do early phone calls, folks will have their antenna up for sure.
Saw your earlier post Eddie K, sorry for missing that. Going to be interesting to see how this all pans out. I think the intent of the rule is good. Whatever can be done to slow down early recruiting. I cannot imagine a parent allowing their daughter or a club coach allowing their player to commit to a program without meeting the coach and seeing the campus. For now that means any urgent sophomores who haven’t visited schools yet will probably now have to wait until September 1 when they can actually speak to a coach in person. I would suspect the power conferences may have a good number of 2020 grads locked up but many more are available for the other programs. The current 2021 freshmen will be the first whole group in entirety that will really see the effects of this rule first. They will be the ones with no visits for the next 15 months unless it they just come to see the campus on their own and no talk with the coaches. September will be a crazy month for paid official visits as long as the prospects have registered with the Eligibility Center and taken a standardized by that time which is necessary for an official visit. This article sums it up well. My question is what happens if a kid just shows up at the coach’s office? Are they supposed to turn them away? https://www.soccerwire.com/blog-pos...-change-the-official-visit-is-relevant-again/
My question is what will these changes due to a programs budget? They most run on a shoestring and official visits are traditionally senior year with all the commits as a team building thing. Are coaches going to spend money to bring in a kid to recruit them not knowing what’s up?
They ought to let kids visit during the summer before their junior year--and talk to the coaches. What's the harm in that?
From an outsider's perspective: these rules have the remarkable ability to be too restrictive yet also not go far enough to make any real changes. Well done NCAA, that's impressive. Taking away unofficial visits is stupid. Stopping by campuses on family trips or around summer tourneys was a big part in seeing schools and talking to coaches. Very helpful to get a feel for a fit. So now a family is in City A for a wedding and wants to stop by the two local univ to meet the coaches and walk thru athletic facilities with them. Nope. Thanks NCAA. Yet, at the same time, college coaches can be reaching out to club coaches (yay) to "have so and so call me" (just like is happening now). So we still gave power and influence to the club coaches to be the middlemen (a job they are really good at. sarcasm font). So my kid can call a coach on the phone, just not go meet with them face to face? Why not eliminate all contact and all financial offers until a set date? Allowing phone calls and yet no visits is just bizarre. And official contact and visits can start Mid soccer season? So right as colleges are starting games and traveling and all that they should be reaching out to kids and setting up visits? That rule works for softball, A SPRING SPORT, but seems stupid for soccer. Why not move it to June 1 of sophomore year so kids have all summer to take visits, or at least get some scheduled for the fall in advance of school events, homecoming etc etc etc, as well as use that time for unofficials around family trips and soccer tourneys. I swear I'd love to meet these NCAA people. Do they not have kids themselves or understand what is happening? I hope kids don't decide via phone calls and club coaches passing messages back and forth. The big name sweatshirt schools will win out and not the schools where it might be a better fit once recruits meet with a coaching staff/sees somewhere they might not have considered at first. Will be interesting to watch.
Kids will still go to camps to see facilities and meet coaches. College coaches will simply wait to have the recruiting conversations until they are around a club coach and can still get by with that loophole, until it’s closed. ID camps will remain prevelant and provide everything an unofficial visit does except the recruiting convo, which they’ll simply have through their club coach. I don’t buy the argument that these rules Are restrictive to PSAs and their families at all...unless your work advocating all PSA’s regardless of age should be treated the same. I also don’t buy that the start date is a bad idea for the school so or the PSAs. Kids now can take an official (or unofficial) during their junior year on an game weekend, see a match and a spend The night/more time with the team and have more access as a junior rather than having to do so unofficially. As a college coach i have no sympathy or don’t feel ar all bad that the start date for recruiting is during season....come on. Most of these visits will be set up through club coaches as soon as the home schedule comes out. Acting like it’s somehow unfair to fall sports or coaches because it’s too time consuming or something is a massive reach. Recruiting is the life blood of any program, I’m sure coaches will SOMEHOW find the time to do it during season. Oh wait, they already do. I do share your sentiment about hoping PSAs wait but I think these rules fall massively short of invoking any real change...too big of an advantage is gained by using loopholes or too massive an advantage forfeited by playing by the rules. First step in the right direction, maybe, but long ways to go. I hope they regulate further and ramp up punishment and enforcement but it’s the NCAA, so not worth getting hopes up.
You can walk ono a campus when you want. You can talk to admissions. You can talk to financial aid. You can talk to student services.You can talk to professors. You just can’t talk to the athletic staff.
I agree that the ID camps can somewhat fill in for unofficial visits to tour the athletic facilities. But that means the athletes have to pay for the ID camp to get that opportunity. There is already enough expense on these families.
I agree. The ID camps are expensive. However if one simply wants a tour of the campus and facilities, while planning a vacation or are nearby for a soccer related event, one can set up a tour with admissions. My child recently set up visits in conjunction with ID camps (usually the Friday visit and weekend camp) because she wanted to get a feel for the coaching style. She however was at the point of receiving offers from those schools. We learned not to go on an expensive visit unless the coach was at the offer point. First visit the coach gave us the "have to see her more" speech (maybe translated into we want to see if she will get bigger) after we flew and took a day off work/school. After that her club coach intermediary tested the waters to assure us that they were ready to extend a substantial offer before we left for a campus. This is a topic with which I have direct experience. I think they should do everything possible to quash the early recruiting. It is damaging both ways. Every year there are kids transferring because they over reached based on early success and conversely some late bloomers who transfer up. Mine under consideration was a late bloomer. Has grown 7 inches so far in high school (probably has at least another inch). Yes unusual, but still normal, growth pattern for a girl. She got some interest early and began talking and even visiting lower to mid level P5s in 9th grade, but as a 9th grader did hear "too small" from several top 10 Schools. She was under 5' when she started high school (grew 4 inches freshmen year) and weighed less than 100 pounds. she was obviously a late bloomer and not destined to be small, but many top coaches had other bigger and then faster kids, to entertain their ridiculously early offers. We encouraged that child to wait. She fought us because the process is stressful and exhausting and she just wanted it to end. We insisted she wait admittedly in part because she was changing so much as a player, but also so she could decide what she was looking for in a school. At first it was all about the soccer. Then as she matured the school emerged a bit in her consideration. She actually lost a few offers because she waited. Did it turn out? Honestly we can't know until she goes. There is no advantage to anyone in today's early recruitment. The NCAA should just come down hard on it and it would make everyone happier. It would also be interesting to track transfers to see if they went down after any real changes are enacted. I don't think those currently in place for soccer will significantly impact the process. The work arounds are too easy and obvious. If anything the rules will likely force kids into making just as early decisions with even less information.
It is almost time for the season to begin. Who are some of the top impact freshmen we should be excited to see?
F Sophia Smith - Stanford D Noami Girma - Stanford M Briana Pinto - UNC M/F Jaelin Howell - FSU M/F Alexa Spaanstra - Virgina F Ashlynn Serepca - Virginia F Summer Yates - Washington D Shae Holmes - Washington F Jordan Brewster - WVU D Madelyn Desiano - UCLA F Allison Schlegel - PSU M Mackenzie Pluck - Duke
I assume FSU fans know about the U17 Bermudian international picked up for 2019? Leilanni Nesbeth apparently made a splash at the CONCACAF finals in Florida and Mark was apparently first in line. Nesbeth is living and training in England. My impression is that she has great potential as an outstanding athlete and certainly was the standout on her Bermuda U17 team, and her recruiting is probably about development over the next year or two to make an impact at FSU. Cheers!