re: 2024 Recruiting Thread (KJ Bolden 5* S is a DAWG!)

My old high school’s league put in a rule that players could not start a season after turning 19 to combat the extreme cases. Basically someone who turns 19 in the fall could play football but not winter or spring sports, for example.

That seems reasonable. In my experience, the kids who were held back were not the top players. It was more of the fringe D3 types whose parents had just lost perspective. That may have changed and is definitely anecdotal.

ETA: I also imagine college coaches take age into account. If some kid was born in July (already one of the very oldest kids in their class) and was held back anyway, their super senior year HS performance is likely way closer to their ceiling that the kid they’re competing with who is in his true class and was born in April or May. If performance is close, I’d take the player who is almost two years younger every time, especially if their academic performance is comparable.