Recruiting and the Portal

Recruiting and the Portal
by irpa (2022-12-02 10:23:30)

This is not a brag post. I don’t know anyone on this board so I don’t know who I would be bragging to anyway.

I had the experience of having a child recruited from age 14, committing at age 15 and playing the sport at a top 10 ACC school. During COVID my child also used the portal in an effort to play for a school closer to home. I can tell you the entire process is extremely stressful for the athlete and family because the coaches are like used car salesmen/women and most won’t likely be at the school when the athlete arrives on campus. When my child decided to transfer, her inclination was to go to school where some of her former club mates went. She proactively reached out to schools in addition to being contacted. Honestly, many of the schools emailing were D2 schools being coached by Assistant Coaches who recruited her earlier. The bottom line is that many of these athletes are 20 years old dealing with school, homesickness and the stress of college schoolwork. They don’t always make the best decisions and are often directed by their parents. Most of these players have existing relationships with coaches and that is definitely a determining factor in where they may transfer.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

When you add in the time crunch and limited spots

It seems like it would be incredibly stressful. Thanks for your post.

Nice reminder that these are just kids

Although they are People on TV to us, they are teenagers and young adults, and they miss their moms and dads, their hometown sweethearts, their friends from high school. All of those things inform their decisions, along with big long term goals like winning a title and playing in the NFL. NIL adds a whole additional element, and probably ramps up the interference/influence from adults in their lives.

good insight. Thanks *

Pretty much confirmed what I already thought on this process *