13 yr old becomes youngest ever to verbal to UCLA

[Safebyahare]

It IS an impressive accomplishment. Is it good for her? Is it good for most kids? Is it good for the sport? Time will tell. No. No.

I may be long gone by the time this plays out, so,,,out of curiosity what is the earliest committed player in college now.
What percentage changed their mind and how many followed through on their original early commitment to a major sports university.
My uneducated guess would be sophomore year commitment.

[rbi]

Well, im not sure what other 8th grade committed kids are out there playing in college now as this is somewhat new and very very few kids even commit at that age. I do know there is one playing at UCLA now that committed as an 8th grader, and there are more coming, and im sure other schools do as well....

I will never forget my kid as a 13yr old walking around the back yard with a phone to her ear for an hour talking to Hutchins, and when she came in house, i asked her what they talked about for an hour, and only thing she was excited to tell me was, she knew the shape of the state by showing me with her hand. Harmless classic times that i miss dearly....

I do know 24 other top 25 schools that would have loved to put their name on this kid, congrats to her and her family!

[fastpitchdad05]

...

I sent a PM so we can continue this offline.

The woodshed!

Yep. The beatings I'm taking will conclude behind closed doors!

[cent]

Congrats Sosa family. Your family is blessed to have such a daughter.

BTW there are many 8th graders that have verballed over the years. Seems the D-I's are after the 8th grade Blue Chips big time.

[Mark H]

I would agree it's not uncommon. Not good. But not uncommon. No one likes it but no one wants to be the first to quit doing it.

[tbjd33]

Congrats Sosa family. Your family is blessed to have such a daughter.

BTW there are many 8th graders that have verballed over the years. Seems the D-I's are after the 8th grade Blue Chips big time.

Best early commit that probably started this whole this was Tenn Vol All American Madi Shipman. Early committts are nothing new.

[Dilligaf]

Was just thinking, she verballed to KP. I doubt KP will still be HC when the player arrives. Will new HC honor this verbal? Happened to my DD but verbal was honored, seen many HC changes and verbals not honored. Best wishes and sincere congrats to entire family and UCLA!

[PDad]

BTW there are many 8th graders that have verballed over the years. Seems the D-I's are after the 8th grade Blue Chips big time.

Define "many"

I hope he's not counting players recruited the summer AFTER 8th grade...

[Mark H]

During or after. It's still asking children to make grown up decisions. It's still making coaches bet on what a kid barely a teen is going to be like as a young woman. Leads to mismatches and bad experiences on both sides.

[PDad]

Best early commit that probably started this whole this was Tenn Vol All American Madi Shipman. Early committts are nothing new.

I'd heard Candrea started it because he was going to be preoccupied with the Olympic team (2008?). Can anyone confirm or dispel that?

The definition of early commits has changed over the years. Madison Shipman committed Dec 2007 as a soph, which was considered early in 2007-08. Hard to consider soph as early nowadays.

Demonboy started a list of So Cal verbals on Jan 29, 2008 (link). It looks like Shipman was the first 2010 to be listed, however there were 5 on the list by March 27.