Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it’s too late now cause the 26’s are in HS, but I would say play multiple sports. My son landed at an Ivy. Every recruit in his class so far plays at least 2 varsity sports. Maybe that’s just the school he chose ie coach preference, I’m not sure.

Off of his club team, the high end boys on the team were both multi-sport and lacrosse only kids, and were recruited by high end schools. As you work down the roster, the multi-sport kids have faired better.

To quote Coach Danowski (DUKE) - "I love that you play multiple sports, but at the end of the day, all I care about is can you play lacrosse at a championship level. I get 8 spots per class and I don't need to help out the football and basketball teams."

Duke doesn’t recruit; they chose.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it’s too late now cause the 26’s are in HS, but I would say play multiple sports. My son landed at an Ivy. Every recruit in his class so far plays at least 2 varsity sports. Maybe that’s just the school he chose ie coach preference, I’m not sure.

Off of his club team, the high end boys on the team were both multi-sport and lacrosse only kids, and were recruited by high end schools. As you work down the roster, the multi-sport kids have faired better.

To quote Coach Danowski (DUKE) - "I love that you play multiple sports, but at the end of the day, all I care about is can you play lacrosse at a championship level. I get 8 spots per class and I don't need to help out the football and basketball teams."

Maybe it’s too late now cause the 26’s are in HS, but I would say play multiple sports. My son landed at an Ivy. Every recruit in his class so far plays at least 2 varsity sports. Maybe that’s just the school he chose ie coach preference, I’m not sure.

Off of his club team, the high end boys on the team were both multi-sport and lacrosse only kids, and were recruited by high end schools. As you work down the roster, the multi-sport kids have faired better.

Anonymous wrote:If you expect your son to get recruited fall of his junior year he has to make an impact on his HS team this spring as a sophomore and it’s also an advantage if he played varsity his freshman year.

Every single member of the Top 50 on IL played as a freshman, and some even played as 8th graders on varsity teams. And lets not forget nearly all of them are older than your average juniors too, meaning that they have reclassed at some point in their process either for academic, athletic or social reasons. For whatever reason, coaches want older or more mature recruits. Last year's Top 50 was nearly half the class.

Anonymous wrote:Grades matter whoever said they don’t is a idoit.

Don't take my word for it. Look at the area Ivy League recruits this recruiting year and tell me grades matter. Too funny. Without naming names, there is no way those kids get into those schools based on their grades and test scores without lacrosse. Period. But do your own homework and check the Inside Lacrosse lists for yourself.

Grades matter whoever said they don’t is a idoit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several points raised conflict with my DS's experience. Let me start by saying DS wanted high academic D3 - NESCACs, several Liberty and Centennial Conference schools.

- He was not on the highest-level club team, but did play top-level competition in high school. College coaches most definitely reached out to his (unknown) HS coach for feedback and he was therefore a significant part of his process.

- Lacrosse Masters was an extremely important part of his journey. Most (>60%) of his NESCAC class attended at least one LM event.

- Attendance at prospect days at the individual schools was critical. Club coach contacted college coach before and after event.

- Extra COVID eligibility has been much more of a headache in the NESCAC than we expected. Those players got 2 extra years of eligibility and a number of guys took/are taking it. Won't be an issue for those still in high school.

Thanks, this fits my 2026's profile almost exactly. If you don't mind my asking, when/what grade did your son attend the Lacrosse Masters events? How many did he attend? When did he start going to prospect days? How many prospect days did he do?

Thanks in advance...

Sophomore year winter
LM in FL

Rising junior summer
Prep School Lacrosse Showcase
LM D3 Camp

Junior year fall
4 (?) school specific prospect days
NHSLS

Junior year winter
1 prospect day
LM in FL

Rising senior summer
Prep School Lacrosse Showcase

Agree with a PP, do not wait until the summer after junior year to get the attention of NESCAC and NESCAC-like schools. Coaches may "discover" a few players that late, but they have their lists well-developed by the spring.

Also, grades were a huge factor for coaches. So was the rigor of DC's course load.

This is great, thanks so much!

If you expect your son to get recruited fall of his junior year he has to make an impact on his HS team this spring as a sophomore and it’s also an advantage if he played varsity his freshman year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several points raised conflict with my DS's experience. Let me start by saying DS wanted high academic D3 - NESCACs, several Liberty and Centennial Conference schools.

- He was not on the highest-level club team, but did play top-level competition in high school. College coaches most definitely reached out to his (unknown) HS coach for feedback and he was therefore a significant part of his process.

- Lacrosse Masters was an extremely important part of his journey. Most (>60%) of his NESCAC class attended at least one LM event.

- Attendance at prospect days at the individual schools was critical. Club coach contacted college coach before and after event.

- Extra COVID eligibility has been much more of a headache in the NESCAC than we expected. Those players got 2 extra years of eligibility and a number of guys took/are taking it. Won't be an issue for those still in high school.

Thanks, this fits my 2026's profile almost exactly. If you don't mind my asking, when/what grade did your son attend the Lacrosse Masters events? How many did he attend? When did he start going to prospect days? How many prospect days did he do?

Thanks in advance...

Sophomore year winter
LM in FL

Rising junior summer
Prep School Lacrosse Showcase
LM D3 Camp

Junior year fall
4 (?) school specific prospect days
NHSLS

Junior year winter
1 prospect day
LM in FL

Rising senior summer
Prep School Lacrosse Showcase

Agree with a PP, do not wait until the summer after junior year to get the attention of NESCAC and NESCAC-like schools. Coaches may "discover" a few players that late, but they have their lists well-developed by the spring.

