eokerholm
Helluva Engineer
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- 1,592
I agree. Avg Pt per player is my favorite for depth and breadth of ranked skill on the team
Didn't see the Alabama commits. Ha! Who in the hell would commit early to Alabama?
Same is true for Univ of Hou (I saw another freshman commit there yesterday). WTH? Why.
I also saw that Florida grabbed an 8th grader yesterday???
I do think the '23 & '24 commits will change, which is exactly what Coach Forbes at UNC said at camp. They don't recruit that far out, as they don't stick and you can't judge what the guy is going to look like or be at 18 when he gets him when they're 13-14.
Those are kids who have typically peaked early and may not improve or grow or get bigger/taller. We knew some guys coming up that were studs in 7th and 8th, tall, etc and fizzled afterwards and didn't grow and the other boys passed them.
For those that don't know - Opportunity Vanderbilt, is an endowment that picks up the difference to students and athletes for the private school tuition to that of public school, or even less. It is seriously cheaper to attend Vandy than Univ of TN.
That is tough to compete and recruit against. Nashville is one helluva town and Vandy a great school. But let's don't sell GT short here. With the influx of new coaching and facilities, and competitive players flocking ATL, you will see GT rise in the ranks and compete for recruits. I told you before and it's already happening.
Christian said he would choose GT over Vandy. He liked coaches, campus, and city better. Vandy was very small and limited on majors. One of the national recruits for Vandy was the kid ranked directly in front of him. Others are kids behind him in rank. GT is getting top talent and we see that in the 21, 22 and even 23 classes already.
Stanford has an endowment that makes their $60K tuition cost about $10-11K a year for their athletes. Seriously.
Hard to compete with that but the academic rigor and reputation of that school is what made Christian decide to not go there.
Amazing school and degree, but he didn't want the stress of the academics there (confirmed from people we know there) on top of the stress of being a full time baseball player, while in college.
GT and GA and other GA schools have a similar advantage. The HOPE scholarship and can give you all the same advantage and price breaks and frees the coaching staff to recruit out of staters and help with the tuition difference. Especially when the GA local kids don't need to eat that much, if at all, into the 11.7 scholarship spots.
Vandy and Stanford have basically 25-30+ scholarship spots compared to the rest. Same is true for GA-based schools and the athletes coming in. but GT doesn't abuse the advantage and keeps recruiting classes smaller, meaning more opportunity to play and compete for a spot. Vandy's avg recruiting class size is 17.3 (with 8.5 pitchers) since 2018. Ark is 19.3 (9.5). Louisville is 16.5 (8.0). GT is 13.0 and 6.5. Huge difference. Math matters.
That's a huge advantage and leverage and VERY ATTRACTIVE to recruits. The national school reputation @GT in on point and on Par with other top schools. National leader, school, and top degree with huge ROI!
No one else has ATL in their backyard. (Not even GA, to jump on the FB bandwagon, lol). That too is a huge selling point. Stellar and amazing businesses and Corp HQ to intern with.
Easier for parents and teams to get in/out. The guys only miss 6 or 7 days/season of school during season. That's amazing and attractive.
VA was amazing school, reputation, campus and program, but when they over recruit and commit, early, with little money left.
I kid you not, it was going to be over $130K in loans AFTER scholarship, in order to attend there for 4 years, out of state. We loved the campus and facilities, but hell....an easy no brainer.
Same is true for Vandy. Tim Corbin may be an amazing human and outstanding coach and I would have loved for Christian to go and play under him, but they are way over recruited - with little no chance of playing and HUGE risk of being cut just like VA or Arkansas. Lots of transfers OUT. Extremely limited Majors and nothing Christian wanted to do, no business or finance, so that hurt their chances for him.
GT coaching staff was extremely welcoming, FOCUSED ON CHRISTIAN and preparing him for future (MLB and life - more than any other school) and made GT feel like family and home (more than any other school) and that is what impressed Christian and me the most. The players we met were very engaging and friendly with them and us. The facilities are good, nice tight campus with lots of amenities and options, in ATL, way more Gluten Free options (he's got Celiac), the new pitching lab and Borrell/Ramsey/Hall are all going to serve as beacons to pitchers and top talent as the kids know it is better to come to college before going pro and get a major quality education while you're at it. The draw of the "swarm" of pro athletes and working with and being surrounded by pro atheltes was/is very cool. Wonderful opportunity to be come and surrounded by greatness. We are very much looking forward The Swarm.
It will be exciting to watch this program continue blossom, compete, and "snowball" to become a national talent and threat.
Buckle up, y'all!
The Swarm is building!
The Swarm is strong!
The Swarm is home!
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