Couple of thoughts on the early recruting stuff: 1) Congrats to the kids who have committed, great opportunity 2) Not being negative or judging, just a fact that a signifcant percentage of 2017s who have committed (not all) are at least a year older -- 14/just turned 15 which is the "normal" age. Physical maturity and mental maturity matters and 1+ years makes a big difference at this age. 3) Many college coaches have told me and others that at this early point for 2017s it is often the parents pushing hard to commit, not the school. Doesn't mean the school won't take the commit if interested in the kid for fear of losing them, but they would rather wait until summer or next year so the kid is as sure as possible of their commitment and the coaches can see kids play more over the spring, summer and mayve next Fall 4) Many very talented kids - including many of the most talented - are targeting Ivy League, Patriot League, or the Georgetowns of the world which with one exception from Buckenll, have taken no 2017 commitments at this point as their timeline is typically longer and grades matter a ton. They are typically not "early recruting" schools unlike UNC, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Virgina, Penn State, and Ohio State.
Don't kid yourself, Ivy, Patriot and Georgetowns of the world are well on their way with the 2016 commits and they are in the hunt for the 2017's as well.
Not kidding myself. The # of 2016 commits from the schools outlined above are not huge yet (check Inside Lacrosse) but obviously there are several and classes will largely be filled by the summer for many of these schools for 2016s. For 2017s, yes there is activity in terms of reaching out to kids and expressing interest, but it will likely take the next 2 years for the 2017 classes to be largely filled, most heavily next year.
From Ty Zanders (Inside Lacrosse) twitter today: Spoke w/ Dom Starsia on early recruiting: "It's embarrassing to be on the sidelines watching 9th graders... We're at a point of crisis."
I do not listen to what they say, I watch what they do. They might stop with the early "public" verbals but they will not stop trying to identify talent in the 9th and 10th grade. The Schools you mention are no different, they have less "verbals" but they are out there doing the same thing. One reason they might have fewer committed 10th graders is that the other schools are more appealing to more student athletes.
The "early verbals" might go away but the recruiting will not.
Generally agree with what you say. Also agree the Ivys by definition have a smaller pool of kids who can play there because of academic index requirements.
BTW - another 2017 committed today to UVA per Ty Zanders twitter. He is a 2017 but re-classified as he was on 2016 MadLax team last year. Not complaining, just the facts.
