I think many of these are fair points but I would also add that the 2021 class was one of the most under-evaluated groups in a while since they lost their junior year and that summer was played on a catch as catch can basis, with tournaments getting canceled at the last minute and coaches doing those evals through Hudlsmoova wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:38 amThe NCAA's COVID flailing has certainly caused some fascinating situations at D3 schools. At my son's NESCAC, a majority of the team took a year off during COVID. As a result, the team's senior class this year is roughly twice the normal size. Unfortunately for those kids, there are a couple of additional dynamics at play:Jumbo wrote: ↑Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:13 amI 100% agree with this. They aren’t really helping anyone. Every kid in college (except a small handful of schools) played about 1/2 schedule in 2020 and almost full schedule in 2021. Why give them 2 additional years. Meanwhile, anyone younger (HS/youth) still missed the entire 2020 season and if lucky, they got less than half of the 2021 season. Now those kids get in college and are playing against 23 and 24 year olds, and fighting for playing time with 5 additional classes instead of 3. I would be curious how many underclass are quitting after one or two years, as they see how upper class are staying 5 or 6 years and taking opportunities away from the younger ones. Luckily for my sons team, only 2 or 3 stayed the extra years this season. I think some schools have almost a full team or 5th and 6th years.smoova wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 12:29 pmBingo. Silly decision made unnecessarily early by a group of panicked administrators. Wound up being a long-term punishment for 2021-2023 grads who made the terrible mistake of being in high school during the COVID pandemic (which also cancelled their 2020 seasons). Just another example of a governing body doing far more harm than good when it tries to "right" an unfortunate "injustice."
1. Because the NCAA extended the DI dead period for ~18 months during COVID, DI coaches missed the chance to watch a large number of 2022 recruits play in person - particularly kids from non-hotbed areas who rely on summer/fall events to get exposure. Since the dead period did not apply to D3s, NESCAC coaches took full advantage of the situation by scooping up players who, in a normal year, would have committed to DIs before the NESCAC coaches could even get a pre-read. Many of those players later received DI offers, and a few flipped, but most honored their original commitment. As a result, the freshman class at several NESCACs (and I assume other top D3s) is unusually strong this year. One simple example: in a normal year, my kid's coach lands 2-3 HS AAs ... his 2022 class had 5.
2. Since foreign travel was so wonky in 2020 and 2021, many hold-back juniors/seniors waited until this fall to do a semester abroad and, consequently, missed all team activities. Some kids work hard on fitness/skills while they are away from campus and some are more easily distracted.
I don't know how this all plays out - perhaps the talent rush results in older players losing playing time, perhaps (as you noted above) the log-jam frustrates younger players into quitting - but the NCAA's ham-handed attempt at social engineering sure did create one hell of a mess for everyone.
Unfortunately, this does not end until the spring of 2025 as kids graduating in the 2023 class will have the ability to take 2 extra years and the 2024 class will be eligible for an extra year but the 2025 class reverts back to something closer to normal. But that means that players recruited in the 2021 HS class spend their entire career dealing with players with extra years.
