New thread to get a little more specific and away from TONS of bad news right now. Okay, this is not good news either but.... D1 Dead Period extended again. At least this time they actually admit it's all about protecting P5 Football (and April 15th also means Basketball). Tons of takes here so I'll let you folks explore but a few questions. - Are coaches being honest about, or even realizing themselves, the impact of holdover players? Basically, fitting 4.5 or so years worth of players into a 4 year budget - that may not even be the same budget! - Are players going to be okay choosing a school/accepting an offer without an in-person visit or evaluation? This goes both ways - coaches doing video-only evaluations and players choosing schools via Zoom and 'virtual tours" My fear is that lots of players (mostly 22s of course, any 21s still out there are toast) are going to take a 'wait and see' approach and then realize come Spring time, there's not the roster room or money out there that they thought. I think lots of coaches will now say, "this is how it is so let's get our kids". Waiting for April 15 means even IF there's a Spring college season, it will be over by then! So seeing players play and train on campus will not happen this year in D1. So, there could be lots of good 2022s out there in the summer but are there going to be roster slots and money for them? Could be very risky waiting. Recruiting dead period in all sports extended by DI Council Pandemic prompts extension until April 15 http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources...ng-dead-period-all-sports-extended-di-council
My daughter is in this predicament as we speak. She is a senior, class of 2021. Everything shut down last March so all the showcases and games were canceled which means no playing in front of coaches, no ID camps, no video to get of games. It has killed the 2021 class who were not committed already. Coaches going off purely game highlights and make offers may not be happy with the player/person they actually get. My daughter is speaking with D1 and D2 coaches. D2 coaches have been at games and showcases recently but D1 only get game footage and nothing in person. One school is having 8 of their 9 seniors come back for extra year. One doesn’t have an answer on how many are coming back yet says depending on if they actually play in the spring or not. Now we can only do admission tours at D1 schools and can’t be shown soccer facilities by any of coaching staff. Question I have right now is can players show recruits around the dorms, soccer facilities, weight room etc? We are in full recruitment mode with D2 schools as obviously the ncaa knows their coaches can’t catch COVID but the D1 coaches can, makes no freaking sense. The 2022’s are in as bad of shape too, maybe worse as coaches have to now wait and see if seniors or juniors will accept another year.
The folks running this twitter account are anonymous so never know what is really the 'truth'. Oh wait, so is everyone on BS here One of them is probably reading this too but I did think this one was interesting. I do feel terrible for the 2021s who seem stuck. It's like college sports has been frozen in time but the players keep on coming. And the transfer portal is buzzing. I see 341 entries for the current year since Aug. There are very good players in there too. (and the reasoning D1 stayed in a dead period is to protect their 'active' athletes in football and then basketball. That makes some sense I guess but it really makes no sense for schools that don't sponsor football or choose not the play football in the fall.) DM: Club Coach is telling us the 2021’s still have plenty of time for D1. A lot of good ECNL and GA kids still available. #CSTruth Sounds like a club coach that still wants their club fees coming in instead of being honest with their kids to look at other levels.— College Soccer Truth ™ (@ImCollegeSoccer) November 21, 2020
Funny! Sad! Made me think of this funny picture/meme. Well, thank goodness the virus can’t move sideways. 434 Comments 94% Upvoted
This is a real thing. Got to love the law of unintended consequences. Like any compromise it spreads the hurt and the rewards around but it is going to effect a lot of people in a lot of different ways. College soccer has always been hard and it just got harder. 1. Current college seniors- Most are already set to graduate and have to make the decision whether to A. Come back for a semester that they don't really need and will cost them some money or B. Have their last year be messed or or in some cases non-existent (Also have to figure out whether the program wants them back) 2. Current College Juniors- Probably the least effected. Are already established enough they will be ok soccer wise and scholarship wise and have enough time to adjust their academic plans if they want to come back. 3. Current College Sophomores- I'm worried about this class. They get ripped off in some subtle ways with this. a. Developmentally they lost the spring or their freshman year which is a big "prove yourself time" if you didn't get a ton of minutes as a freshman. b. In addition to this they didn't get the advantage of having experience over this years freshman class. 3 months of training is a big deal and might really pay off for this years freshman. c. Many of them will find scholarship increases that may have normally been expected hard to come by as programs work to accommodate their juniors and seniors. I'm worried that the current sophomore class will end up being a "lost class" in a lot of ways across college soccer. 