Here is newest wrinkle in the bumpy road of college baseball recruiting:

After very little contact from D1 school since my son's verbal commitment in July, he received an e-mail last week requesting correct info for the NLI that would be fed exed to our home by 11/11. Yay, so all is good we thought. Last night, son receives phone call saying that program had a fall walk-on that showed lots of promise, would potentially put my son down to third string next year ...blah blah blah. Sounded like an attempt to have my son de-commit to program "for his best interest".

In coach's defense, he did say that program would honor the scholarship, but he also suggested a JuCo as maybe a better place for son to start off. Then he talked about signing with both the DI school, and also the JuCo. If school lost a player for whatever reason, then they would want my son at D1 instead of JuCo. We need to clarify this, but my son thinks it would be his decision which way to go.

Of course son (and parents) are quite disappointed. Son informed several other programs that he had made a verbal commitment, and missed opportunities for camps at schools that he had been considering. He took himself off of the market because he has been taught that a verbal commitment is binding.

Has anyone heard of this dual signing with D1 and JuCo? Is a JuCo player obligated to play 2 years at JuCo before transferrring to 4 year program?

Fish

Wow...can this stuff get anymore confusing. I am not going to be much help My son is junior and we have more questions than we have answers about this.

Early committment is one area that is really confusing.

However you have come to the right place...this is a great site and I am sure that you will get some good advice and suggestions.

good luck

There is no problem signing with a JUCO and a D1 at the same time assuming that there is a JUCO offering a scholarship.

If my son had generated Interest from several programs, I might not be in a rush to sign early with this D1 especially.

If there is a JUCO offer out there to sign, you might want to have that in your back pocket and see if additional D1 interest or other Universities that are of interest, develop between now and April.

Some advice,

The baseball world is small. While there is no problem signing both, be upfront with the JUCO about what you are doing and you intend to use them as a backup option.

As to whether I would counsel my son to sign the NLI with the current school, I would not. I wouldn't want him showing up unwanted only to have the rug pulled out from under him soph year with no scholarship and having to sit a year to go to another school. I would do nothing. JUCO's are one of the last to fill their recruiting needs. Junior could put the word back out that he was available, see what materializes, and if it doesn't work out, talk to the JUCO's after the season, they'll still want him. JMHO

I'm with CPLZ on this one. Either the D1 school wants your son, or they don't. If they only have marginal interest in him, which is what this situation sounds like, or they over-recruited and he's the victim, then what will his role likely be in the future if he goes there? He can have the NLI sent to him while he considers his options, then if he decides against signing, he can simply let the coach know in a positive way, and send the un-signed letter back. He doesn't have to sign on the date it arrives, he has some time to consider his options while that letter sits on the counter.

I'd quickly get the word out that son is available (assuming you guys decide to not sign NLI), and if he had strong interest last summer, chances are good that he'll have interest in the spring signing period as well. Be honest with any juco, tell them his plan is to play D1 ball if possible. Your son does not want to burn a bridge in any way, but at the same time, needs to look out for his own best interest. If I were him, I'd at least think about NOT signing the D1 NLI, and getting on the phone and personally calling the coach at every other school which previously showed some interest and letting them know not only that he is still available, but some of the details about why he didn't sign. Always speak kindly of the school and coach he isn't going to play for, as chances are he knows the guys your son would be talking to, and word will get back, plus they'll all view him unfavorably if he speaks ill of one of their peers. Just be honest and tell them the coach said the situation had changed due to a new walk on taking the spot they anticipated him playing, and they wanted him to be informed so that he could make a decision about what is in his best interett. Paint it such that the school was concerned about his best interest and thought he might want to go somewhere that he could compete for a starting position sooner.

Finally, don't panic, there is always time left. If you doubt that, two of the young men who play summer ball for me graduated from high school expecting to go the juco route. They each ended up with very late deals in the middle of the summer. Instead of going to jr. college, one is now at Cal State Fullerton and the other at St. Mary's, both of baseball scholarships. If your son is the caliber of player to be an early commit guy, then it's likely he'll have other options going forward.

I agree whole heartedly with the above two comments with one caveat. In Florida, JUCO's are very competetive and it is not necessarily easy to just find yourself a spot as a choice of last resort. It is way to early to worry about a JUCO comit right now, but after January many of the better programs (meaning for instance the State of Florida) will have limited if any spots available.

Honesty is the key here.

You can commit to both a D-1 school and a Juco. Be honest with the Juco about your D-1 desire. Trust me you are not going to surprise them with that news.

Juco commitments can make a D-1 coach nervous though. And, although the D-1 school you are currently committed to knows the situation, if you uncommit from that school another D-1 might be wary about picking up your child with a Juco commitment.

