Univ of Wisconsin recruits 14 Yr old from Chicago Mission

[breakout]

Players can commit at any age. As a matter of fact, my 5 year old nephew recently committed to Boston College. Why not, great school and his Dad went there. Doesn't mean that the kid was or will be recruited or will ever play for that school. There is nothing binding. The kid cannot sign a letter of intent until he/she is a senior in high school.

If a kid is extraordinarily talented, why commit at a young age? With 18 scholarships available, 24 (27 at U of M this year) or so skaters I doubt the young kid was offered a full ride. Therefore, where is the leverage in negotiations? Additionally, no other school will recruit you if you have already committed. Again, loss of leverage.

[O-townClown]

A verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

[breakout]

A verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

Exactly

[High Flyer]

Players can commit at any age. As a matter of fact, my 5 year old nephew recently committed to Boston College. Why not, great school and his Dad went there. Doesn't mean that the kid was or will be recruited or will ever play for that school. There is nothing binding. The kid cannot sign a letter of intent until he/she is a senior in high school.

If a kid is extraordinarily talented, why commit at a young age? With 18 scholarships available, 24 (27 at U of M this year) or so skaters I doubt the young kid was offered a full ride. Therefore, where is the leverage in negotiations? Additionally, no other school will recruit you if you have already committed. Again, loss of leverage.

Do you think these parents are so dumb that they don't know they will lose negotiating leverage by making a verbal commitment to early? Don't you think these parents would at least ask the school for some kind of a commitment "what’s in it for us"? Do you think the U. of W. will re-nig on their verbal commitment to the player?

I think these parents know that a verbal commitment is an indication to all the others colleges not to waste their time recruiting them, because their mind is made up, but I seriously doubt they would have been so foolish to do this, unless they got a strong verbal commitment from the school what they are going to get in return and that it was substantial enough to make a verbal commitment now. I doubt they would be willing to settle at this point for just some books or board. I would suspect it was at least full tuition, if not more.

[tomASS]

A verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

what about the digital recorder you catch it on

[breakout]

Players can commit at any age. As a matter of fact, my 5 year old nephew recently committed to Boston College. Why not, great school and his Dad went there. Doesn't mean that the kid was or will be recruited or will ever play for that school. There is nothing binding. The kid cannot sign a letter of intent until he/she is a senior in high school.

If a kid is extraordinarily talented, why commit at a young age? With 18 scholarships available, 24 (27 at U of M this year) or so skaters I doubt the young kid was offered a full ride. Therefore, where is the leverage in negotiations? Additionally, no other school will recruit you if you have already committed. Again, loss of leverage.

Do you think these parents are so dumb that they don't know they will lose negotiating leverage by making a verbal commitment to early? Don't you think these parents would at least ask the school for some kind of a commitment "what’s in it for us"? Do you think the U. of W. will re-nig on their verbal commitment to the player?

I think these parents know that a verbal commitment is an indication to all the others colleges not to waste their time recruiting them, because their mind is made up, but I seriously doubt they would have been so foolish to do this, unless they got a strong verbal commitment from the school what they are going to get in return and that it was substantial enough to make a verbal commitment now. I doubt they would be willing to settle at this point for just some books or board. I would suspect it was at least full tuition, if not more.

A non-binding full ride commitment for a 14 year old? What happens if the kid gets hurt or doesn't progress like predicted? Do you think the school will honor the full ride?

What is the old saying: it it's too good to be true .............

I think this is another example of the rush mentality that many parents have these days.

Certainly, I hope the kid fulfills his dreams. I wish him good luck.

[O-townClown]

Funny story about the early verbal commit. Nick Calathes was an elite basketball recruit and eventual McDonald's All-American. His older brother just finished at St. Joe's and grew to 7', so there was a ton of interest in young Nick when he was a 6'5" sophomore.

His teammate Chandler Parsons was taller and reasonably athletic. Many schools were going through Parsons in hopes of landing Calathes as a package deal. Chandler's dad played some college basketball so he must have known how it worked.

Summer between 10th and 11th a relatively unknown Parsons announced his commitment to Florida State University.

Problem?

Florida State hadn't offered, but they had been courting him in hopes he could sell his friend.

This agreement dissolved and during the following Spring Parsons blew the heck up and became a national Top 30 recruit. 6'9" and all of a sudden a great runner, every school would have loved to get him. And Florida State had no chance.

They both went to Florida and had decent freshman campaigns.

[High Flyer]

Yea Breakout and O-townclown, you’re probably right. We should just add Smaltz to the list of recruits whose parents just don't get it:

Russo/Chicago, IL verbal commitment to Notre Dame
Bjugstad/Blaine, MN verbal commitment to Minnesota
Caruth/Mtka, MN verbal commitment to UMD
Faulk/SSP, MN verbal commitment to UMD
Ambroz/New Prague, MN verbal commitment to Minnesota
Smaltz/Wisconsin, WI verbal commitment to Wisconsin

I'm sure that most, if not all of these players will never play D1 hockey or they will not follow through with their verbal commitment to sign a LOI with these schools or the schools will change their minds.

