<p>There are some sports–LAX for example–that do make their “offers” very very early-- including late sophomore year–I know of a boy at Exeter who has one from Harvard. Does that mean that he can/should sit back knowing his future is secure–of course not. He has to continue at the same level both academically and athletically (which btw has to be done with a LL recipient, just for a shorter period of time…). However, the commitment means a great deal more than a cup of coffee-- if a coach offers such commitments and reneges on them, their credibility is shot and once shot, he or she is done. Do you think that coaches at Exeter or a major public high school who has had a kid “played” will make sure that his or her future athletes are aware of what that college coach has done? There is a coach in the Ivies in a minor sport who has done this and his name is mud throughout the prep school world-- he couldn’t recruit a kid who just started his sport at this point. He will, God willing, be fired soon–as his teams continue to deteriorate. </p>
<p>I think that the idea of such early commitments are nuts–both for the kid and for the college–but in these sports they are facts of life. In these sports if you don’t have a commitment by spring of junior year you are out of luck. Weird I know, but so it goes…</p>