It is rare that someone commits before Junior year these days. For the vast majority of sports, a coach cannot connect with a recruit until June 15th after sophomore year.
A commitment, at that point, but also the vast reality of commitments, are no more than gentlemen’s agreements. The athletes agree’s to apply and attend the school (ED if available) and the coach agrees to support that application. Acceptance is almost always a sure thing since there is usually a pre-read of the application.
Only D1 recruits receiving athletic scholarships have some sort of contract, and those don’t get signed until late fall of Senior year at the earliest.
A gentlemen’s agreement is still an agreement, and it should be taken seriously, but no one is legally bound and things do go sideways occasionally… injury, grade drops, coach changes, athlete develops more and gets a better offer (athlete changing their mind is ethically complicated, IMO, but it happens).