Category Archives: Advanced Blogs

Blogs for those who have the ability to understand fairly advanced concepts and information related to sports and prep schools

QB Position Dilemma

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Andrew was a good enough high school QB as a senior to garner interest from a handful of D1 football programs. None actually offered him as a QB, but fairly mobile at 6’5″, 245 lbs., many had serious interest in him as a tight end or lineman. He refused, saying he was a QB and that’s the position he wanted to play in college.

Our search for a prep school produced very limited options. The QB spot is very competitive at the prep school level, especially as a post-graduate. Many of the schools we would have liked did not want him as a QB but wanted him badly as a lineman or TE. I discussed this option with the young man and his family. Their self-confidence in him as a QB was unshakable. I remember his mother telling me he had been to some D1 schools exposure camps and had received very favorable feedback from those schools regarding their interest in her son as a QB. We continued to look for a prep school and ended up finding one we were happy with, but at a cost. We had to make a significant sacrifice academically while spending twice the family’s budget.

As the summer progressed, and before he got to prep school in the fall, Andrew and his parents came to grips with his recruiting reality. They discovered that the colleges they thought were interested really weren’t, and the family was forced to make the tough decision many QBs face at some point. He called his prep school coach and told him he was ready to change positions.

Prep school was a great experience for him. He liked the school he chose and the school loved him. He struggled to make the position switch, but stuck with it and did well, receiving D1 offers as a TE/lineman from some of the best academic colleges in the country. He and his parents are happy with their decision and the outcome.

It’s hard to argue with the outcome in this case, but consider the alternative. Making the decision to switch positions in February that he ended up making in July would have yielded more and better prep school choices and changed two things. Instead of sacrificing his level of prep school education, he would have gotten a world class, life changing one, and gotten it for free, saving this family of limited means over $20,000.

 

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Why Do a PG Year When I Already Have Offers?

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People regularly ask, often incredulously, why anyone who already has offers would do a post-graduate (PG) year. The better question is, why wouldn’t you?

Asking why is a pretty clear indicator of goals and perspective. All most families can think of is getting a D1 offer. They’ve hardly considered, and have little understanding of, what happens and what it takes to be successful once you’re actually in college and playing a D1 sport.

Survival is a big part of sports at the D1 level. Everyone at that level has talent. Everyone is on a scholarship. Everyone thinks they will play. Not everyone will. Nobody thinks that will be them.

If your goal is just to get the offer, there’s no reason to do a PG year. If you want to maximize your success and get the most out of your college experience, there’s every reason. Here are the main ones:

  • There is virtually no downside to a PG year
  • You will still have all the offers and options you have now, plus five times more
  • You will get higher level offers
    • The additional year makes you a better athlete and gets you better exposure
  • You will have more choices and options, which leads to a better decision
  • You will have a better idea of who you are as a person and an athlete
  • You will be better prepared to live away from home
    • Better handle the reduced supervision and increased freedom
  • You will become a better student
    • This is true for all levels of students, even the best ones
  • You will have an additional year of education and credits
  • You will be much better at recruiting process the second time around.
    • This is one of the most overlooked reasons to PG
      • Most families are fairly clueless the first time they go through the process
      • It’s not a fair fight.
        • Coaches are professionals. If they don’t recruit successfully, they don’t have a job.
  • You will get more out of college and increase chances of success
    • Remember, you only get four years
      • Achieve higher grades in college
      • Achieve more success in your sport
  • You will minimize the risks
    • Lower risk of transfer or bad experience
    • Lower risk of failing out
    • Lower risk of sitting on the bench the first year or two, or never cracking the lineup
  • You will have a much better chance of thriving in college, instead of just surviving

These reasons all pertain to students in general. If you’re young for your grade or a student at risk (ie: a weak student, marginal recruit or received offers based more on potential than current ability), that’s all the more reason.

Why don’t more families take advantage of this opportunity? Lack of awareness, lack of patience, lack of perspective. Some don’t know the opportunity exists. Some are too impatient to get to college. Some don’t see the big picture. Ask yourself this: what is your decision going to look like when you look back a year from now?

If school and sports are really about life preparation, then this truly is an easy decision. A PG year better prepares the student for college and life after college. There’s no question about it.

If you think this is all hypothetical, consider one example. I worked this past year with a young man who said no in the summer before his senior year to the first D1 offer he received. During his senior season many schools came to look at him, some as many as a five times, but no one offered. Finally, late in the season, he received one very low level offer.

When they asked to speak with me about their prep school options, this family of very little means was worried about passing up the one offer they had.  We sat in their living room when they nervously asked me if it was reasonable to think that they might get more offers. They decided they believed in themselves and opted for prep school. Five months later they had over 20 offers. The schools that had watched him five times, and to whom he would have quickly said yes any and every day during the season, now could barely get the family’s attention with their offer. In the end, this athlete ended up jumping all the way to high level D1 and a top 25 program.

