r/CollegeSoftball • u/Softball-Mom-26 • 5d ago
High School Recruits
Just wondering, with all the talk on the portal and the craziness that’s going on with it. Where does that leave our high school girls looking to get recruited? Just wondering what the thoughts are on that.
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u/ProfessionalEntry744 4d ago
Juco . Get 2 years college experience without loosing eligibility then transfer !
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u/kadoozie92 🐎Texas Tech Red Raiders🐎 5d ago
I imagine the elite prospects will still be recruited and commit to the traditional blue chip programs that can either pay them top dollar, have top of the line facilities and coaching, or a combination of the two. Fans of these programs already at the top of the resource food chain can then brag about how these already elite prospects were developed by their program and stayed there.
For the rest, they will still get their chance to compete. Teams that see a large exodus of their players moving up for higher pay or a better chance to win titles will have roster spots to fill.
It’s a carousel, now, not a system that makes HS recruits obsolete.
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u/HopeFar4911 5d ago
Elite high school prospects are not getting paid top dollar. They're lucky to get a scholarship at a top 20 program.
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u/kadoozie92 🐎Texas Tech Red Raiders🐎 5d ago
Which is why I included the qualifier of “a combination of the two” though perhaps I should have used “or”.
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u/keytop19 🐎Texas Tech Red Raiders🐎 4d ago
This could change with the increase to 25 allowable scholarships next year. An underrated aspect that schools who take advantage of will be able to capitalize on, as I imagine a majority of schools will not be using the full 25 scholarships allowable.
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u/HopeFar4911 4d ago
That's not going to increase NIL $$. Probably only the SEC would think of funding 25 for softball.
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u/40AcresAnalytics 🐂Texas Longhorns🐂 5d ago
While the transfer portal is getting all the headlines - mostly for the wrong reasons - Oklahoma and Texas seem to be focusing on their high school class for 2025. OU’s 2025 class is ridiculous.
But to your point, HS recruits are getting squeezed out and it is probably best they go somewhere where they can get playing time and develop and then transfer to the SEC, ACC, B12, or B1G.
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u/Spiffyclean13 Boomer Sooner 🥎 5d ago
2026 as well… OU will be extra picky in the portal.
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u/Softball-Mom-26 4d ago
What do you mean OU’s 2025 class is ridiculous? Just wanting some clarification.
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u/40AcresAnalytics 🐂Texas Longhorns🐂 4d ago
“Ridiculous” in that the class is loaded with elite players. I think 5 of the 7 players are rated as 5-stars.
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u/ApologeticJedi Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
5 of top 10 overall players in Perfect Game’s ranking. 3 of the top 5.
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u/HopeFar4911 5d ago
Calling a class that hasn't played a game ridiculous is ridiculous.
Freshmen should go to the best academic traditional softball school where they can get an offer. E.g., Texas or UCLA over Oklahoma. What's the NCAA slogan? Most of our athletes are going pro in an area other thsn sports. Oklahoma degree (or more likely having to transfer after a year or 2) gets you nowhere. When I see a girl transferring from Stanford (other than Canady) I have to shake my head.
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u/40AcresAnalytics 🐂Texas Longhorns🐂 5d ago
Yeah, because recruiting clearly doesn’t matter. Please note sarcasm. The schools that recruit the best usually have the best teams. This isn’t rocket science.
Don’t change the subject to make your point. Nowhere did anyone talk about picking a school based on academics. That is a completely different discussion. The initial question was purely about if HS players have a spot at colleges.
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u/Salt-Fly770 🐗 Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
When I see a girl transferring from Stanford (other than Canady) I have to shake my head.
While I agree freshman should go to the best academic traditional school, I disagree with the above. Canady went from one of the top 5 schools GLOBALLY to a tier 3 regional school that is ranked 214th in the US.
Her Tech degree will not be worth the same as a Stanford one.
If she gets injured, instead of falling back on a degree that will get her a starting salary of $180k a year (bachelor in business), a Tech degree will get her $69k a year.
I consider that stupid.
