Newbie to this great site but hoping for some help.

What exactly is a "preferred walk on?" (PWO)
Son has been accepted at and has received nice academic scholarship offer from D1 school.

He also attended a clinic at same college and baseball recruiter recently offered him the above label of PWO with an official invite planned for the near future. Just not sure what the PWO status means. Any feedback is appreciated.

Basically it means they want him, but will not be giving any baseball money to him.

If they still have money available, and they don't want to invest it in your son, they think he might be good enough, but they're not positive yet.

A key question to ask if whether he'll have a guaranteed roster spot in the spring of his freshman year.

Some D1 programs bring on a large number of preferred walk-ons in the fall (15-30+), then cut the number way down in the second semester to meet the NCAA max roster cap size of 35 (up to 27 athletic scholarship players plus walk-ons). In this situation, a sizeable number of preferred, or recruited, walk-ons will end up without a place to play after Christmas of their freshman year.

If a program offers a guaranteed spot for the spring (and the coaches are trustworthy and men of integrity), that is a much more sure thing than the former scenario.

Check out Recruited Walk On Blog

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BTW, should have done it first so I apologize but in searching the "find" folder for preferred walk ons I found some similar info though it seems it was once called recruited walk on.

I guess the key word or phrasing we need to hear from the recruiter is "guaranteed Spring roster spot." As of now we have only heard "he is rostered" but now not sure if that means for Fall 2010 and or Spring 2011??? Will ask in follow up visit to school.

Yes- he told us they have no BB $$$ and I believe because son is receiving one of the 2 highest merit scholarships the university offers, he will not be a "counter" which I guess also works to his advantage in as far as being kept on the roster.

Make no mistake he understands with this offer he has only been given the opportunity to make the (new rules) 30 man spring roster too which my son told us he has no intention of striving to be player #30 but will work hard to be a player in the top 9!

quote:

Originally posted by ne14bb:
... only been given the opportunity to make the (new rules) 30 man spring roster too which my son told us he has no intention of striving to be player #30 but will work hard to be a player in the top 9!

The roster size is 35 with no plans to change that number.

quote:

Yes- he told us they have no BB $$$ and I believe because son is receiving one of the 2 highest merit scholarships the university offers, he will not be a "counter" which I guess also works to his advantage in as far as being kept on the roster.

Make no mistake he understands with this offer he has only been given the opportunity to make the (new rules) 30 man spring roster too which my son told us he has no intention of striving to be player #30 but will work hard to be a player in the top 9!

Yes it is 35 man spring roster and then the 25 man travel roster to make it even more interesting.
There are also lots of very good academic players on most teams so past a certain point academics don't mean much. Unless of course they want to get rid of a player without hurting their APR.

With due respect- I have read on more than one baseball website and other forums that the 2010-2011 NCAA D1 rosters must top out at 30. If you are stating otherwise where are you getting your info? Where can it be verified?

Would love to see your source .

That was the point of my question to you.

If I am misinterpreting the info I have read which comes from posters similar to you on other sites, then please point me in the right direction so I can get some clarity. My sources are no different than you or others...they are posters on other BB websites.

Well when they reduced the roster to 35 all heck broke out. I haven't heard a think about further reductions. Some of the most venerable coaches like Ron Polk threatened to quit so you can imagine if there was a further reduction. Maybe you are confusing the number of scholarships allowed.

Yeah it could be the # of scholarships but that is why I need some clarity.

Here is one site I was referencing:

http://hsscout2010.blogspot.co...%3A00&max-results=10

If link does not work here is what he wrote:
• Maximum Roster Sizes - This year (2009-10) the maximum roster size will be 35. That includes scholarship players and walk-ons. The roster size can be larger than 35 up until spring when they must submit a final, 35 man roster. The roster size goes down to 30 next year (2010-11).

Yes I read the info. That is the 1st time I have heard that and the 33% minimum scholarship. I find it hard to believe and don't recall seeing that in any of the NCAA rule changes for last year.
Hopefully 3finger will weigh in on this.