4. Current College freshman- They do ok. a. They are the only class in history that got to train before their freshman year. (For most conferences) b. They will get hurt a little as players that they naturally assumed would move out of their way decide to stay for another year making it harder to get on the field and get potential scholarship increases. 5. Class of 2021- a. May have had their offers reduced cancelled. b. Will find playing time much harder to come by as rosters are inflated with older players. c. For players that are still looking it is very difficult to find spots as 1. Rosters are inflated 2. Some schools that need players opt for a "rental" 5th year player that has an extra year 3. Division one coaches can't see anyone play in person until April 6. Class of 2022- a. Will see much smaller recruiting classes as schools try to get the rosters back under control. b. With that knowledge may be put in a situation where they have to choose to take the option they have in front of them even if they haven't visited or checked all of their boxes. c. Will have to adjust their recruiting timelines later and later (This may be a good thing actually) It probably isn't worth it from a "life" perspective but if I'm a 2022 and I really want to maximize college soccer, I wonder if make the decision to put myself in the 2023 class. Graduate on time. With the new age groups most can play u19 soccer. Get a job, make some money, play club soccer and take 9 credits at the local JC to get a head start. Might be a lot more spots in 2023 than in 2022? Mitigating factors/good news: So that was somewhat depressing so a few positive things. 1. There will still be more 2021 spots available than people think. The majority of division one teams haven't played yet this fall. If they are able to play this spring that will lead to players not getting playing time and deciding to move on. I think you will see more kids leaving programs at the end of the spring than in a normal year because the season will be played then. It is a tough thing to do if you are a 2021 recruit but the play might be to wait until the end of the spring and see who is scrambling. 2. These rosters will correct themselves fairly soon. They are inflated for a few reasons. Players that aren't playing and aren't on money to justify staying will still move on which will self correct the problem quicker than people think 3. Between soccer being reclassified to mid tier risk and the news of vaccines out on the horizon there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The light may be 6-9 months away but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
@Sophos made a good effort here. Appreciate that. I agree with much of your post except the part about taking a gap year and staying back. I'm usually suggesting students stay on schedule and keep earning credits and keep playing at the highest level possible. Very many are starting college with lots of credits already through AP and local colleges pushing credits into the HS system. Often, some of those gap year credits won't be very rigorous or as valuable as at the 4-year college. There is a big catch here too about college admissions- very many do not admit or give the same academic scholarships to transfers as they do first time students. Staying part-time keeps your eligibility but as soon as you earn 15 or more credits at another school, you're a transfer. Sometimes a trade-off may be it's easier to gain admission but not as much money available. Do your research on that. College coaches should know that. On the soccer side, I can't tell you how many kids I've seen take a 'year off' for whatever reason from club or college and they don't come back the same. So much can change in those years and months. If that delayed start or gap year were to be an option, then a couple things are very helpful - that the player is in the younger half of the year, like current freshman BY 2002 can still play U19, AND the club or a club in your area is going to be training that Senior group at a high level. A really good U19 club year, basically staying back with your teammates in the younger half of the birth year, could be something to consider. The GA just put out a listing of uncommitted 2021 grades. About 140 names and you know they didn't get them all. The ecnl has a list too I'm sure in advance of their SC event. Going to be a tough year for 2021s. Some looking at their 4th/5th schools and still not getting anywhere. Waiting around for the spring to see what happens is so risky. Lots of transfers won't be getting what they expect either. If I have a top heavy team with some hold-over players, why do I want more of them? I'm trying to make more room for 2021 and 2022 players, not less. The top 5-10% of transfers will find a home, they always do, but many of the rest will not.
Honestly I mainly agree with you. Was just trying to figure out any ideas to mitigate it for these kids. I think waiting the year is an option but for a very small select group of kids. The vast vast majority of the players will be in a situation where they should graduate and start school the next fall. Either because it makes sense for them athletically, academically, socially or all three.
