Article: College recruiting starts early

NCSA constantly stresses the fact that the recruiting process begins well before junior and senior year. It’s never too soon to start planning for playing at the next level because college coaches are already looking for potential recruits who are as young as 13 years old.

Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel recently wrote an in-depth and informative column about the trend of recruiting young athletes . It’s a good article and one that raises a lot of questions. Questions about what the NCAA may need to do in the near future regarding this subject, and questions about the problems that can arise when players that aren’t fully developed physically or mentally are offered scholarships.

Hays notes that football is late to the early recruiting game (a fact that may have a lot to do with the fact that football requires physical development that’s hard to gauge in junior high school players), and soccer, baseball and basketball programs have been recruiting young student-athletes for a while.

College coaches are under a lot of pressure to succeed. And that pressure means they want to find players that fit their programs early and get an edge over other schools. This means that student-athletes have to be ready to start the recruiting process earlier than they think.

Any thoughts?

I personally think it's kind of crazy due to a kids body can change dramatically between the ages of 13 to 17. Your DD could be the fastest kid in the state at u-12 or 13 and by the age of 17 she might be average speed on her team. I've noticed with our team alone that the fastest kids in u-8 and u-9 are no longer the fastest kids anymore. Just my opinion, I'm sure there are special kind of kids out there at 13 that college coaches already know that they will be special players at the college level, but only a few.

True and the majority of those few "special" kids have an athletic lineage.

i.e. parent played college football, basketball, etc.

I do think it may be a good idea if you can get in early with those types of kids. But recruiting your average 10 year because they are good today.....good luck with that payoff as a college recruiter.

I think that girls mature earlier than boys and are probably done with height at aroung 15-16. Most girls I know commit before their junior year. I haven't seen any girls just all the sudden come out of no where. That's why early development and getting the right team early is unfortunately important. Sometimes girls that may have potential get left behind.

Thats why a lot of kids filter into OFC eventually.