Scot Thomas wasn't offering players until the end of their sophomore high school year. Meanwhile, most of the top programs were offering players as young as 12-13 years of age. Our recruiting suffered from Thomas' recruiting strategy in the early 2010's. He changed his recruiting strategy around 2013-14. Thomas wasn't comfortable offering scholarships to 12 and 13 year olds but in order to be competitive in today's game, he decided to do as others did to survive. Most of next season's incoming freshman class were offered 3-4 years ago. Thomas has a few 8th graders committed to play for him in the 2021-22 season. I'm personally against such early offers and feel that the NCAA should put a limit at 15 years (sophomore year). Emma Lemley, an 8th grader at Jefferson Forest, committed last fall. She has increased her pitching velocity 2-3 mph each year. She's up to 68 mph as a 13 year old.

Next season (I know some on here are tired of hearing about next season), we'll have 2 quality freshman pitchers (Dail and Rochard) along with Eberle, Aiken, Richardson, Barnes, and Whitcomb. When was the last time Tech had 7 capable pitchers? I can't remember us having more than 4. Plus we'll be bringing in Scot Thomas' most athletic recruiting class loaded with speed. That class also includes a few lefty slap hitters. Darby Trull is an excellent slap hitter with speed. Cana Davis is one of the top players in the state. We're also bring in one of the top players from Ohio in Sammi Miller. Plus we have a young team and they'll come back in 2017-18 with an extra year of experience.
[Post edited by Old Line Hokie at 04/10/2017 3:55PM]