Mid-October reality for seniors who have heard nothing: you have not been rejected. Coaches told me on the record this year that there is no such thing as finished recruiting . players get found in the fall of senior year, the spring of senior year, and beyond. What kills a recruitment is not silence. It is stopping.

This week's assignment: take your son to one college game this fall. Any division, in fact, make it a division he thinks is beneath him. Watch his face in the third inning. Then ask Harvell's question on the drive home: Honestly, could you play here? The answer, either way, is worth more than a showcase invoice.

Parents and players – here’s the real story on yesterday’s court ruling and what it actually means for the 2026 and 2027 high-school classes. Judge Charlotte Sweeney just handed down a class-wide preliminary injunction. Every Division I athlete from the high-school Class of 2022 who used all four seasons this past spring is now eligible for a fifth year in 2026-27 if they choose to take it. The transfer portal for these players is expected to open August 3–10. This is the direct result of the NCAA’s new “5-for-5” age-based eligibility rule colliding with the previous four-year clock. What does this mean on the ground for baseball? D1 programs are already operating under a hard 34-player roster limit. Suddenly adding even a handful of fifth-year returners creates immediate pressure. Coaches will protect their best players and move others. Some 2026 high-school commits who thought their spot was locked will get the “we have to make room” call. Those players will flood the portal and lower-level opportunities (JUCO, D2, D3, NAIA, and late D1 openings). That is the short-term chaos. For the 2027 class the impact is real but different. College staffs will spend August and early September evaluating older, more polished portal talent. That can slow the normal high-school evaluation calendar. Coaches may pause on certain positions or profiles until they see who actually returns and who gets cut. It is not the end of recruiting for 2027s—it simply means patience and continued development become even more important. This is not the first eligibility “head jerk” and it will not be the last. The portal, roster caps, and court decisions have permanently changed the old model where high-school players were the primary recruiting pipeline. Coaches now build year-to-year rosters. That reality is not going away. What you control has not changed: • Keep developing the tools that actually move the needle: size, strength, speed, skill, and school (the Five S’s). • Stay coachable and competitive every day. Body language and work habits still separate the guys who stick from the ones who get moved. • Build a realistic school list based on academic fit, financial reality, culture, and playing opportunity—not just the highest logo or the loudest offer. • If you are a 2026 who gets displaced, treat it as a new evaluation window, not a failure. Plenty of good baseball and good degrees exist outside the original commitment. • If you are a 2027, keep training, keep filming, keep communicating with coaches, and do not freeze waiting for the portal dust to settle. The families who succeed in this environment are the ones who stay process-oriented instead of panic-oriented. Focus on the next right step for your son’s development and education. The noise will keep coming. Your job is to keep getting better and finding the right fit when the right opportunity appears. That’s the practical take. Now go back to work.