Well, it was an awesome weekend. The first weekend back for D1 coaches is always busy and there were certainly a lot of D1, D2, D3 and NAIA coaches out recruiting this past weekend in Kansas City. I got to watch a ton of great volleyball matches and talk with a bunch of coaches over the weekend. One of the questions I asked coaches was about their thoughts on the new rules and how things were going to progress moving forward.
While there are a few athletes that will have the perfect fit appear almost immediately, I don't think that is going to be the case for most athletes or coaches. With the forced opportunity to watch how athletes develop over the course of this club season, it seems to be definitely moving a lot of cards around the recruiting table. Some athletes that didn't get a ton of interest last club season, could get more interest now as they progress and improve. One of the hardest parts for coaches and athletes right now with the current rules is that no one really knows who is interested in who or how interested either side is in either party. So for those coaches and athletes that are going to try and spring to the finish come June 15th, it might be more difficult than they think.
While some athletes might sit around and wait for that one "big" school to call, they will pass on other opportunities. In the same way that a coach, while trying to build relationships with their recruits might pass on an athlete that is in more of a hurry. The cards are certainly going to fall, but for now there are a lot of athletes that don't really know where they will fall.
Most coaches I talked to are willing to take their time with the new process. The difficult part about all of that is the current schedule. At least for those athletes in Texas, their High School coaches aren't usually excited about them missing matches or practice in the Fall to go on a college visit. So, that leaves the Spring and club volleyball season to make official or unofficial visits. If college coaches are planning on being done with their recruiting class in November (which no one really communicated to me anything different) then that really only leaves the Junior Club season and the Summer before their Senior year to visit campuses and make a decision. In the grand scheme of recruiting that isn't a ton of time to make visits to all the campuses you might be interested in, or that might be interested in you.
While lots of coaches are "slowing things down," after 3 days in Kansas City, the most popular courts were the 16s (2022 class). What that means is that even though they aren't really communicating with athletes, there is still a lot of evaluating going on and also some "babysitting" as well. I say all of that because in the grand scheme of recruiting, college coaches are still going to make it known who they like and whom they are interested in. Lets just say that I haven't been spending the last 48 hours since I got back from KC working on my blog :)
