End of an Era: Early Recruiting

Earlier this week, the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association and the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association jointly submitted a proposal to US Lacrosse that altered the college recruiting scene in a big way! Before, there was very little rules and regulations when it came to college recruiting for lacrosse. Every now and then we would hear of a "big time" program getting an 8th grader to verbally commit. However, a verbal commitment is a non binding agreement which allows the student-athlete to change his/her mind. Now, with the passing of proposition 2016-26, College coaches are prohibited from communicating with prospective student-athletes until September 1 of their junior year of high school. This will limit the amount of dropped verbal commitments college programs have to endure, as well as lets college coaches focus on players the will have sooner than later. This also benefits the recruits as well. Gives them more time to improve and hopefully impress coaches who otherwise might not have noticed them. Long story short, I think putting an end to early recruiting is what's best for the sport at all levels.