Athletic Recruitment Complicated by Pandemic

By Sofia Morais

For dedicated athletes at the Academy, extending sports careers into college may be goals years in the making. Every season, Exonians sit at a table, surrounded by friends and family, signing their names to signal commitments to their dream schools. However, for many upperclassmen, the coronavirus pandemic has become a serious roadblock for prospective college athletes.

With the cancellation of spring sports, athletes have lost playing time, as well as opportunities to film for college coaches. “It is terrible timing. Students in the Class of '21 who want to play D3 lacrosse rely on the film garnered from this season, as well as prospect camps in the month of June in order to get recruited starting July 1,” Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse coach Christina Breen said. “Students in the Class of '22 who want to play D1 lacrosse also count on this spring for film and the summer for camps, as September 1 is the first official day for offering spots.”

Bruce Shang, Girls’ Varsity Volleyball and Squash and Boys’ Varsity Volleyball coach, agreed with Breen’s assessment. “Our kids will miss a year of highlights film they could have made.”

In addition to film opportunities, athletes will experience other disadvantages during this time. “Students would normally have this season to really hone their skills and get ready for the summer recruiting season,” Breen said. She noted that, in season, college coaches sometimes watch games. “We do a mini-tournament the week before E/a that is attended by dozens of college coaches. That opportunity is lost.”

Reliance on past times poses a major hindrance to recruitment, limiting student opportunity to show their improvement. Loss of play time may also prevent actual improvement. “Athletes will have to rely more on any progress they made last spring, or during this school year in the fall or winter training, as well [as] any competition they could have done [last] summer,” Girls’ Varsity Crew coach Sally Morris said.

Senior and Girls’ Varsity Tennis co-captain Mimi Lavin agreed with Morris’ assessment. “It will be difficult for people to improve… People who were injured or on the up and coming are disadvantaged”

Girls’ Varsity Crew coach Sally Morris noted that colleges would also need alternative ways to evaluate their prospective recruits. “All the college coaches are trying to figure out how to assess athletes with limited new data, both recent athletic data from testing or race results and recent GPA changes and SAT testing,” she said. “The recruiting timetable will shift to some extent, but it will shift across the board.”

Due to the upended recruitment process, college coaches are also under immense stress at the moment. “College coaches cannot see [a student’s] junior year of competition before they commit scholarships or form the final roster. It can also cause some coaches to freak out and grab the best available athletes,” Shang explained.

For the colleges, quarantine may mean fewer recruits. “Colleges are suffering because they can’t get kids to visit the campus,” Shang said. “For some schools, that is the hook, and what they are really selling is the school plus the sport. Zoom calls with your future teammates are not the same as staying with them on campus.”

Senior and Girls’ Varsity Crew rower Mia Glinn noted that the pandemic may have lasting repercussions on recruitment. “The [National Collegiate Athletic Association] has allowed all spring sport athletes an extra year of eligibility, which means that teams probably won’t need as many athletes next year,” she says. “While I think this is tough for the next recruiting class, we have some really talented girls on the team who have worked really hard, and I wish them success in the recruiting process.”

Shang agreed, explaining that “there are also questions of [athletes doing a] PG, gap, or redshirting… year.”

Both athletes and coaches await news or instructions from organizations involved in college recruiting, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Morris states that no official word has been given from the NCAA yet. “People are waiting to see what the new timeline will be to come out of self-isolation and quarantine,” she said. “There are no official visits even on the table until the fall, since everything is shut down. Coaches are trying to stay in touch with recruits, and they are still entertaining new prospects for recruitment.”

As for NESCAC, Breen noted that the conference has made several changes to recruiting. “They have only made restrictions. For instance, the NESCAC now says that no on-campus recruiting can happen prior to June 15.”

Despite the information available, Director of Athletics David Hudson stressed that, at this point, it may be difficult to figure out what effect COVID-19 will have on college recruiting on a long-term scale. “[It is] uncertain at this point as the [collegiate sports] decision process has not concluded,” he said.

In the meantime, all high school teams can do is wait for further instructions and stay connected with college coaches.

Breen highlighted her Girls’ Lacrosse team’s creative approach to communicating with coaches. “Our players are trying to be creative in the way they are showing themselves to coaches, digitally,” she says. “They are making athlete highlight reels of them doing athletic things, that aren't just playing in lacrosse games. We hope this will help coaches get a sense of their talents!”

Morris noted that athletes still have some leeway in showcasing their skills. “For crew, athletes who have access to an ergometer at home may be able to train and submit newer, faster scores which will help with the athletic side,” she said. However, she stressed that, on the academic side of recruitment, “there is little the athletes can do to show improvement… It is fortunate that so many institutions have gone pass/no pass for grades so the disparity from high school to high school is reduced.” 

While many Exonians feel concern about recruitment, their plight is shared by student athletes from high schools across the country. For high school athletes everywhere, there is little to do but wait.