I'm guessing this is the best thread to discuss my ongoing "study" of the Long Island 2013 class and, as a class, where they stand today in regards to their lacrosse careers. This is the third year I have posted this.
USA Lacrosse has found that roughly 50% of all recruited players are playing the game of lacrosse by their senior year. Long Island players in 2013 were at 58% with 43% playing significant minutes in a game. The remaining 15% played some minutes in a limited role.
There was a huge movement of players who no longer play from sophomore to junior year, which is expected. Playing time, school work and possible injury without a red shirt figures into this number, which is 28%. It was 8% last year.
The remaining 14% were redshirt or injury reflected by little or no playing time.
These numbers will adjust downward by next year if trends continue. The overall number should still be greater than the 50% average, but that is also expected as Long Island has more quality players as compared with the lacrosse group as a whole nationwide.
Just a little food for thought for anyone going through the recruiting process in high school. There are so many non-lacrosse variables to think about and don't lose sight of that.
Just one more year of crunching numbers! Whew!
Interesting stats, thanks for sharing. Curious if he have seen any correlation to when an athlete commits ( earlier vs later)?
Great question. Fact is there is really not enough "super early" recruits to get a good sample on. It's a fairly new phenomenon to really have enough of a sample size. The real question for early recruits is do they play for the school they initially committed to. I will be keeping track of playing time (I start again for class of 2017; LI and Maryland this time! Ugh!! But I love the women's game!) but most exceptional students recruited early do play the game; the question is where.
The real question is the early commitment valuable to the student and their growth as a young adult. When I read that a college coach is "OK" with a 50% success rate with an early recruit then I feel for the student (both sides of the 50/50 equation). The NCAA is very serious about later commitment years and it will be great for all concerned.
