If the school fits.. You must commit..

There’s been a lot of talk about how the class of 2019 in Houston isn’t as “high major heavy” as the previous few classes. It still hasn’t stopped smaller schools from offering several players in the class after their performances this spring & summer. For some of the players it’s their 1st time ever being contacted by schools, and so far they seem to be loving every minute of it.. maybe loving it a bit too much. The kids that have these offers seem to be waiting for a bigger offer or a “better situation”. There are several non power 5 conference schools currently asking local Houston products how they feel about them, sounding a little like Drake asking “Keke if she loves him?!”.

With the new NCAA rules just dropping this past week, certain high school senior prospects could be in for a rude awakening! Now that 5th year transfers are becoming more of a thing, colleges are starting to like the fact that they can get a 22 year old player with four years of playing experience as opposed to a 17-18 year with NO playing experience at the collegiate level. Especially for schools not in Power 5 conferences, or one bid leagues. Taking a 5th year or a more experienced player can increase your chance at getting to the conference title game and punching your ticket to the big dance. It’s definitely a new game in recruiting, even some mid major programs stopped recruiting high school kids as much as they did in the past, going the D1 transfer route instead, or even plucking players from the junior college ranks. So where does that leave high school players? There are 351 Division 1 schools who have 13 scholarships, which equals only 4,563 spots, and that’s the TOTAL number, not the yearly one, which cuts that previous number by more than half.

With several 2019 greater Houston area prospects holding non power 5 division 1 scholarship offers, I wonder if they understand that playing the waiting game is no longer a “game”. Yes, getting those texts, calls, and DM’s from college coaches feels great. Everyone wants to feel like the pretty girl at school, I get it.. Also the “blessed to receive an offer from….” tweets are cool too, but… when prospects look around and really understand how the landscape is changing, they’ll see that picking a school sooner than later may be their best bet. This dilemma reminds me of a couple of quotes the late, great Lee Sloan would say.. “A bird in the hand beats one in the bush”, and “In life you better love who loves you”! Unless you’re a top 150 recruit, you can’t afford to wait and sign late. Why play Russian roulette? By now the summer coach, HS coach, parents, handlers, etc should have been advising kids on what school may or may not be the best fit. I’m imploring kids to understand that waiting on a better situation is a dangerous thing to do, sure weigh all of your options, but make an informed decision, and make it sooner than later.

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