spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
- Mar 1, 2002
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14- year old commits to Michigan
- Thread starter spintheblackcircle
- Start date
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
Merrill and Treais are both great commitments. I've heard some things about Merrill. He's supposedly going to be awesome. Suprised he's already committed at this age, though.
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
"
Jon Merrill, a top 10 nationally ranked bantam by The Scouting News was a revelation to scouts at this years 1992 USA Select Camp. The 14 year old is a stud. NHL agents are lining up at Merrill’s door. How good is Merrill? He may be good enough to get a look from the NTDP next season."
That's the free bit taken from The Scouting News.
Jon Merrill, a top 10 nationally ranked bantam by The Scouting News was a revelation to scouts at this years 1992 USA Select Camp. The 14 year old is a stud. NHL agents are lining up at Merrill’s door. How good is Merrill? He may be good enough to get a look from the NTDP next season."
That's the free bit taken from The Scouting News.
bleedgreen
Registered User
surprised people dont already know this, but jack johnson verbally comitted to michigan also at 14. he actually called red himself and told him. thats the story i heard anyway.
Jori
Registered User
JJ was 15 years, 8 months when he committed to Michigan. He was the youngest player to commit to a college hockey team at the time, but he was about a full year older when he committed than Merrill was.
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
This is a kid who I can't wait to watch his development. I wonder if he moves to the USNTDP soon. You'd think that if he is trully such a phenom that he'd be doing that once he's able to.
other commitments
on a side note, two big prospects for the 2007 draft, forwards Brad Malone and Jack Downing, has made their college commitment(to University of North Dakota and University of Vermont respectiveley).
Big "signings" by Michigan. Treais is a top 91 in the whole US, same thing for Merrill, he's a top 92. Many college commitements these past months. Michigan got Chris Brown, Notre Dame got a big name in Cam Fowler, and Patrick Gaul too, and now this...
on a side note, two big prospects for the 2007 draft, forwards Brad Malone and Jack Downing, has made their college commitment(to University of North Dakota and University of Vermont respectiveley).
Big "signings" by Michigan. Treais is a top 91 in the whole US, same thing for Merrill, he's a top 92. Many college commitements these past months. Michigan got Chris Brown, Notre Dame got a big name in Cam Fowler, and Patrick Gaul too, and now this...
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
David A. Rainer
Registered User
UCLA extended to and Taylor King committed to play basketball at UCLA when he was still in middle school. Of course, King later withdrew his acceptance and verballed to Duke, but UCLA still extended the scholarship offer to him at age 13. It's not a done deal until they actually sign the Letter of Intent, which cannot be done until their senior year in high school.
agreed, he'll be an NHLer for sure(if you can say that when they're 15, or in Fowler's case, 14).
I don't think you can. Tons of players who are supposed to be sure things bust. Jason Bonsignore is the best example of that.
Call me old fashioned but having a kid commit to a college before he finishes even a quarter in high school kind of defeats the point of "college athletics." I know grades don't matter for Div. I athletics at the big schools but this is somewhat ridiculous.
you guys are talking about children.... take a step back its silly to say they are going to be nhlers "for sure" at this point in their young lives. i know this is hockey futures but lets get them out of diapers first what do you say?
That statement is kind of ridiculous. Grades don't matter at the big schools? Everyone who knows Red knows grades matter (maybe the players don't always take it as serious, but Red certainly does). IIRC, he benched Dwight Helminen and Milan Gajic for weekend series due to their grades not being up to par. Heck, he benched Marty Turco his senior year for one of the biggest games of the regular season against Michigan State (first place on the line) because he skipped a class. Eric Werner's another player who a few years ago missed a whole semester when ruled academically ineligible. And a few years ago, goalie Jason Bacashihua had committed to Michigan, but I believe his entrance exam scores weren't high enough and he only had one more chance that spring to pass'em. Rather than risk it and fail, he opted to join Plymouth (OHL). Bottom line is, either the grades are good or you don't play.
Crazyhorse
Registered User
Well, actually, there are people recorded winning inches as high at age 23, so you could hope for more i guess...
I'm talking about admittance to the school. As long as this kid doesn't seriously **** up he's into a veeery good school in Michigan without so much as receiving his first quarter grades in high school. Once you get to college it's a different issue, but most of the top athletes that are probably going pro are taking BS classes anyway so you have to be a big time moron not to get decent grades.
Coaches make it very clear to every kid that they recruit that every scholarship offer is dependent on passing the NCAA clearinghouse and being admitted into the school. He's not automatically admitted to Michigan just because he committed there.
You're telling me that he's not going to get any special treatment from the department of admissions?
What is the point of committing at such a young age? What's next? Scouts on the playground at recess?
If you've ever watched the movie Hoops Dreams you know there are scouts at the playgrounds.
It's all about finding the potential talents first and trying to lock them up early. It happens all the time in basketball. It's all moving to other sports too.
It's scary to think that some scouts are looking at 14-15 year olds (and possibly younger) and trying to persuade them to come to their school. This is where major ethical issues arise.
okay, maybe i was jumping the gun a little. but fowler is a great prospect, and could be a very good NHLer if he's given time.
and besides, when you talk about players who are like 14 or 15 years of age, many posters post replies like "My neighboors newly born son is great, could he be a top 5 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft"(not anyone in this thread though).
These kids are entering their major junior draft year(exept for Merrill), so they'll get attention from most scouts soon, and their names will pop up here from time to time.
Since the standard at most big, public schools is just getting through the Clearinghouse, there's not much room for preferential treatment. It certainly wouldn't be any different than what any other athlete has to go through to get into school whether he commits at 14 or 20.
It's not that scary. I don't think it should be much of a surprise to anyone. I mean, if this kid was born 600 miles further west, he'd be eligible to be drafted by a WHL team this summer, and I asure you that those teams don't just pick names out of a hat.
Most of these early commitments are a way to deal with major junior teams. Before, they always had the advantage of drafting a kid and signing him away before NCAA teams even talked to them. Now, the NCAA is trying to swing things back in their favor.