2010: The worst year ever to get a Baseball Scholarship
College Baseball is going through a series of rule changes that are going to dramatically affect the number of scholarships being offered. Here are some of those new rules:

No transfers (Division 1) - players will have to sit out a year as is the case with NCAA D1 Football and Basketball.
Maximum Roster Sizes - This year (2009-10) the maximum roster size will be 35. That includes scholarship players and walk-ons. The roster size can be larger than 35 up until spring when they must submit a final, 35 man roster. The roster size goes down to 30 next year (2010-11).
Minimum Scholarship - Up until this year, there were no minimums. Coaches could offer you $2,000, or $500, or nothing at all, just a roster spot. Starting this year, the minimum scholarship allowed is 25%. Next year, the minimum moves up to 33%
Maximum number of players on scholarship - will be capped at 28 players.
Pending any further changes or new votes, the above rules will severely impact the 2010 graduation class. Here's why:

Many schools have large rosters. It was not uncommon for some colleges to have 40+ players on their rosters. Now, they have to cut down to 35, then to 30. Where will those cuts come from? There will be graduations for sure, and drafted players, but if the coach brings in new recruits, there will be fewer spots than ever. Most likely, the college will simply take in fewer 2009 Grads.
Coaches have to make cuts. 40 players had to be cut down to 35 this year. Next year the roster will be 30. So if the coach is losing 11 players due to graduation and the draft from his 35 man roster, that leave him with 29 returning players - enough for 1 recruit (more on this below).
Coaches have to guess their recruiting class size. Say a team cut down to 35 players on the roster. The rosters usually look something like this: 7 seniors, 9 juniors, 9 sophomores, 10 freshman. So if they graduate the 7 seniors, the coach now has to guess how many of his 9 juniors will get drafted. Lets say he thinks 4 will be drafted, that means he has 11 open roster spots to fill with incoming Freshman (4 drafted juniors and 7 graduated seniors). He goes out and recruits and signs 11 players. Now the coach finds out that only 2 of his players were drafted. He has 11 coming in and only 9 open roster spots. He may have to revoke offers to some 2009 Grads.
A rush of transfer players who were cut. When Coaches make roster cuts, as in the example above, they are not going to only recruit 1 freshman player, that is suicide for the future of the program. What they are going to do instead is cut existing players from the roster. Injured player? Gone. Malcontent? Gone. Weak hitter? Gone. Where are all of those players going to go? Many will stay at their college and simply graduate without playing baseball. Others will transfer to other schools, most likely lower level colleges in D2, D3 or Juco. Those transferring players with D1 experience, will take roster spots away from 2009 Grads!
The end result is that the 2010 grads are going to face a LOT of competition. 30 man rosters and a bevy of players from D1 schools cut from their previous school and looking for a new home. I believe most cut players will simply drop baseball (they are being cut for a reason) and stay at the school they are already at and try to get their degree, but even a small percentage of players transferring to smaller schools will make for fewer opportunities for 2010 Grads.

Of those that do transfer from one D1 school to another D1 school, they will have to sit out a year. Those transfer players who sit out a year spell trouble for the Class of 2011 as well.

Bobble,

That is a fairly new blog I referenced so I could easily question the accuracy and credibility but I do recall reading it elsewhere on the web. Hopefully we can get this cleared up because if it is NOT true it will put me at much more ease and god help the college level game if it is true!

3finger is versed in the NCAA rules so hopefully he will respond.
I have heard no reference to this and we hashed the rule changes for months. All the reference I could find was the reduction to 35 and the minimum of 25%.
I have to say it is not true or we would have heard about it a long time ago. There was a couple changes recently like being able to dump a player with a 2.5 gpa without hurting the APR of a school and that got roasted here.

ne, when you mention a roster size of 30, you may be getting your rules and years confused. The D-I team roster must be 35 prior to the start of the season in February. That was the rule last year, and remains the rule this year.

Last year there was a limit of 30 on the number of baseball players who were "counters" or those receiving an athletic scholarship. The limit on counters has been reduced to 27 this year. And scholarship offers must be at least 25% to each player.

So the current rules are minimum 25% scholarship, no more than 27 counters and a total roster limit of 35. And the 27 counters must be counted within the 35, even if they are injured and unable to play this season. I hope that helps resolve the confusion.

Yes the other site is inaccurate.

Rick has summarized the current rules.

Proposed rules are tracked on the LSDBi database. There are no pending proposals regarding baseball roster size. The last (defeated) proposal was to remove the 35 man limit!

quote:

Originally posted by ne14bb:
With due respect- I have read on more than one baseball website and other forums that the 2010-2011 NCAA D1 rosters must top out at 30. If you are stating otherwise where are you getting your info? Where can it be verified?

The websters here are 100% accurate, I got my info from a D1 coach.

Don't ever under estimate the knowledge of the folks here on the HSBBW.

OK,

As BobbleheadDoll posted the referenced info I was going on came from another baseball blog and their info. A site I will no longer visit as clearly it is misinforming visitors. I will be sure to correct them and refer them here.

I will rest better here on out knowing the roster limit remains 35. And must agree- this HSBBW site is spot-on! Thanks!