This verbal stuff means nothing and these parents just don’t get it. Or do they?

[O-townClown]

High Flyer:

Such early verbal commitments for hockey are relatively new, right? I'm looking to basketball as an example of what can happen. Khalid El-Amin played for Connecticut, not the University of Minnesota. JamesOn Curry went to Oklahoma State, not the University of North Carolina. His drug arrest certainly was the culprit, but it still happened.

You can go on and on.

Nobody has said these kids aren't good or that the parents don't know what is going on. Noting that there isn't anything binding about an early verbal commitment is merely fact. Stating that a lot of things can change in four years is simply prudent.

College Hockey may be different due to the longer coaching tenures and smaller impact one player can have on the game. We'll see. All I know for certain is that the non-binding, early verbal commitments in basketball often turn.

Lawrence Westbrook of the Gophers was committed to either Iowa State, Memphis, or possibly both. Then the presser came out that he decided to "reopen his recruitment" - a euphemism for "the team I thought wanted me told me they really don't".

Alex Ruoff "reopened his recruitment" and landed at West Virginia and not Virginia. How many examples of these do you need? Oh yeah, Jason Bennett verballed to Cincinnati and then changed that to "wherever he winds up" when Huggins left.

I definitely never said this kid in question isn't going to Madison. I have no idea and if I did say that it would be speculation. This much is true - the non-binding, early verbal has no legal standing and merely signals to other pursuing him that they should not recruit him now.

[breakout]

High Flyer:

Such early verbal commitments for hockey are relatively new, right? I'm looking to basketball as an example of what can happen. Khalid El-Amin played for Connecticut, not the University of Minnesota. JamesOn Curry went to Oklahoma State, not the University of North Carolina. His drug arrest certainly was the culprit, but it still happened.

You can go on and on.

Nobody has said these kids aren't good or that the parents don't know what is going on. Noting that there isn't anything binding about an early verbal commitment is merely fact. Stating that a lot of things can change in four years is simply prudent.

College Hockey may be different due to the longer coaching tenures and smaller impact one player can have on the game. We'll see. All I know for certain is that the non-binding, early verbal commitments in basketball often turn.

Lawrence Westbrook of the Gophers was committed to either Iowa State, Memphis, or possibly both. Then the presser came out that he decided to "reopen his recruitment" - a euphemism for "the team I thought wanted me told me they really don't".

Alex Ruoff "reopened his recruitment" and landed at West Virginia and not Virginia. How many examples of these do you need? Oh yeah, Jason Bennett verballed to Cincinnati and then changed that to "wherever he winds up" when Huggins left.

I definitely never said this kid in question isn't going to Madison. I have no idea and if I did say that it would be speculation. This much is true - the non-binding, early verbal has no legal standing and merely signals to other pursuing him that they should not recruit him now.

Well done

[Vapor]

I have knowledge of this situation.
Jordan Schmaltz contacted the Badgers about playing hockey for them, (a player can contact any school, at any age, in any sport, about playing for them, the school/coaches can not contact the player until end of 10th grade year.) The Badgers did watch him and yes the kid said he would like to play hockey for Bucky and made a verbal commitment to Bucky, but that doesn't mean Bucky will take him or even offer him a scholarship. This happens more and more every year, it has been going on in basketball for years, the next move in basketball will be high school players skipping college to go and play in Europe and then come back to the NBA as free agents and sign with who they want. To me these coaches have to recruit younger and watch the 7th and 8th graders more then the 11th and 12th graders. Parents and Players have gotten smarter and are using the system to benefit there kids college future.

Mess, you're right on ! Wisconsin doesn't have to take this kid if he doesn't develop the way they hope. Verbals don't mean a whole lot these days. It's unfortunate that this is the way it's going. Whatever happened to a kid having a solid Jr year, then a great Senior year and getting a scholarship ?? Sometimes the late bloomer has a tougher time getting the breaks.

[Blue&Gold]

There are several examples of players who committed early and didn't go to the school that they were planning to. And don't think that all of these early committments are for full-rides either. The full-ride player in hockey is sort of a rare bird. Here's an interesting article for all of you folks who are driving the next D1 Phenom to practice:

http://broncohockey.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... rimer.html

Also, here's one about one of those future greats that was committed to WI, and is now going DIII:

http://www.badgerbeat.com/news/article/id/303568

Erstad is even an NHL draft pick, who seems to have peaked early?

I've given a bunch of advice on the world of junior hockey, and am also willing to talk to folks about college recruiting based on my, and my son's experience in the process. I'm no expert, but along with a few other folks on this forum we've worked through it all to some level.