My son is a senior in high school and plays middle infield. His dream school called last week to offer him a walk-on spot for next year and he obviously accepted. My question is does he actually sign in November or does he just enroll in the school and not sign anything since hes not getting any scholarship money?

Thanks in advance

Apply and get accepted---that is all you need---no baseball scholarship then there is no NLI


One other thing --see if the coach wants the application to go thru his office---if he says yes then you are on very solid ground with him

If they are offering a walk on spot then they are offering a spot on the roster , correct? If so then they will want to run his application through to make sure he gets in school. If they have not said anything about running it through the baseball office for you call them and inquire yourself about this. Most schools will want to do this for players they are offering walk on roster spots to.

Some colleges in this situation have an "Institutional letter of intent." The NCAA recognizes it as a mutual commitment of attendance/roster spot, and therefore the school can announce the player along with the early signing guys.

diamonddad, is this school a D-I school? Also, has your son already applied to this school and received a written offer of admission? Or, is it only a walk-on offer from the coach at this point?

rick, yes the school is a D-1 and we havent applied just yet but will be soon. and yes it is only a walk-on offer at this point.

diamonddad, Congratulations on your son getting an offer for a roster spot from his dream school. I don't want to diminish the excitement for that opportunity. However, you've received what appears to be some incorrect information in this thread.

D-I's and D-II's cannot publicly announce a commitment from a player unless the player signs a National Letter of Intent, or a written offer of admission or financial aid from the institution. Unless Rob is referring to one of these types of documents, I'm not sure what he means by an "institutional letter of intent" and it won't be recognized by the NCAA for D-I or D-II.

I'm also going to send you a PM on another matter you may want to keep in mind.

Rick, the Institutional Letter of Intent is signed after the student/player has been admitted in the early admission process. From what I have been given to understand, it IS recognized by the NCAA so that the school can publicly announce the commitment.

Rob, sounds like we are saying basically the same thing, just in a slightly different manner. The NCAA does permit a school to publicize an athlete's commitment if they have signed an institution's official offer of admission. Outside of that, the signing of an NLI or the schools offer of financial aid are the only things that permit a school to publicize a recruit's commitment.

3FG, need your expert advice here!

I am not sure, but from my understanding the only thing the NCAA recognizes is the National Letter of Intent. It's the binding agreement between player and school, that he will come to play for money (baseball). And the NLI stops the recruiting process. I do know of some walk on players that demanded and got a letter from the coach stating the player has a guaranteed roster spot after acceptance. Not sure who is right or wrong here or just all be the same thing.

Be careful of early acceptance, the player can apply for regular acceptance (with coaches help of course). Doesn't an early acceptance mean you have academically committed to the school? What happens if a scholarship comes along?

BTW, the OP mentioned it was an offer for a walk on, no roster spot promised?

I've mentioned this before, but I am not an expert-- I just read the rules.

Anyway, the situation is far from clear.

13.10.2 Comments Before Signing. Before the signing of a prospective student-athlete to a National Letter of Intent or an institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid, a member institution may comment publicly only to the extent of confirming its recruitment of the prospective student-athlete.
.....

OK, once an intitutional letter is signed, the college can comment. But here's the confusing part-- as I read the following rule, the first sentence says that an institutional letter may not be issued until the regular signing date. Then the second sentence seems to say that the player can sign one during the early signing period. I think the two sentences are in conflict.

13.9.2 Letter of Intent Restriction. A member institution may not participate in an institutional or conference athletics letter-of-intent program or issue an institutional or conference financial aid agreement that involves a signing date that precedes the initial regular (as opposed to early) signing date for the National Letter of Intent program in the same sport. However, an institution may permit a prospective student-athlete to sign an institutional or conference letter of intent during the National Letter of Intent early signing period in the applicable sport.


I think it is clear that a college can comment publically after the regular signing period. But it may be (using the second sentence) OK to comment after the early signing date. The proposal which gave rise to 13.9.2 doesn't include the second sentence, so it is difficult to discern the intent of the rule, or even if the rule is written as intended.