Boys DIII recruiting advice for 2026?

[Anonymous]

To make a NESCAc team you have to be a viable D1 type skilled player. Your grades have to be very solid - above 3.7 with rigor. NEsCAc coaches have limited slots to pull in lower academic kids like maybe 1 or 2 a season. Making NESCAc IMO is harder than the lower half of D1. You can find out fall of your junior year after talking with the NESCAC coaches if you could be considered. It helps to have club coach or HS coach with connections.

[Anonymous]

Based on what I have seen from private school programs and top local clubs:
1. Good students (3.6ish, under 1400 SAT) go to schools like Denison, F&M, Trinity, Conn College if they are really solid players--starters, team captains.
2. Great students who are really solid players but not getting looks from strong academic D1 programs go to W&L, Middlebury, Williams, Bowdoin type schools. Middlebury specifically told one player he had to hit above 1400.
3. More non-academic players who are also very solid on the field and play for top clubs go to CNU, Salisbury, St Lawrence type schools that are very strong in D3 lacrosse
Most of these guys have spent a year (starting sophomore summer) trying to get noticed by the better D1 programs and when that does not pan out they pivot to D3 usually by the spring of junior year.
At that point having high school and club coaches reach out on your behalf and attending prospect days so that you can experience the program and the school and show demonstrated interest are important.
If you are a true 3.7 GPA or above and can get a 1350 range test score you can also get some good merit aid from schools like Denison and F&M separate from lacrosse. At these programs you need to get in on your own but if the coach wants you he will have the admissions dept do a reread of your academics and give you a good idea of what will likely happen from an admissions standpoint.

[Anonymous]

Preread I meant, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To make a NESCAc team you have to be a viable D1 type skilled player. Your grades have to be very solid - above 3.7 with rigor. NEsCAc coaches have limited slots to pull in lower academic kids like maybe 1 or 2 a season. Making NESCAc IMO is harder than the lower half of D1. You can find out fall of your junior year after talking with the NESCAC coaches if you could be considered. It helps to have club coach or HS coach with connections.

Half of D1? Put down the bottle. Stats and stars don't agree with your comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make a NESCAc team you have to be a viable D1 type skilled player. Your grades have to be very solid - above 3.7 with rigor. NEsCAc coaches have limited slots to pull in lower academic kids like maybe 1 or 2 a season. Making NESCAc IMO is harder than the lower half of D1. You can find out fall of your junior year after talking with the NESCAC coaches if you could be considered. It helps to have club coach or HS coach with connections.

Half of D1? Put down the bottle. Stats and stars don't agree with your comment.

Agree!
D1 has generally bigger, more athletic players. My son was looking at top 20 D3s and bottom 20 D1's, and the messaging from coaches was consistent - he was projected to get time as a freshman at the D3s, but would need a year or two in the weight room before getting much time on the field at D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To make a NESCAc team you have to be a viable D1 type skilled player. Your grades have to be very solid - above 3.7 with rigor. NEsCAc coaches have limited slots to pull in lower academic kids like maybe 1 or 2 a season. Making NESCAc IMO is harder than the lower half of D1. You can find out fall of your junior year after talking with the NESCAC coaches if you could be considered. It helps to have club coach or HS coach with connections.

Half of D1? Put down the bottle. Stats and stars don't agree with your comment.

Agree!
D1 has generally bigger, more athletic players. My son was looking at top 20 D3s and bottom 20 D1's, and the messaging from coaches was consistent - he was projected to get time as a freshman at the D3s, but would need a year or two in the weight room before getting much time on the field at D1.

A good example.of this is W&L.and VMI. They typically play a real competitive game each year and is very close. W&L would be a top 5 NESCAC team and VMI is typically near the lower 10 of D1 but not half of D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon, F&M, Dickinson

I don’t know much about Kenyon but Dickinson and F&M you need to have over a 3.7 and well above average ACT/SAT score to even be considered, especially if you’re not a 4 year varsity player and top contributor junior and senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your son is halfway through HS and not yet played in a varsity game, and is projected only to be a backup as a junior, it’s not realistic to expect to play D3 varsity. He should be choosing a college based on academic and social fit, and play club lacrosse if he wants to continue playing the game beyond high school.

100% agree. If DS isn’t strong academically then going to NESCAC and playing lacrosse is going to be a struggle. Playing a sport at any level isn’t for the weary.

[Anonymous]

It’s important to also consider that maybe half of the kids recruited to any D1-D3 will ever see the field. Highly recruited WACA player is now a college junior at a top ACC school and hasn’t seen the field yet. There are now two highly recruited kids on the roster at his position- who knows where he is on the depth chart now. Tell your kid to pick a college they love for learning not lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

D1 commits have been in the weight room since 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your son is halfway through HS and not yet played in a varsity game, and is projected only to be a backup as a junior, it’s not realistic to expect to play D3 varsity. He should be choosing a college based on academic and social fit, and play club lacrosse if he wants to continue playing the game beyond high school.

100% agree. If DS isn’t strong academically then going to NESCAC and playing lacrosse is going to be a struggle. Playing a sport at any level isn’t for the weary.

That's not what weary means.