Also, grades were a huge factor for coaches. So was the rigor of DC's course load.

I would differ on two points having gone through the process for both D1 and D3. Grades do matter. My DS is at a high academic D1 program and the coach was very concerned about the team AI throughout the process. Expectations differ across players but if you bring a higher than average AI to the table it can very much enhance you as a recruit, if your skill set already has you in serious consideration. You can google average AIs across Ivy League schools.

We never attended a D1 prospect day that had a majority or even serious minority, of definite D1 level recruits. There were many more D1 want to be recruits and lots of ball hogging that made them frustrating and discouraging in our personal experience. Getting in front of lots of coaches at tournaments like NLF and NHLHS while playing with your actual teams as well as events like Nike National and the old Under Armour tournaments were more valuable but not sure how those last two are currently as far as coach attendance.

I would also say cast a wide net, communicate regularly with your high school and club coaches to make sure your targets are reasonable, send out lots and lots of good film and communicate with college coaches regularly about your upcoming summer game schedules as they approach and don't get discouraged about the void into which your emails seem to fall. Also have some D3 schools on your list and start working them now like D1s. If D1 doesn't work out the better D3 programs don't want to be considered after thoughts.

Anonymous wrote:Several points raised conflict with my DS's experience. Let me start by saying DS wanted high academic D3 - NESCACs, several Liberty and Centennial Conference schools.

- He was not on the highest-level club team, but did play top-level competition in high school. College coaches most definitely reached out to his (unknown) HS coach for feedback and he was therefore a significant part of his process.

- Lacrosse Masters was an extremely important part of his journey. Most (>60%) of his NESCAC class attended at least one LM event.

- Attendance at prospect days at the individual schools was critical. Club coach contacted college coach before and after event.

- Extra COVID eligibility has been much more of an headache in the NESCAC than we expected. Those players got 2 extra years of eligibility and a number of guys took/are taking it. Won't be an issue for those still in high school.

Thanks, this fits my 2026's profile almost exactly. If you don't mind my asking, when/what grade did your son attend the Lacrosse Masters events? How many did he attend? When did he start going to prospect days? How many prospect days did he do?

Thanks in advance...

Several points raised conflict with my DS's experience. Let me start by saying DS wanted high academic D3 - NESCACs, several Liberty and Centennial Conference schools.

- He was not on the highest-level club team, but did play top-level competition in high school. College coaches most definitely reached out to his (unknown) HS coach for feedback and he was therefore a significant part of his process.

- Lacrosse Masters was an extremely important part of his journey. Most (>60%) of his NESCAC class attended at least one LM event.

- Attendance at prospect days at the individual schools was critical. Club coach contacted college coach before and after event.

- Extra COVID eligibility has been much more of an headache in the NESCAC than we expected. Those players got 2 extra years of eligibility and a number of guys took/are taking it. Won't be an issue for those still in high school.

Couple of observations:

- Totally agree that its a process and everyone's path is unique, but I think the last two-three recruiting cycles have helped identify some things to avoid.

- Do not waste your time on prospect camps. These are fundraisers for coaches. Coaches will claim that they identify kids there, but that's a lie. There are always exceptions to rules, but 99 percent of this is about the non-revenue sport using these to pay for their assistants.

- Showcases, prospect days and clinics claiming to have coaches from a number of schools is another trick. Unless they specifically name a coach from a school its unlikely to be a decision-maker on recruiting. Lots and lots of showcases pull this trick and its another big waste of time and energy.

- Grades don't matter as much as you think they do. Sure, you can't be a total neanderthal, but only a handful of schools really seem to care about their AI, and this is especially true for the Ivies in the last two-three recruiting cycles.

- The days of the DC, Baltimore, Long Island areas being able to sit-back and let the recruiting world come to them is over. Lacrosse is nationwide, and if you aren't out there really advocating for your players, some other coach probably is. Similarly, if a club does not have a dedicated recruiting coordinator and not a part-timer building on their day job, run. Over the last 2 to3 cycles, there's only 1 club that has consistently placed kids due to the hustle of its owners, and that's our club - Next Level. Only a handful of clubs nationwide seem to understand recruiting and how to effectively 'sell' its players.

- The prior comment about Club mattering more than HS is partially true but also part of the problem. You have to be part of a good club team to play in the right tournaments in the right brackets, but clubs are also businesses that are really always focused on the next year and not all that concerned for the most part on the wear and tear on their current kids come the end of July.

If your DS is good its 50-50 that they will be found by a coach regardless, but remember less than 10 percent of all HS and Club players will find a D1 home. This number creeps up to 15 percent when you include D2 and D3. Try not to get hung up on the level of play, but instead what your DS wants out of playing and college degree.

A few observations, more recruiting activity comes through club than HS. Most of the top HS players are already committed each year as they are 25's and 24's. 26's have some impact but they will mostly be evaluated at showcases and club events. NLF events had by far the most coaches. NHSLS for HS. I do not think COVID would be that much of an issue. The 2020 season was impacted so those 2019 commitments were given the extra year which really impacts 2020-2023 classes.

DS is a 2026 player on a solid club team and a good HS team, but trying to get a sense of how the process works based on the 2025s experience with the end of the COVID 5th years. Looking for reality checks and what to avoid. TY.