Scholarship offers to 8th graders is the new normal
Samuel Johnson III is believed to be the first player from the State of Michigan to be offered a football scholarship before high school. The offer was from Akron, but still.
The article talks a bit about the general trend of offering younger players. Also, apparently RR hosted a camp for 12 year olds while he was coaching here and some of the attendees ended up playing for Michigan.
Personally, I'm not fond of offering players that young, but what do I know?
So you're fond of cocaine and hookers but not offering 8th graders... Noted
isn't fond of cocaine and hookers?
Craig James. Craig James is not fond of hookers.
Allegedly.
well played.
Allegedly.
I'm uneasy about offering kids this early, though. It feels like schools are pushing these kids into camps and training when they're in early high school, and generally just not letting them be kids. A middle school offer is not going to raise the likelihood of a kid going to akron if he has other options.
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I was told there would be no math.
why is that?
He is only listed at 5'7. If you are talking an OL guy or a 6'5 QB or Wr yes.... but not 'fleet.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/dennis_norfleet_810578.html
While I share the OP's general distaste for offering players so young, it's not the "new normal". In the vast majority of cases, big 5 conference coaches will want to see how a player develops in h.s. before making a bindable offer.
The finer point is that, when there is a freak athlete at a skill position in 8th grade, some coaches will offer that kid. That trend is increasing, to be sure, but it seems premature to call it the "new normal".
Definitely. A couple instances does not make anything the "new normal." The normal is still for players to be offered as sophomores, juniors, and sometimes as seniors.
Even a few years ago, everyone was surprised by USC offering a QB in high school, or at least enough that it was notable. Now it isn't any more, but I don't think that makes it 'the new normal'.
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needs to step it up. Currently holds no offers. Lazy good for nothing.
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This is pretty much it.
Schools use the illusion of an early "offer" to initially indicate interest in a prospect. Brady Hoke's staff did not operate this way, and while it's the "right" way to do things, it can hurt them in today's recruiting world.
Very rarely will a 2018/2019 prospect commit this early, so schools will drop an "offer" in. They'll then continue to evaluate the prospect going forward. If the prospect develops to their liking, they will be able to tell them that they believed in him early before other schools did. If they don't develop into a legit prospect, the school will just cease recruiting them.
I guess the early connection thing is somewhat valid, to a certain point. But at that age kids are developing and growing at all kinds of different paces. A kid who is dominant in the 8th grade may end up to be just average in the H.S. years. What do you do as the coach at that point? Do you take back the offer because a kid didn't develop as expected? I think I would be in favor of some age or grade limit of when college coaches could start contacting kids.
I think that the rules should be changed in regards to offers. Allow kids to commit as soon as they get an offer, even if it's in middle school. But make that commitment binding on both parties. Kid can't change schools and the school has to give them a 4 year scholarship, even if the kid gets hurt or turns out to be a bust.
That would work too. Schools would definitely have to be more selective in their offer approach. It would help slow the crazy recruiting arms race.
That's silly. You can't lock in a 7th grader to a school just because he made up his mind early. People change, programs change, etc. No other profession, academic program, etc. makes you stick to something for five or six years down the road.
maybe not for kids that young. I'm thinking of ways to make the whole process more fair to the students, but in a way that the schools would go for. It bothers me when a kid gets dumped for a better athlete at the last min, or has his scholarship pulled to make room on the roster.
Basically I'd like to see the LOI go both ways.
I agree that it should be more fair, and I agree with guaranteed four-year scholarships (as long as players meet certain eligibility requirements, like going to class, not raping people, etc.). I just don't think that's the way to go about it.
Personally, I think any contact - e-mails, visits, phone calls, etc. - should be prohibited prior to 9th grade unless the communication is initiated by a the student/parent. For example, Chris Partridge can't DM Sam Johnson III, but Sam Johnson can call the coaches, visit the facilities, etc.
Akron also offered 2019 quarterback Dwan Mathis from Belleville.
Who ever thought that Akron would be changing the state of football recruiting in the state of Michigan? Not that Akron is a threat, but they might make MAC schools offer sooner, which might make ACC schools offer sooner, which might make Big Ten schools offer sooner, etc. These things seem to have a bit of a Domino effect, just like Penn State's satellite camp has turned into Michigan's numerous satellite camps (and a seemingly impending ban on such satellite camps).
HUDDLE!
If there was interest in having middle schoolers be truly exempt from offers of any type, the definition in the handbook of what a prospective student-athlete is would have to probably change too, I would suspect. Right now, it's essentially any athlete currently in ninth grade or later, but under certain circumstances, kids are "prospective student-athletes" even sooner than that.
In a time when recruiting seems to get into the ranks of younger kids and offers are being made even before evaluation are made on some of them, I have to think a fair number of these offers are more about tracking development and then maybe having an actual serious discussion about college a couple years later, if you like how a prospective recruit is progressing.