After visiting the University of Tennessee’s campus last fall, Logan Caymol knew it was the place she wanted to play softball. In November, she made a verbal commitment to play at UT after high school.
However, it will be quite some time before she steps on the field for the Lady Volunteers. Caymol is still a freshman at Buford High School.
According to the website goldfastpitch.com, Caymol is one of 99 girls in the class of 2018 who have verbally committed to Division I schools. And they are not even the youngest players to do so: 13 girls in the class of 2019 already made commitments.
Three girls on Caymol’s 14-and-under team have committed to Division I schools.
“Unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more common,” said Patrick Lewis, Caymol’s travel team coach. “It started about five years ago. Before that, kids were committing their junior and senior years of high school.”
The change, according to coaches, is a result of more resources going to softball at top colleges, players developing skills at younger ages and better competition at youth levels.
Catharine Aradi, the author of “Preparing to Play Softball at the Collegiate Level,” says that nearly all of the athletes who make early commitments do so with D-I programs.
“Most of the time, if you take that 10 to 15 percent of kids who commit early — by my definition, before the middle of their junior year — they are almost all going to be going to Division I schools,” Aradi said.
Georgia Tech softball hitting coach Jake Jury noted the new economics of college sports has created a new atmosphere around recruiting.
“It’s getting so competitive with the revenue generated from TV and the budgets kind of raising a bit in the Power Five conferences,” Jury said.
Players also are advancing at younger ages, Georgia State softball coach Roger Kincaid said, which starts recruiting battles earlier.
“I think that started the wheel turning for kids wanting to commit early and coaches feeling like, ‘Hey, if I don’t offer this kid, another school is and I’m gonna miss out on her,’” Kincaid said.
Even though younger players are making verbal commitments, they are not required to stick with their decisions until they sign letters of intent as seniors.
“More often than not, they will stick to their commitments,” Jury said. “We are seeing more and more over the past year or two, the kids will decommit for various reasons, like coaching changes or they have a change in what what they want to do academically.”
The NCAA has rules in place preventing Division I coaches from emailing prospective student-athletes before their junior year or calling athletes before their senior year.
Even with these rules in place, Aradi says there are still ways for coaches and athletes to communicate before their junior year. One way: softball camps.
“The only direct route would be this: Player A goes to camp at School B, and they really like her and they tell her she’s great,” Aradi said. “They send her a notice of their next camp. Let’s say she’s in eighth or ninth grade and then she goes to the next camp. They really like her now and they say, ‘Send us your schedule or stay in touch’ or whatever.”
That was how former Georgia Tech softball player Hope Rush often talked to coaches when she was being recruited.
“That was the only reason they would invite you to the camp, so they could talk to us,” said Rush.
Another way they can communicate is through the player’s travel coach, which was the case for Caymol.
After Caymol’s team played in a tournament, coaches who wanted to talk to her gave their contact information to Lewis, who then relayed that information to her.
“After we finished the season, I began calling coaches of schools I was interested in and developing relationships with them,” said Caymol.
There are no rules preventing athletes from calling or emailing coaches before their junior year.
While it’s becoming more common for college coaches to target younger players, Kincaid said many coaches don’t want to force young athletes like Caymol to deal with the pressures of the recruiting process before they have to.
“We are trying to slow it down by putting in some rules and regulations that would limit some things that we can do to contact these kids early or to have them contact us early,” said Kincaid. “Parents, players and coaches, I think everybody would welcome that.”
Kincaid did not detail the rules and regulations that might be considered.
Lewis has heard similar undertones during his conversations with college coaches, but said he feels that nothing will change unless the big schools push for one.
“Until the Power Five gets together and says they aren’t going to do it and they come up with their own inner rule — because the NCAA isn’t going to do it — it’s not going to stop,” said Lewis.
Lewis will continue to try to help his athletes through the recruiting process. He said emphasizing the importance of a college decision is paramount.
“It’s not about having a cute uniform or being on the best softball team for four years,” Lewis said. “It’s about making sure you get the right education to put you in a position to be successful on whatever career path you choose.”
Caymol took this advice and said she feels that she found the place that can do all that for her at Tennessee.
“They have a great softball program at Tennessee, but they also have a great school with so much to offer,” said Caymol.
This may just be the perfect fit for her, but like many young softball players across the country, she has a long wait to find out.
The Grady Sports Bureau is part of the sports media program at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
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