Baseball- I am reminded

[MsStateBaseball]

Each signing day why I created a Ms State baseball twitter account and a blog (and hopefully soon a website). There is no news coming out of the baseball office regarding signees. Nothing. If you follow me on twitter, these players are joyfully sharing their day with coaches, mom and dad. I am glad that most of them follow me and they tweet me the news and photos from such a great day in their life. This is a new day. All these guys (teenagers) are on social media.

Remember, I created the twitter and blog to spread the good word on the signees, etc that the baseball office doesn't do.

I do my best to answer the questions: how many did we sign, how good are they, where are they from, etc. I think from the reaction I got from retweets, etc, I did pretty good spreading the word. I don't see no one else doing it the way I do and I am proud of that. Signees are the life blood.

Anyway, thanks for following, I will write about them more very soon. BTW, the 2016 class is now front and center.

[Homedawg]

That's the way john wants it. He doesn't want people to know the difference between the players that got athletic aid and not. There is info- like yours- out there that lets people know who are a part of the class.

[SouthMsDawg]

Gonna be very hard for the 2016 class to come anywhere close to the HUGE class of guys we signed yesterday.

[Homedawg]

True. But the quality is already off to a very high start. Expect that from now on.

[bulldogcountry1]

It hasn't been all that long since the only way most of us would know about signees was to wait until after Thanksgiving when the school would start rationing out cookie-cutter articles that told you very little other than the kid's parent's names. I appreciate all the baseball info that is provided.


I like the way that Cohen handles the scholarships in that we don't know how it's handled. It good that we don't know about it. All the recruits and their families get to have the same moment of pride when the LOI is signed, no matter if it's for a preferred walk-on spot, academic scholarship, or a full ride.

[BLC]

FYI - a NCAA LOI is only signed if the student-athlete is getting athletic aid. Otherwise an LOI is not signed. For example, a player with no athletic scholarship, but 100% academic aid, does not sign a LOI. I think that's why some coaches prefer not to publicize who signs an LOI, because that "gives away" who is getting athletic money and who isn't. If I read correctly what has been posted/tweeted the last two days, it appears all 18 of MSU's committed players signed LOI's. If that's the case, then each of them is getting at least 25% in athletic aid, which would be at least 4.5 of the allotted scholarships for next year (of the 11.7 allowed). Of course, many may be getting more, and many may be getting other types of aid.

[Political Hack]

FYI - a NCAA LOI is only signed if the student-athlete is getting athletic aid. Otherwise an LOI is not signed. For example, a player with no athletic scholarship, but 100% academic aid, does not sign a LOI. I think that's why some coaches prefer not to publicize who signs an LOI, because that "gives away" who is getting athletic money and who isn't. If I read correctly what has been posted/tweeted the last two days, it appears all 18 of MSU's committed players signed LOI's. If that's the case, then each of them is getting at least 25% in athletic aid, which would be at least 4.5 of the allotted scholarships for next year (of the 11.7 allowed). Of course, many may be getting more, and many may be getting other types of aid.

true. but everyone signs some kind of papers on signing day as some type of symbolic gesture. may not be athletic aid, but even our preferred walk ons sign. So saying they signed an "LOI" may be semantics.

[Todd4State]

FYI - a NCAA LOI is only signed if the student-athlete is getting athletic aid. Otherwise an LOI is not signed. For example, a player with no athletic scholarship, but 100% academic aid, does not sign a LOI. I think that's why some coaches prefer not to publicize who signs an LOI, because that "gives away" who is getting athletic money and who isn't. If I read correctly what has been posted/tweeted the last two days, it appears all 18 of MSU's committed players signed LOI's. If that's the case, then each of them is getting at least 25% in athletic aid, which would be at least 4.5 of the allotted scholarships for next year (of the 11.7 allowed). Of course, many may be getting more, and many may be getting other types of aid.

You are correct. I will say this though- we have had players that were walk-ons "sign" a LOI, which is basically them having a ceremony and celebration for joining the team. As long as MSU doesn't announce it, it's OK. And I'm totally OK with that. Being a part of MSU baseball is a huge reason to celebrate and be recognized- especially since the only reason they aren't getting a scholarship is because of discriminatory NCAA rules.

And I need to add that no schools announce their signing classes anymore. We're not unique to this.

[Todd4State]

True. But the quality is already off to a very high start. Expect that from now on.

Mitchell Miller, Dustin Skelton, Tre Turner, Riley Self, Walker Robbins, and Hagan Severance are all top notch players for 2016.

[BLC]

You are correct. I will say this though- we have had players that were walk-ons "sign" a LOI, which is basically them having a ceremony and celebration for joining the team. As long as MSU doesn't announce it, it's OK. And I'm totally OK with that. Being a part of MSU baseball is a huge reason to celebrate and be recognized- especially since the only reason they aren't getting a scholarship is because of discriminatory NCAA rules.

And I need to add that no schools announce their signing classes anymore. We're not unique to this.

I love the practice of kids having signing parties, no matter "what" they are signing. It's a big moment in their lives, and for everyone who has supported them. Yes, the actual LOI letter is irrelevant, and I suppose it gets thrown around incorrectly. It's also interesting that the signing process is regional. In the west, it's rare that someone signs something symbolically and there aren't these big signing parties (yet we have freaking 6th grade "graduation" parties). Hopefully, you sign once - it should be a big deal.