The following article is sponsored by National Scouting Report. Visit NSR’s web site at nsr-inc.com
RECRUITING BLOG: WAIT IS OVER FOR AREA HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS
By Gary Silvers
This is the week many of the area’s top college prospects have been awaiting for weeks, even months.
Beginning April 15, high school seniors in most sports can sign National Letters of Intent with NCAA Division I and II colleges and universities during the regular signing period.
By signing a National Letter of Intent, a college-bound student-athlete agrees to attend a college or university for one academic year. In exchange, that college or university must provide athletics financial aid for one academic year.
Athletes in most sports have until Aug. 1 to sign with Division I or II schools. The only exceptions are Division I, I-AA (FCS) and II football, whose regular signing period ended April 1, and D-I basketball, whose regular period ends May 20.
The cream of the senior crop – with the exception of football and soccer players -- was permitted to sign during the one-week early signing period in November. Football and soccer players began their regular signing period on the first Wednesday in February.
April 15 is also an important day for Division I football prospects. It is the first day college coaches are permitted to call juniors. Coaches can make one call to each junior through May 31. Additional calls may not be made before Sept. 1 of the senior year. Coaches can call each senior once a week at that point.
Division I men’s basketball coaches can make unlimited calls to prospects beginning June 15 after the sophomore year. Division I women’s coaches can do the same beginning Sept. 1 of the junior year.
Coaches in swimming and diving, track and cross-country, baseball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball and women’s volleyball must wait until July 1 after the junior year to start making calls.
However, there’s a way to beat the calling system – a perfectly legal way. Instead of waiting for a college coach to call you during a designated period, you can call a coach at your expense at any time.
I highly recommend that.
If you’re interested in playing at a particular school or schools, why wait to make personal contact with the coaches? If a coach shows mutual interest, you can start getting recruited as early as your freshman year in high school, even in middle school.
If a coach is really interested, he or she can make a verbal offer to you at any time, and you can make a verbal commitment at any time. Of course, either of you can break that commitment at any time. Offers aren’t binding until you sign a National Letter of Intent.
Believe it or not, the University of Tennessee already has received 11 softball commitments for the Class of 2019. None of those girls are in high school yet. They’re all eighth-graders.
UCLA already has received a verbal commitment from a 14-year-old pitcher who helped his Huntington Beach, Calif., team win the 2011 Little League World Series. USC made a verbal offer to a 13-year-old quarterback in 2010.
And how about that 10-year-old basketball player from Cleveland who has received numerous verbal offers from college coaches? Of course, it helps that his father is LeBron James.
Many of the area’s top high school seniors already have received verbal offers and made verbal commitments. But, beginning this week, they become “official” college athletes.
The wait is finally over.
Gary Silvers, Area Director of College Scouting for National Scouting Report, writes a weekly recruiting blog for SuburbanOneSports.com. He can be reached at (215) 480-8764 or gsilvers@nsr-inc.com. Follow him on Twitter: @GarySilversNSR
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