By John Diggs
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
A.J. Astroth had been recruited to play basketball at Towson University since his freshman year at Paul R. Wharton High School in Tampa, Florida.
As a recruit, Astroth knew that he had to play at a high level all through high school if he wanted the offers to keep coming in. He wanted to show schools what he had to offer them.
“It’s fun just being a part of it, just schools seeing what you can do,” said Astroth, who is now a senior.
For student athletes, being recruited by colleges is an exciting and stressful time in their lives. For some, it is the only chance they will have to get a higher education. For others, it’s a chance to take their athletic skills to a next level.
The pressure can be immense, those who were interviewed said.
Senior Dreon Johnson, who plays football at Towson, said high school students must consider several factors when deciding which college to attend.
For example, Johnson said students must consider how far the school is from home as well as the majors that the school offers. He said high school students must also ask whether their sport’s position will change.
Heather Crowe, a professor at the department of kinesiology at Towson, said playing time and how big the college is in that sport should also play a role in the decision.
“Athletes struggle when they are recruited by top programs but will not play much or playing for smaller programs with less prestige where they will have a better chance of more playing time,” Crowe said.
Whatever the case is, Johnson said, a recruit must be happy with his or her decision.
Sophomore Daijha Thomas, who plays basketball at Towson, said student athletes face busy schedules when they are being recruited by several colleges.
“It’s a real busy time when you’re recruited,” said Thomas, who attended Calvert High School in Maryland. “Phone calls, letters and still trying to better your performance.”
For some student athletes, colleges have been calling them since they were in middle school.
“There are some people who are recruited in the eighth grade,” said Kaylen Minnatee, a softball player at Towson who had been recruited since freshman year at Sheldon High School in Sacramento, California.
Sophomore Braysia Hicks is one of those students.
Colleges started looking at him when he was in eighth grade in Hampton, Virginia. She said she didn’t start feeling the pressure until she was a junior at Hampton Roads Academy.
“That was the time that I had to make a decision,” said Hicks, who plays basketball at Towson.
Freshman Cassidy Meyer, a softball player at Towson, offered a theory as to why recruits don’t feel the pressure right away.
“You don’t really feel it when you are younger because you are not [going to be] in college for a while,” Meyer said. “It seems so far away.”
Most recruits feel the pressure in their performance and trying to impress the recruiters.
“There’s always pressure in your performance, to do it right so you don’t lose the recruiters,” Thomas said.
However, for most recruits the pressure goes away when the season begins, Astroth said.
While performance does put pressure on recruits, most student athletes feel the most stressed out when they have to make their decision.
Crowe said the pressure builds as students realize that the sport has become their “job.” Their decision will likely come down to finances, Crowe said.
“Making a decision – that’s the hardest part,” said senior Josh Ivory, a basketball player at Towson who was recruited in his freshman year at Peabody High School in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Some recruits can even feel the pressure in both performance and the choosing of a school.
“Pressure affected my performance a little bit, but I felt it the most in making a decision,” Hicks said.
The pressure in decision making may not only comes from the schools themselves but can also come from those who want to do what’s best for a student athlete.
Meyer said that family can also add to the pressures that a student athlete faces when making a decision.
“I feel like it comes from your parents,” Meyer said. “Just trying to decide what’s best in choosing a school.”