Clubs will always push hard. That is their purpose in exchange for the prices they charge. If coaches recruited the best rising seniors versus the best rising freshmen, do you believe those are the same players? Kids in MD / DC who were the early recruits are already showing to be a less than 25% success. Many struggle to stand out on their high school teams.

UMD has had success. But Hop, UVA and UNC are not the "usual suspects" in the FF over the last 5 years since ER really took off. To the extent these programs have been reloading, what we have seen is they continue to go backwards. UVA would have lost to Tufts this year. UNC did get bombed in a scrimmage against Limestone. I know scrimmages don't / can't count because D3 teams can't schedule D1 teams for regular season games, but the result that day is what it is. I think if Petro started with a blank sheet for 2017s right now, he'd come back with a much better class than the ones he has on the way. Consider how badly Hop has struggled to find a good goalie since Bassett. Consider that UVA has lacked an elite attackman since Steele. Consider that neither UVA or Hop has been able to piece together a legit consistent contributing 2nd middie line for a few years. Petro is known as the best defensive coach in the game, but Hop hasn't had a top defense in years. The biggest believers in ER are those with skin in the game on the demand side...club guys and proud parents.