Five Questions To Ponder Before June 15 and the Class of 2022

Chris Fitzgerald June 9, 2020 @ 02:27 PM

June 15 has been a date starred for plenty of athletes and college coaches. Communication can begin between college coaches and athletes from the Class of 2022 in regards to recruiting. Even athletes who have been committed in the Class of 2022, have not been able to communicate with the schools they are committed to. This applies to everyone. Here are a few questions to think about in preparation and anticipation for Monday, June 15.   How does the quarantine affect the initial conversation? [caption id="attachment_83879" align="alignright" width="389"] [player_tooltip player_id="31583" first="Sienna" last="Ifill"] (Class of 2022) with the block for NL 16-1[/caption] The icebreaker is definitely there, a little overdone with, “So, crazy past couple months huh?” Typically, athletes would be playing and preparing for nationals and college coaches would have plenty of time to evaluate the Class of 2022. For some, the most recent video footage or live action evaluation may have been from the end of February, beginning of March. Depending on what state athletes live, the rules of returning to play have been different. With the date of June 15, coaches can talk with athletes about upcoming national tournaments, camps, high performance, but - too soon. Just getting on the phone will be exciting for all athletes involved.   Will athletes get bombarded with calls? Some of the top athletes in the Class of 2022 are still uncommitted. They most likely started the recruiting process, but did not commit before May 1, 2019. They haven’t technically had a recruiting conversation with a college coach in over a year. For some of the top athletes, is their phone going to be buzzing all day long? It might even be a good day to ignore the phone and just take the process one day at a time, which definitely leads to the next question.   Are offers and accepted offers going to be made on the spot? [caption id="attachment_83513" align="alignright" width="434"] [player_tooltip player_id="79232" first="Lauren" last="Carter"] (Denver), [player_tooltip player_id="17322" first="Hayden" last="Kubik"], and [player_tooltip player_id="79242" first="Alayna" last="Finucan"] are top prospects in the Class of 2022.[/caption] I know the language is tricky, and sometimes the verbage can be a little grey in regards to offers. With athletes unable to officially visit campus until July 31, will programs be rolling the dice on a phone call and put the offer on the table right away? What about athletes who already had an offer and wanted to wait? Is the offer still there? A lot can happen in a year even with the shifting of coaches going to different programs. For some, timing can be everything.   Speaking of timing, will timelines be put on athletes in regards to giving their verbal? Every situation is different, for every tiered program and division. Some athletes have a timeline where they need to decide by a certain date while others will receive an offer and they can take their time in making the decision. Obviously a decision has to be made at some point, but there is no rush. With no official visits to campus and in-person evaluations until after July 31, will that affect the typical timelines that athletes will see on an offer?   And What About The Trickle Down? There are some programs that are still looking to finish their 2021 class. With no events, in-person recruiting, and even a summer with lots of question marks there are still Class of 2021 athletes looking for a home at the next level. College coaches will be creating a new blueprint to their recruiting with virtual tours, offers over the phone, calls between players and potential student-athletes, and plenty of other new ideas to finish up classes and start focusing on the next. Oh, and they have a season to prepare for as well. Let the next phase of recruiting begin!