What Happens After You Verbally Commit To A College?
As a high school athlete who has just verbally committed to, or is planning to commit to, a college athletic program, I’m sure you are wondering what your next steps are.
Immediately after verbally committing to a college, not much changes. Your commitment is not binding, so the school you committed to will continue developing a relationship with you to convince you to stay committed. Additionally, other schools will continue to recruit you until you sign your National Letter of Intent. However, verbally committing to a college is something you should be proud of! It marks the beginning of your college experience.
While verbally committing to a college is a big step, it is only the beginning of your journey into college athletics. It is important that you understand what happens after you verbally commit. The time period between verbally committing and signing your National Letter of Intent can be difficult to navigate, so we’ve laid out the steps you should take in more detail below.
Next Steps After Verbally Committing
After you decide to verbally commit, there are numerous steps you have to take. This will begin with making your decision public, and will ultimately culminate in signing your National Letter of Intent.
Announcing Your Verbal Commitment: Verbally committing is exciting! After deciding you are ready to commit, you should set a date to publicize your commitment. This can take many forms, but most frequently recruits create a social media post or announce their decision in front of their schools/family. Your future coaches and teammates will be excited to hear that you want to become a part of their program.
Developing Relationship With The College You Committed To: You should continue developing and furthering your relationship with your future teammates and coaches after you verbally commit. The coaches will continue to communicate with you and begin to integrate you into their team. Depending on the program you commit to, they may give you the team playbook or training program for you to begin becoming comfortable with. The better your relationship is with the players and coaches when you arrive, the easier your transition from high school to college will be.
Continued Recruitment From Other Colleges: Even though you have verbally committed yourself to a specific program, other programs around the country, especially those who you had been communicating with before committing, will continue to recruit you. Your verbal commitment is not binding until you sign your National Letter of Intent, so there is nothing preventing other schools from pursuing you. While there is no harm in continuing to explore your options, keep in mind that you chose to give your word to a specific coach and his program for a reason.
Sign National Letter Of Intent (NLI): The last step after verbally committing is signing your NLI. Once you sign your NLI, your commitment becomes binding and you are officially a part of the program at your school of choice. For most sports, there are specific days each year when recruits sign. Signing an NLI signifies the end of the recruiting process, and is something you should celebrate!
Verbally committing does not bind you to a college program; however, it does mean that you are giving a coaching staff your word that you want to become a part of their program. Following the steps laid out above will help you correctly navigate the time period between verbally committing and signing your NLI.
Determining When You’re Ready To Verbally Commit
Knowing when you’re ready to verbally commit is hard - a lot of factors go into the decision. In order to help you figure out exactly when you’re ready to commit, we’ve explained these factors below.
Comfort Level: If you aren’t 100% sure that you want to attend the school you choose, then you probably aren’t ready to verbally commit yet. While some indecision regarding your decision is normal, you should be very comfortable with the program you are committing to. Since there is no hard deadline to verbally commit- until National Signing Day at least- there is no reason for you to rush into a decision.
Academic Fit: Recruits and their families can often get lost in the appeal of programs’ coaching staff, athletic facilities, and athletic prestige. While these are all important to consider before committing, it is important that you don’t forget the main purpose of college: to get an education. You should consider both the strength of the schools’ academics and how well their academic programs fit your interests before verbally committing.
Athletic Fit: Along with academic fit, you should consider how well you fit into the specific athletic team you are committing to. Your relationships with the program’s coaching staff and fellow players play a huge role in determining how much you enjoy your time in college. Your likelihood of receiving significant playing time and the coaching staff’s track record of developing players during their time in the program are other factors to consider.
Exploring Your Options: Without exploring your options, there is no way to know whether you are verbally committing to the school that is right for you. Before making your decision, you should explore each program that has interest in you, so that you can make the most informed decision possible.
To help make the decision that is right for you, make sure you explore your options and consider both your academic and athletic fit in each program before committing. You should be very comfortable with your decision in order to avoid future trouble down the line.
Breaking A Verbal Commitment
The reality is that sometimes recruits must, for a variety of reasons, back out of a verbal commitment. Maybe a key member of the coaching staff moved to a different program, or maybe you found a program that you believe provides a better fit for you. Below are the steps you should follow if you decide to break your verbal commitment.
Think Through Your Decision: Choosing to back out of your verbal commitment is not something that should be taken lightly. Before making such an important decision, make sure you think through your decision with your family and high school coaches. Coaches are less likely to recruit prospects who have decommitted from numerous programs.
Inform The Coaches: Verbally committing means you are giving a coach your word that you want to be a part of their program. If you decide that it is in your best interest to back out of your verbal commitment, you owe it to the coach to have a thoughtful, honest conversation with them about your reasoning for decommitting.
Publicize Your Decision: Once you decommit, other schools will step up their recruiting efforts. In order to speed up this process, you should publicize your decision. Most prospects do this through a social media post. You should only publicize your decision after you speak to the coaching staff at the program you are decommitting from.
Handling your decision to decommit correctly is incredibly important. The coaches and players at the program you are decommitting from are more likely to understand your decision if you follow the steps above.
Things To Keep In Mind
Nothing Is Finalized: Verbally committing to a school is not binding. If you decide that decommitting is in your best interests, don’t feel pressured to maintain your commitment. Decommitting before arriving to campus is much easier than arriving to campus and deciding to transfer a year or two into your college experience.
There Is No Rush To Verbally Commit: Don’t rush your verbal commitment. You are not required to verbally commit until National Signing Day, where you have to sign your NLI. You should only verbally commit if you are entirely sure that the school you are choosing is where you want to attend college.
Leverage Your Support Network: Your parents, teachers, high school coaches, and friends are all invested in your success. While the decision is ultimately yours to make, you should discuss your decision with your support network. Doing so will help you feel more comfortable with your decision.