Every situation is unique with different options across the country of course. For example, if you happen to have good JuCos in your area that have good soccer and are a frequent stop over for players before they go on to 4-year schools, that's a big option. That was once the case in my area, but not so much anymore. The JuCos are there but the commitment to sports, not so much. I've just heard and read alot about the 'gap year' idea during this pandemic and there are some serious things to be cautious about. Some schools will admit you and honor your academic scholarship until the Spring semester but not the following fall. So called "deferred admissions" some schools do it all the time but by the following Fall, you're then competing with a new group of HS graduates. I had a conversation with some admissions folks about this very recently. A student had enrolled full time at a 4-year school but after 3 weeks, she came home. Just because she enrolled at that school, the 2nd school would consider her a transfer for academic scholarships, not as new student. So good student admitted no problem but her academic award as a transfer will be less than half what it would have been as a new-student. (I think the 2nd school's policy was wrong btw, esp in this unique year.) Just saying to know as many facts as you can. Sometimes deferring participation is called 'gray shirting'. More common in football. The student gains admission for Fall, and might even enroll in the Fall but would start their active participation in soccer in the Spring. I know there are college soccer coaches considering this. So, they could offer a half-year of support to hold-over Senior players in the Fall 21 season but then be able to support the incoming 21 HS grads starting spring of 2022. Tricky but there will be some creative things out there for sure.
National League postponed both of their December showcases (North Carolina and Tampa Bay). Kind of surprised that the Raleigh showcase and Indianapolis showcases are still happening this weekend.
I am surprised too. I’m sure some individual teams have backed out because of travel bans or what not. I thought Raleigh and Greer would have been canceled but hopefully everyone stays safe anyway.
I checked and it looks like NC does not have any travel restrictions I could find. Neither does Florida btw. So, that leaves it to the team's departing State and comfort/risk level of the players and families I guess. The ECNL event is league only I believe and I'd guess teams feel obligated to go if they had already committed. Is it possible the canceled USYSA event could actually help NCFC fill in some gaps in their schedule? I know that schedule is not accurate presently so they are working on it.
Our team told our club leadership we weren't going down 4 weeks back, but I know other teams from our club were signed up and planned on going until the postponement announcement. They had air far, lodging, time off work, etc... and Greensborough isn't too bad of a drive to Raleigh. I would be shocked if some of them didn't decide to try for a last minute switch to the NCFC event.
My daughters club is headed to Greer this weekend for ECNL event masks are to be worn by everyone when at event and players while on sideline. My niece just informed me they are headed to Raleigh for CASL and were told they have to wear a mask even while playing! That part seems absurd to me and I’m sure they will probably be wearing them like chinstraps.
I’ve seen some players indoor playing wearing masks. Thought it was ridiculous, making it hard to breath.
Michigan has had that rule in place all Fall for High School and Club. We had some Illinois teams refuse to come play us because of the rule, and we ended up driving 2/12 hours to a neutral site in Indiana to play 2 home games as a result.
Good news for her! I could make several good D2 or even mid-major D1 teams out of uncommitted 2021s right now. I was at the NCFC event and the wearing of masks while playing was a bit ridiculous. Many players did not keep their mask up or could not. I would say generally it did not affect evaluations of players too much but brings the level down a bit. Saw many kids stop running to mess with their mask or just bend over to recover from a run with it off their face. I didn't make it to Greer but was at another event this past weekend w/o the mask requirement and it was just a better environment. The vaccine news is great but covid is still raging and school aged players wont be getting it until the late spring/summer. I personally do not feel good about early Spring recruiting or college soccer. Everyone is watching basketball and even in the top conferences, it's a mess so far. But hey, if you're willing and able to go to Florida, I was just there and they don't seem to care much about this virus. I've decided not to go back to the other events there but if you do, be cautious.
I have a few places in Florida in the upper panhandle around the Navarre Beach/Santa Rosa Island area. My wife and I usually go down in the fall for a long weekend but we had no desire to this year. It's a cesspool. I thought that I would take a beating on rentals this year but really did not lose much income. I was told that the beaches pretty full and not a lot of people were being cautious. I just don't get it. I need to fly for work every now and then but I have vastly decreased that due to virtual meetings. I will not fly more than I need to and if these covid times have taught me one thing, it's shown that there are multiple ways that I can reduce business expenses. I will continue to implement a lot of this even after we get back to normalacy and I suspect that many businesses will do likewise.
