Student Well-Being

Should College Coaches Be Recruiting Middle School Athletes?

By Bryan Toporek — July 30, 2012 1 min read
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Both Louisiana State University and the University of Washington made headlines within the last week because of their reported interest in middle school football players, again raising the eternal question: “How young is too young when it comes to recruiting?”

News broke Wednesday that 14-year-old quarterback Tate Martell, who’s getting ready to enter the 8th grade, had verbally committed to Washington after receiving a scholarship offer a few weeks back. A day later, ESPN.com reported that LSU extended a scholarship offer to 14-year-old linebacker Dylan Moses, another soon-to-be 8th grader.

Keep in mind: No recruits can sign a binding National Letter of Intent until the fall of their senior year of high school.

The rationale of offering a student-athlete a scholarship this early, in theory, goes something like this: The player isn’t

A version of this news article first appeared in the Schooled in Sports blog.