Having offers gives you leverage. Use it. A PG year reduces variables and risks. You only get four years of college. A PG year is the best way to maximize those years.

 

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Emmitt Holt: The Indiana University Offer Dilemma

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Emmitt Holt (Webster Schroeder HS, Rochester, NY) has very recently been offered by Indiana University for the fall of 2014. That’s right, classes would start for him in just a few weeks. Up ‘till now he’s been committed to attending Vermont Academy for a post-graduate year. Whether he should accept the Indiana offer has been a popular topic of debate among players, high school coaches and college coaches.

On the surface, the IU offer changes everything. Indiana is historically big-time, as big as it gets. And Emmitt has no other offers close to this level. (Low to mid A-10 offers were his highest). It’s hard to overstate the power of the feeling that comes with an offer like this. Even adult observers, after discussing the situation objectively, shake their heads and admit they could not think straight if it happened to them. And they’re not 18 years old.

The initial reaction of many is he has to take it. It’s IU. How do you say no? It’s not as obvious as it might seem.

 

Reasons to take the offer:

  • It’s Indiana. It’s Emmitt’s chance to reach his dream. He may never get another offer like this. Most players, and a lot of parents, would give almost anything to have this opportunity.
  • Chance to play right away. They need bigs. No obvious star big men on the roster in front of him.
  • Possible redshirt his first year. It’s a year to learn the system and adjust to school. It’s also an additional free year of college education.

 

Reasons to turn down the offer:

  • Indiana is just filling a roster spot. They recruit a better player next year and Emmitt never ends up getting playing time. That’s a process risk anytime you take an offer this late. One D1 coach said to me “putting Emmitt on your (IU) team doesn’t scare away any top 100 prospects next year”. He added: “this is why there were over 600 transfers this year”.
  • Act like you’ve been there before. There’s a certain panic or pressure in the logic of taking the offer because you might never get another one. In this case, I call it the Rochester mentality. If a player really thinks he’s that good, he doesn’t feel compelled to jump at the first great offer. The goal isn’t just to get the offer, it’s to succeed in college and after graduation.
  • If Emmitt’s got one offer like this now, he’s going to have multiple offers like this six months from now. This means less pressure, more time to make the decision, more chances for a better match and improved overall chances for a successful outcome
  • If he’s not that good, he’ll find out before making a big mistake. No need to transfer.
  • The official visit to IU will be at best incomplete, at worst misleading. School is not in session, so the students aren’t there. Professional educators say visiting when a school is in session is critical. The students are perhaps the most important component of a visit.
  • Not losing a redshirt year. By prepping he keeps that redshirt year option. He also removes the risk of not surviving the emotional difficulty of a redshirt year.
  • The head coach might not be there for long. He has had limited success at a place where expectations are extremely high, and there are rumblings that he might not last there unless he wins right away. (Some say taking a player of Emmitt’s caliber is consistent with this lack of success). If he is fired, it’s common for new coaches to make some significant changes, including telling some players they will not be asked back. On the surface, Emmitt could be a likely candidate for that.

 

What are the risks of saying no to the offer? Some say injury is one. That concern gets overvalued for several reasons. First, it was addressed and accepted when prep school was chosen over scholarships. Second, statistically that risk is much smaller than some others, such as not surviving college academically and socially. Finally, the power of good prep schools and medical science these days is such that even a significant injury can have little to no effect on recruitment.

Let’s remember for a minute, this is only a debate because Emmitt made what to many was a surprising decision to choose prep school over college scholarships in the first place.  Any good thought process would review his original reasons in light of the recent offer. They were:

  • To play at a higher level
  • To have more schools to choose from
  • To improve his overall maturity. (There’s some irony here considering he was mature enough to choose prep school. Others, who are less mature, have gone straight to college). By all accounts he is at risk for not surviving away from home.
  • To improve his chances for academic success in college and his career options after college
  • To improve his chances for athletic success, and at an earlier point in his career

Contrary to initial reactions, it’s clear the IU offer changes almost nothing.

With all the excitement and discussion, it might be easy to forget this isn’t just about Emmitt Holt. Vermont Academy made an educational, athletic and financial commitment to him and is counting on him. He was awarded a spot that other kids and parents would have given a great deal to have. Leaving now would be unfair to the school and those other athletes he was chosen over, and he knew that when he made the commitment.

There’s no question this is a tough decision. Logic is great, but emotion will, and should, play a part. The idea is to make sure the thinking is as logical as possible and no significant facts are missed. This is all about minimizing risk and putting the athlete in a position to succeed, not a position to fail. Although it happens regularly, playing for the exception is a trap.

 

 

 

 

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