The D1 Recruiting Dead Period extended AGAIN and I still don't really get it. Virus metrics are improving in like 47 States right now. I guess they seem to be saying "let's just keep recruits and families off campus until the students all leave for the summer" Or is it that some schools are "more open" than others and somehow that's not fair so screw everyone else? Shouldn't those schools that have managed the virus well be able to be rewarded with visits and off-campus recruiting? Apparently not. Going to make for a busy summer and even more anxiety for many 2022s still hopeful until they finally find out the roster is full, or they'll get less or no money and be on a huge roster. Division I Council extends recruiting dead period through May 31: https://t.co/B89I052c1z pic.twitter.com/eRLyILmMkL— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) February 17, 2021
It may have more to do with the fact that different states have different rules on campus population that how different schools have dealt with Covid. this automatically would lead to an unfair/unequal playing field in recruiting. The whole concept of recruiting rules is a level recruiting opportunity.
Nope. That cannot be it. The NCAA has allowed Division 2 and 3 schools to recruit for months. It therefore has nothing to due with safety or different state rules. It looks more like DI schools want to save money this year. I cannot see any other reason why DI is being treated so differently than the other divisions.
That is correct. D2s and D3s in same states and sometimes same counties as D1s have been having visits and coaches out recruiting for months now. Plenty of D1s are having modified admissions campus tours but have to literally avoid athletics and coaches if athletes are in the tour. Managing camps is a bit more work and risk but that's happening at some D2s and 3s for sure and clubs are certainly still hosting ID clinics just without D1 coaches in person attendance. So many things about covid are depending on or deferential to the "local conditions and heath professionals" but Not NCAA D1 recruiting. Is this really all about the CBS basketball money? There is a huge message(myth) out there that D1 coaches are going to suddenly be out looking for new prospects and have scholarship money to spend for 2022s when this dead period is over. Some still think there are 2021 spots available. Here's a tip - If you are a 2022 graduate and you have not had extensive email exchanges, phone calls, and Zoom tours and meetings with current players at a school, you are NOT on that coaches "A" list. You may not even be on their "B" list. So you better be asking the tough questions and pulling a big reversal on the coach- give THEM a deadline to get back to you about their roster status and be ready to move on the next school. I would also suggest you have a much longer list or range of schools you would consider - conference, division, distance from home, be way more open minded, or be ready to be player #40 on the roster without any money as a 'walk on'. Yes, this stinks. Current players will be staying over for another Fall season for the next 2-3 years and squeezing roster space and budgets. Adapt if you want to be happy playing college soccer.
Thanks for your insight. My kid is a 2021 signed to play D1 this fall. I'm not sure how many seniors are staying or what her freshman year will be like, but she's lucky to have to opportunity to compete and for that I am very thankful. The recruiting path for many is brutal unless you are a top 100 prospect and have your choice of top programs. Covid has made that even worse. My heart goes out to the kids that have spent 10+ years in youth soccer hoping for a chance to play college soccer and right when they need to be seen the most, everything just shuts down. The NCAA hasn't helped with their dead period extensions for just D1 either. It's just a messed up situation all around.
Some news - Confirmed that June 1, D1 coaches are back to a regular recruiting calendar. Interesting (and stupid, ihmo) that since May 31 is Memorial Day, they couldn't have just said May 15 or 25? The PDA tourney and other Memorial Day events are just less relevant now. June/July events will be more of a buzz for sure and expect a flurry of June ID camps and folks trying to make money from the recruiting "rush". But I would not expect that there will be anything close to the number of roster spots and scholarships available out there that many think. I've heard club coaches say out load that they think D1 coaches are going to run out to watch kids and have money to spend June 1. Not quite going to happen that way. I wonder how many college coaches will say upfront how many spots they have available on their team for Fall 21 or 22 BEFORE those kids sign up for camp? How many kids will ask those questions before they pay? One of the biggest BS lines in college recruiting is that "we have one spot left". As they cash the 60-70 checks from an ID camp. The ID/Prospect camp business is all about buyer beware. I just looked and there are about 80 new kids in the transfer portal just this week. Many from P5s and other 'good' soccer schools. More underclass students as well but still many looking for 5th year opportunities. Nearly the same total number as last year but this year is far from over. Will be interesting to see where in the world all these kids are going to find roster room - many will not get what they are expecting as this "holdover" player phenomenon plays out. Simple advice - Keep asking questions and have an open mind about where you might be happy playing college soccer.