Once the high school player signs his LOI, the school essentially "owns his rights" for 5 years (exception is leaving school to either play in the NFL or do something else or leave after a year to go to JUCO and repeat the process). The joke is that people are paying attention to high school students and expect these teenage boys (and girls) to not change their mind. Apparently some of us have forgotten what it is like to be 16 -- 18 years old when commitment to something means you expect to do it for another month or two.
- I'd encourage a somewhat different perspective - when you think about
virtually every 16-18 year old kid going through the process - the Colleges & coaches hold virtually all of the advantages -
kids - are 16-18, never did this before - so no prior experience, figuring it out as they move forward - most somewhat susceptible to grand and glorious snow-jobs & appeals to their ego
coaches - are 35-65 - this is their career - been doing this for 10-40 years, they have vast knowledge, can write books on it ... & some rank as the best con-artists in history.
kids - ultimately making one choice impacting the rest of their lives - want it to be the very best choice - this is their education, their potential athletic career, and the environment where friends & acquaintances will be made that will potentially impact the rest of their lives
Think about the consequences - make a really bad choice & in most cases your life take a very different path.
coaches - ultimately making 22-27 choices per year - some will be great, some good, some duds - and for critical situations, coaches usually enable themselves to select 2 or 3 choices.
Think about the consequences - make a really bad choice - bench the kid & focus on the other recruit.
kids - limited resources to help work through this process Mom, Dad, Coach, Guidance Counselor, and maybe one of those recruiting consultants .... trying to identify the best choice for the 16-18 year old high school senior
coaches - 6-figure+ annual marketing & recruiting budgets, multi-menber recruiting staff, extensive & expensive recruiting research databases, helicopters, Escalades, corporate jets,
trying to find the best choices for the team
Ultimately - blatant dishonesty is despicable & should be scorned -
- but reconsideration / new choices based upon changes in circumstances / new information is a realistic part of this process - especially since 'verbals' are 'non-binding' in both directions.
