Originally Posted by America's Game
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by America's Game
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by America's Game
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Princeton: disaster
Dartmouth: disaster
Georgetown: disaster
Drexel: not relevant
Marist: not relevant
Siena: not relevant
Rutgers: not relevant

All of these schools tend to recruit late and this is just a partial list, the MID to bottom half of D1 all recruit late.


Princeton has done almost nothing since Tierney left. They were able to get top recruits early on due to reputation and the fact they are an Ivy League School. All the other teams you mentioned have never been historically relevant. Dartmouth never a factor. Georgetown only a few years in. Drexel, Marist, Siena, and Rutgers. How in the world do you even mention them. They have never been relevant. Rutgers will eventually become more relevant due to being part of the Big 10. The other factor is coaching. You can have the best players but if coaching stinks so will the record.

Now lets take a look at Hopkins, Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, and Syracuse. They have always been powerhouse programs where youth players dream of playing. They will always get players due to their history. Yet they are not doing as well as they normally do. These schools also tend to sign players earlier than others. Please do not deny this, especially this year. This year every class at these schools has multiple early 9th and 10th grade commits playing. I don't think many of these early commits are panning out as the coaches hoped they would.

Look at Brown and Yale they recruit later in the cycle and they are doing just fine. Even Loyola, Villanova, Lehigh, and Bucknell are doing well winning some big games. These schools tend to recruit late and don't have the student body size of the big programs.


Drexel, Marist, Siena, Rutgers were all mentioned because all of their coaches have been pretty outspoken about early recruiting and as programs they have a policy about recruiting early. They all have in recent years made tournament appearances with the exception of Rutgers.


Ok I got it. Do you understand where I was coming from on my post regarding the teams I mentioned and why.


I do understand your points and agree that I am sure there are early verbals on some of those squads that are not working out as planned. I think that the jury is still out about early recruiting and its impact on the present day game. Every team in the final four last year are notorious early recruiters and late poachers as well. I think in the case of UNC and UVA they definitely have coaching issues. In the cases of Brown and Yale, dont kid yourself, they recruit plenty early, they just arent as public about it because of their admissions process. All of the other schools you mention have multiple 2018 verbals which would be considered "early" as compared to the historical way of recruiting in which kids werent locked up until their JR and SR years. Thank you for the civilized and coherent discussion though, its a rarity on this board.


Thank you. I try my best. Love this game and all it has to offer the players that play it and those who have played. So people know I became a moderator and involved with this site after myself and my son were attacked on here a number of years ago. This was allowed by a previous moderator who is no longer involved with back of the cage. I always try and protect the kids and do my best to initiate quality topics of discussion.

The Ivys always sign a bit later yes due to the requirements and the admissions process. Yet it seems they are also signing the right players. Remember due to the rigorous requirements they have a much smaller pool to choose from. This makes it that much harder for the Ivy schools. Not all students can meet the GPA, SAT, or ACT score required to attend these schools.

I just feel that too much early recruiting is destroying the game at its foundation, the PAL and Youth levels. Every game is the National Championship. So much pressure is being put on theses kids by over zealous parents and coaches. Its taking the fun out of it for the kids. The club ball is also a nightmare. Its just diluting the caliber of play with all theses clubs out there. We are rating teams as AA, A, B so people don't get their feelings hurt. What happened to town and travel? What happened to the letters A,B, and C. This AA crap is just that, crap. I also think its making it hard for the coaches with parents overstepping their bounds on all levels club and town. With this his win at all cost mentality yet everyone gets a trophy generation there are so many mixed signals being sent out. I think the signing of a 8th grader is crazy. Now this kid has all this pressure on them to perform, also a target on his back. All the while trying just to grow up and be a kid. I am sure his parents have taken this into consideration and its an amazing accomplishment. I just think this type of accomplishment should be reserved for a select few and not the masses like it has become now.


New Cannan Ct 8th grader has received 2 offers to play Division 1 football. 1 to Florida State and 1 to Southern Alabama. like it or not its being done. This particular football player happens to be a 15 year old 8th grader, unlike the 13 year old 8th grade laxer. Early recruiting in any sport is not a one size fits all and rather than discount it all together it should be done on a case by case basis.