One consideration is how competitive the team/program is for recruiting, separate from admissions. My D3 kid’s experience was that, for the top ten program he was talking with (but did not ultimately get a roster spot offer), recruits were expected to apply ED to lock in the recruiting commitment, even though the acceptance rate was in the 50% range. Otherwise, the coaches don’t know whether they need to keep talking to other players in that position to be sure the team’s recruiting needs are met. I mentioned this on a recent thread about whether pre-reads are always necessary for recruiting to admissions safeties. Our experience was that a formal pre-read may not be necessary at schools with higher acceptance rates because the coach/admissions interviewer can give a well informed assessment that admissions is secure. By the time my kid’s list had been narrowed down, admissions officers were telling us his projected merit award, no one was worried about whether he’d get in, just whether we’d have enough merit to allow us to afford our full pay status.