You now have a long list of possibilities and he can spend the next 2 years comparing big to small, rural to urban, $$$ to $$$$$$.
If he really thinks he wants to be an athlete, I’d look at that now and compare some types of programs. You didn’t say which sport, but since you did mention ‘ball’ in your user name, say it is baseball. Would he care about distance the team has to travel? If a school plays mostly tournaments or weekend games against one other school? Warm weather so Az or Florida schools v playing with warmers in the dug out in New England? My daughter did play a ball spring sport and her coach figured out other schools could and would travel to Florida for spring break so they played most of their games at home (traveled only one weekend in Feb every year). Makes a big difference if you are taking an afternoon off to play one game rather than a weekend with a 12 hour bus ride. Honestly, we got lucky in this area as I never thought about it when comparing schools (look at the current schedules and the travel times).