Now, here is some advice. Follow through with the NCAA clearning house to the end. If your child is not NCAA cleared out of high school he will have to spend 2 years at the Juco and have earned enough credits at the Juco to meet the University requirements.

Make sure the minute you make your decision which way you are going to go that you let both coaches know via phone call.. not email or letter.

Letter may be the best option to ensure that the intentions are fully understood and documented after the phone call.

Ryan you are 100% right. Phone call first, follow up letter...


Dear Coach ***xx, as per our phone conversation on xx/xx/***x I am going to ............
thank you.....

Sincerely,


*********************

I think most JUCO coaches realize they could lose an incoming freshman to a 4 year program.

Sounds to me that the coach is looking for his scholarship money for someone else. The long silence not hearing from him meant he has been looking. Coaches who ask players to commit early should make weekly phone calls to keep the player in the loop and know he is wanted, even after they sign a phone call every now and then should be the usual and not the unusual.

Although others have given good advice, this is your son's decision as to whether he wants to sign or not, sit down and have a talk with him about how he feels before a decision is made. He might want to take what has happened as a challenge to the coach.

quote:

The long silence not hearing from him meant he has been looking. Coaches who ask players to commit early should make weekly phone calls to keep the player in the loop and know he is wanted, even after they sign a phone call every now and then should be the usual and not the unusual.

While regular phone calls are preferred following a verbal commitment, this is not always standard operating procedure for certain schools. One of my son's friends verballed to a D1 in August following his jr. year, but he really didn't hear much from the school again until early November. He signed his NLI and everything worked out just fine for him. Some schools put a lot more effort into pre-verbal than post-commitment communication.

"Honor the scholarship"?
For how long? They are only good for 1 year!

If they don't renew, which looks like a good possibility, then he has to sit out a year, or go to a JUCO for a year before returning to another D1.

I'd walk away! My guess is that they are looking for $$ for another position need now, since the walk-on satisfied their original need.

There are plenty of good D1 opportunities that happen after early signing. If the original school made an offer in July, to me that means your Son is a very good player.

It's a very disheartening position to be put in, but look at the bright side. This could have happened next Fall, and then you wouldn't have the options you have now!

We understand that scholarships are renewed (or not) on a yearly basis. My point in making that observation was to give the coach a little credit for not just walking away completely from his verbal agreement with my son.

Thank you to everyone for the thoughtful comments and support. My instinct is to wash my hands completely of this D1 school, and see what spring and senior season brings. Son has grown to 6'1'' and 205 over past year (increase of at least 15 pounds of muscle!) so maybe we will see double digits in the home run column this spring! That might bring him a little attention!

What position does he play?

If he's got a good stick, then I'm surprised that the D1 Coach didn't talk about a possible position change if they are stacked at his original position?

His size would indicate either a C, 1B or 3B?

I guess I don't see where credit is deserved in this case. Completely walking away makes the coach look bad and could hamper their future recruiting efforts. But has the coach really met his commitment if he's going to in effect pull the offer because a walk on they like showed up? Make no mistake, the offer is being pulled and they want you to go along with it to keep them from looking bad. Not only has he dumped your son but he's trying to keep him around without any commitment "just in case".

I hope this coach is actually acting with your son's interests in mind, but the more I'm around this the more cynical I become about any commitment on the part of coaches.

I agree with CA.
To me the WO this fall appears to be their guy for next year and in the future. The fact they didn't try to work your son into a different spot is what would concern me.
You may want to keep looking.

From what I have witnessed, from several players, I wouldnt sign the NLI there.He has found somebody else and has changed his mind.Your lucky it happened now and not next fall when he was already on campus.Move on, cant get emotional over this, it is a business.Treat it the same yourself.

Coach sent NLI today. Called son and talked to him for 30 minutes at least. He clarified his position on son's chances of being needed at D1 as about 75% - 80%. There are several scenarios that could play out that would mean son would be needed as a freshman. If none of those situations occur, they would rather son go to a JUCO. (which coach would set up) If son signs NLI and returns it to school, isn't school obligated to honor it? Seems to me like all school can do is suggest son attends a JUCO. Can school take away scholarship if son wants to stay and try to earn playing time?

I hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure they can simply cut you from the team during the Fall with you keeping the scholarship for that one year. Since he's an incoming freshman you would think they would just redshirt him. Sounds like they want you to voluntarily give back the money so it can be used elsewhere. Since he is obviously a very desirable player he might want to check those other options.

Nope, they cannot take it away. They will have to honor a signed NLI for a full academic year.