D1 Recruiting -- A Great Parents' Guide

Editors Note: We heard Mark Patrick on MLB Home Plate mention the abundant info available on PerfectGame.org and thought we'd take a look. We found plenty and you will too. Here's an excerpt from an article by Blaine Clemmons on the ins and outs of D1 college recruiting. Good stuff.

Crack of the Bat
By Blaine Clemmens

About Scholarships and Recruiting!

At the end of the year, there are always many players that are wishing they had received an opportunity to sign with a D1 program in the early signing period. Many of those players are very talented, sometimes among the best players in their local area or region. It can often be hard for the parents and the players themselves to understand why an opportunity has not come yet.

Most parents and players only go through the process once in their lives. They don't have the experience or background to understand the process, methods, and reasons college coaches sign certain players in the early period and not others. Further confusing things for the parents in particular is their ability to understand the scholarship situation.

While many of the players that sign in the early period (this year it was Nov. 7-11) are offered and sign for significant athletic scholarships (I would say that anything 50% and above is a large scholarship offer), there aren't nearly as many "full rides" as parents are led believe. I can't tell you how many times I am at games around parents talking about an offer that Johnny received or an offer that Joey committed to. There is so much second hand information being passed around and frankly, a lot of fibbing too.

Anyway, most of the parents and players have very, very little knowledge about how the whole recruiting process, and in particular, very little knowledge about how scholarships work for baseball at the D1 more about recruiting