Even if rosters are filled by the beginning of junior year (which seems insane, but okay I get it), I don’t see why it would be necessary for a potential recruit to start calling coaches midway through 8th grade. My son started the process on the early side for rowing, and that meant calling coaches exactly one year before he and the coach set up the dates for his OV. Wouldn’t the summer before 10th grade be early enough? I can see why emailing about camps and showcases would be important at this point, but I just don’t see what good the phone call will do. At some point you’re just unnecessarily taking up a busy coach’s time.
And as an aside…isn’t all of this a recipe for burn-out? How many kids end up quitting collegiate athletics because they’ve been under this much pressure since they were children? I’m grateful my boys are in a sport that’s really not possible to be good at before you’re in high school!