Men's lacrosse

College lacrosse coaches fuel recruiting trend by pursuing players younger and younger

Illustration by Tony Chao | Art Director

Although coaches admit the trend is not for the best, they continue to recruit players early in their high school careers. Syracuse has picked up verbal commitments from six high school freshmen this year and hadn't received a publicized one ever before.

When Matt Magnan found out that a fellow ninth-grader verbally committed to play college lacrosse, he knew his time would come shortly after.

After Joey Epstein committed to Johns Hopkins on Sept. 5, Magnan committed to Syracuse on Oct. 16.

A month and a half after his first day of high school.

“Whenever he committed, it kind of got in my mind like ‘Wow, a kid my age is committing,’” Magnan said. “So I kind of stepped up to the plate and I know what’s going on, they recruit kids early.”

Magnan became the first publicized freshman verbal commit in the Orange’s storied men’s lacrosse history. Since then, SU has added five more freshman verbals, bringing the total to six, which is tied for fifth-most in Division I according to RecruitingRundown.com.



Though SU tended to lag behind other traditional powerhouses, it is now in the thick of the early recruiting battle. While college lacrosse coaches defend themselves by saying early recruiting happens in every sport, Syracuse’s football team doesn’t have a single verbal from a junior and its men’s basketball team only has one verbal from a junior, per Scout.com.

“I’d like to do just juniors and seniors. I’d like to think most coaches would do that,” Syracuse lacrosse recruiting coordinator Lelan Rogers said. “But we lose a distinct advantage if some of the other major schools are recruiting these kids early and if we’re not in the game, we’re going to lose out on kids.

“So it’s really a catch-22. As much as you don’t want to do it, you almost have to do it.”

When current members of the Orange like sophomore Jordan Evans and senior Nicky Galasso committed to colleges in the summer and fall of their junior years, that was considered early at the time. Just a few years removed, if a coach finds a star that late, it’s a steal.

Nick Daniello, director of Prime Time Lacrosse — the club that Magnan and Griffin Gelinas, another 2018 SU commit, play for — says the top-tier freshmen are usually still the best players as seniors.

“You can identify them early, get to them early, they’re always going to be the same,” Daniello said.

Daniello, whose brother Chris played at SU from 2007–10, said the Orange is selective with who it recruits early. Magnan played varsity at Fox Lane (New York) High School as an eighth-grader and having varsity experience is something Rogers said he looks for when recruiting.

In Division I men’s lacrosse, each team is allotted 12.6 total scholarships, meaning there’s a crunch for financial opportunities. So when freshmen are offered a roster spot and a scholarship, it’s hard to turn down, even though they might not be ready to make that decision, Rogers said.

“So a lot of it is coming from the parents,” he said. “‘If I don’t take a spot now and I get an offer now, am I going to be able to come back as a junior or senior?’ You’re not, because teams have already filled those spots.”

Magnan said he likes the current process since he doesn’t have to worry about where he’s going to go to college anymore, but recognizes how it could negatively affect players that don’t develop until later on in high school.

Gelinas said there’s no reason to wait to commit if it’s your top choice — which Syracuse was for both him and Magnan — but rushing a commitment could lead to a decommitment in the future.

Johns Hopkins and some schools in the Ivy League are known for giving kids only a week to accept or decline the offer to commit, he said.

“Some kids, where I see the problem is, they’re going to be selecting schools too early … and they’re going to attach to one school and want to leave a year later,” Gelinas said. “And I have a feeling in our grade, Class of 2018, it’s going to happen a lot.”

Many Division I coaches say they think the downsides are obvious. Players are deciding where to go to college but what they plan to study may change. As they develop, perhaps they realize another school would be a better fit. Some players may even exceed academic expectations, prompting them to flip their commitment to a school with better academic opportunities.

Some coaches, like Drexel’s Brian Voelker, have set a precedent of not recruiting anyone before their junior year. Since recruiting is about projecting how good a player will be, Voelker said he isn’t able to project three or four years into the future.

“You catch yourself looking at the father and the mother,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “If the dad’s 6-foot-3 and mom’s 5-11, then you say he could have some size when it’s all said and done. You got to have a crystal ball.”

But the differing recruiting practices can’t be truly assessed until these players get to college.

Coaches are not allowed by the NCAA to initiate contact with players until their junior years — but players can initiate contact with coaches at any time.

North Carolina head coach Joe Breschi said he thinks the NCAA should institute a zero-contact rule before a high school student’s junior year. He said other coaches agree with him about this possible solution, but the NCAA is trying to deregulate, rather than add more restrictions.

Another possible solution would be if coaches “poached” more often. The practice is more common in football, where verbally committed players continue to be recruited by other schools. ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra said it should happen more in lacrosse, and once coaches have to continue to recruit a player after they verbally commit, they may realize there’s no point in recruiting him as a freshman.

While seemingly everyone in the lacrosse world has an opinion on the recent recruiting trends, coaches are still going after players earlier and earlier.

Said Gelinas: “People that are a lot older obviously tend to judge it from the fact that ‘Oh my God, these kids haven’t even hit puberty.’”





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