DePaul offers 8th grader

[swg]

Tracy Webster might just be the interim head coach at DePaul, but he's recruiting like he wants to be there long-term.

A scholarship offer has gone out to 14-year-old eighth-grader Jahlil Okafor, according to ESPN Chicago. The bloodlines are there, with 6-foot-7 Jahlil being Emeka Okafor's distant cousin.

Meanwhile, Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, who has Chicago ties, is denying a report that a representative of his approached DePaul about the job opening after Jerry Wainwright was fired.


http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/3772/depaul-offers-eighth-grader-attracts-craig-robinson

 

[TheLivingLegend]

They can have him. Early commits are plain STUPID and hardly ever work out.

 

[BearcatAlum1]

They can have him. Early commits are plain STUPID and hardly ever work out.

I disagree that early commits are stupid.

Here is my reasoning:

College coaches will only offer 'ships to kids the coach views as a "sure thing," or close to it. If the kid continues to progress and turn into a big-time prospect, the coach can go back to that recruit and say, "my school and I have been after you for 5 years.......no other school has shown you that allegiance." While this may not cause the kid to attend the school, it certainly does help.

However, suppose the kid doesn't develop over the next few years and cannot compete at the level needed in your conference (i.e. the kid from LaSalle), or the coaching staff has other inspirations for that scholarship (i.e. Cameron Wright was ignored by Ohio State coaching staff for months; Matta wouldn't return calls, emails, etc.; Wright retracted his verbal and opened up his recruiting; OSU then offered JD Weatherspoon), then the coach can get out of it.

I see no DISADVANTAGE for the coach to offer kids early. While it may not mean too much in the end, it CANNOT hurt the coach, IMO.

 

[TheLivingLegend]

Coaches should be spending there time elsewhere. Valuable recruiting time is being wasted to watch kids who have no developed into there games yet. You can not look at a 8th grader and say he will be a D1 athlete, you just cant. The gap from 8th grade to h/s is big, and then from h/s to D1 is even bigger. Its a waste of time, when was the last "early commit" successful?