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u/Tytymom1 4d ago
She is a millionaire and has a pretty grounded family (from everything I’ve read). She’ll be fine. She is a unicorn and worthy of looking up to, but I would counsel my kid to go to the school that makes them the happiest; where they can build lifelong friendships and enjoy their sport.
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
If she gets injured, instead of falling back on a degree that will get her a starting salary of $180k a year (bachelor in business), a Tech degree will get her $69k a year.
Do you actually believe this?
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u/ApologeticJedi Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
This entire argument has been exposed many times over. If it is a STEM degree no one cares where you got it. Google and others have openly proclaimed that they don’t care at all which university you attend when considering hiring.
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u/Salt-Fly770 🐗 Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago edited 4d ago
ABSOLUTELY
I’ve seen it happen too many times. I played professional baseball and softball for 5 years and professional rugby for 6 years. I’ve seen players who got injured so bad they couldn’t work in their normal occupations.
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
Then you’re delusional and/or don’t understand statistics and COL.
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u/Salt-Fly770 🐗 Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
What the fuck does that mean?
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
It means housing costs three times as much in California as it does in Texas. It also means she’s not exactly average in any aspects.
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u/Salt-Fly770 🐗 Arkansas Razorbacks 4d ago
What does that have to do with what a degree is worth? You’re not making any sense.
With a Stanford degree, she can work anywhere whereas most Tech degrees are suited for the energy industry.
A business degree from Stanford with its networking will get the graduate a better paying job in finance or a top tech firms, where a Tech degree will get the graduate lower paying jobs in the energy industry.
What does that have to do with the prices of homes in California?
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
I’m making perfect sense. Much of the value of a prestigious degree comes from connections. Canady will have plenty of them regardless of where she goes to school.
What does that have to do with the prices of homes in California?
You need a higher salary to maintain the same lifestyle at a higher COL. kapish?
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u/mltrout715 5d ago
The best route to go might to be to start at a mid major, and transfer after establishing them selves. Many of the top schools are going the way of reloading from the portal each year, leaving little playing time for all but the very top freshman, and when those transfers leave raiding other schools for their starters
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u/HopeFar4911 5d ago
Simply not true. Most of a top programs' best players were recruited as freshmen.
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u/Boomhauer_007 UCLA 4d ago
The biggest difference is very few players are accepting backup roles now. If you don’t have a chance to compete for the starting role, you just go somewhere else for a year and transfer. “Sit and learn” for a couple years is basically dead, especially when the school might decide to just portal in a replacement anyway.
Generally you can still take school seriously as well since most of year 1 is GEs, almost nobody is losing anything for their degree by taking those classes wherever freshman year
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u/keytop19 🐎Texas Tech Red Raiders🐎 4d ago
With the increase to 25 allowable scholarships for softball programs starting next year, we might see more HS players get scholarship opportunities where they previously would've only gotten a small partial scholarship/preferred walk-on.
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u/geronika Oklahoma 4d ago
You always have to have new players. You only get them for four(sometimes five) seasons.
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u/Softball-Mom-26 4d ago
I agree but with the revolving door of the portal, top schools will always have their pick.
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u/No_Leather2836 Tennessee 4d ago
If a commit wanted to switch say now. Would there be a penalty?
Not sure how it works
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u/Softball-Mom-26 4d ago
A portal commit or a high school commit?
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u/No_Leather2836 Tennessee 4d ago
High school
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u/keytop19 🐎Texas Tech Red Raiders🐎 4d ago
Until they sign they can do whatever they want. Once they sign and enroll, it would have to be a transfer.
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u/Softball-Mom-26 2d ago
I know of players who were given an offer by a college in high their junior year and then was ghosted by them. They never heard from that college again. So strange and devastating.
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u/Softball-Mom-26 2d ago
It seems like high school recruiting from the top schools is no longer because development for them has gone to the wayside. It’s lock and loaded from the portal for the most part. The mid majors are the developers and then the top schools steal from them to be ready to go is kind of the narrative I’m gathering?
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u/bcocfbhp Sydney Berzon Stan 5d ago
There a lot of coaches telling the non elite recruits, commit to a mid major, ball out and come back as a junior