Evaluating Every Scholarship Option
January 5th, 2010 - byWhen a recruit finally reaches pay dirt and receives their first scholarship offer, it is usually a moment of rejoice. When the second, third and fourth offers arrive the uncertainty and doubt that characterize the entire process creep back. Recruits need to weigh several academic and athletic factors when choosing a school. However, its never as simple as it may seem. Unquantifiable factors, like jersey color, crowd size, weight room equipment and countless other thoughts pop up in the recruits minds. In the end a recruit has to make his own decision about where fits best.
ESPN reports on the decision making process of top recruit Blake Barker.
Blake Barker did his research. A high school senior with one eye on the classroom and one eye on the football field, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
During his summer of soul-searching, a summer that included a much-publicized commitment that stunned the recruiting world, Barker reached out to any expert who had been in his cleats.
Given that the 6-foot-6, 238-pound tight end from Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge, Mass., was debating whether to decommit from Stanford and announce he would play at Harvard, the more facts, the better.
Recruiting gurus would question why a potential pro talent would rather play at a non-scholarship, Football Championship Subdivision school than a landing spot out West for the athletic and academic elite. Veterans of the coaching business would wonder if his choice was indicative of his desire to play the game.
Some can’t figure out why he wants to perform in front of several thousand fans against Yale or Dartmouth instead of 100,000 against USC or UCLA.
To a complicated question, Barker’s response is simple.
“I realized I didn’t want to be all the way out on the West Coast,” said Barker, who also plays defensive end. “I wanted to be closer to home and that kind of made my decision. Harvard has everything I want. I couldn’t be happier about my decision.”
And if the sure-handed pass-catcher and mauling blocker needed any encouragement, he got some from Isaiah Kacyvenski, a former Seattle Seahawks linebacker who arrived in the NFL after a star-studded career at Harvard.
“If I’m capable,” Barker said Kacyvenski told him, “the NFL will find me anyhow if I work hard enough.”
That was all he needed. By the end of the summer, in a move that shocked those who had watched him morph into a national prospect weighing offers from Tennessee, Florida and Boston College, Barker said he would play at Harvard. Commitments are non-binding until Feb. 3, national signing day.
Kudos to Barker for making the decision that was right for him, not what others expected. Every recruit needs to weigh this decision with unbelievable attention. Its clear that Barker took the time to make the right choice.
