How to know when to commit to school [transfer portal era]

So today I want to talk about one thing that I've seen pop up a little bit. I don't know if it'll pop up a lot this year, but it's kind of this fear mongering of transfer portal stuff. And I just want to talk about it because it depends on the context of your situation and understanding timelines on offers. And so if you don't know who I am, I'm Trent Lora, I'm a former college quarterback and we're in your first scholarship where we help families get their first scholarship and more. And so with this era of transfer portal and the roster spot reductions and now that we're entering into offer season here in December, as well as commitments and signings and everything like that, it brings up conversations of how long do offers stay committable? How long do they last? Should I be scared that my scholarship offer is going to get taken? When should I take it? All this stuff. And so I want to talk about that a little bit just so you can have some clarity on is your offer going to get stolen? How should you go about this and when should you commit and all that stuff. And the biggest thing I will say the number one thing that you can do to help out with this is just have clear communication with whoever offered you have that conversation. I think too many people, like try to do this guessing game beforehand of like, how long does that offer last? You know, will it get taken? And instead it should come down to, you know, just talk to the coach because they offered you the offer, they want you to take it. If they didn't offer you the offer, if they did offer you the offer, like they like you enough to be able to offer you. And so talk to the coach and have that communication with them. Ask them, hey, you know, how long do I have this offer? How long will it last? What's the timeline on me to commit to that? Because those questions will give you the answers that you need to know and they'll give you a clear picture of what their recruiting process looks like as far as what they're thinking. And so realistically around this time you're probably looking at anywhere from a week or two, I'd say on an, on an official offer. That's probably the most common timeline. I'd say at smaller schools it might be a little longer depending on your talent or what they think of you on a, on a bigger school it's going to probably be shorter. It could be, you know, depending on the timeline, it could be 24, 48 hours before they have to. Ultimately what they're saying is like, we're going to continue to recruit guys and we won't offer anyone else the offer that we gave you until that date, or at least their offer won't become committable until that date. And so like you, their practices is still going. And so you have to respect that. And so I just think communication, respecting each other goes a long way. It's a question that I always asked on offers that I actually cared about. I think it's very important for people to do that as well. Now I will say this whole thing about, you know, the transfer portal, this and that. You're gonna see more posts about it as it comes. I think people just do this to jazz things up. You really won't see me talk about it too much. Because ultimately, ultimately if you're at the division one level, yes, it's, it's a possibility. Same with the D2 levels. Nowadays, just with the roster spot reductions, we're going to see a huge trickle down to just talent coming down from FBS, FCS to FCS to D2 and so on, so forth. So there, there is a realistic side of that. I think this year, more than last year, the years prior, that there will be spots that may get taken just because, hey, they've got a more talented guy coming from a FCS program or FBS program that they didn't really think they had a chance at, but now they do just because there's not really room for them at the upper level. So that is a very realistic side of things. So you have to take account of for that. I will say though, for the most part, like again, communication will help with all that. They will be realistic with you and say, hey, this is what we're thinking right now. This is the timeline on that. If you want to take that, you can take that. So definitely don't take it with a grain of salt. But also don't be stressed and fearful over that. Because I think the biggest thing I don't want to see people happen and I tried to focus heavily on this and my recruiting is don't let fear take over your process. Don't let stress take over your process and especially your decision to commit. Because that can be the, you know, end up making the worst decision is you get, you know, fomo. Fear of missing out, fear of missing out on this offer that you're not even 100% sure on. You rush to make that decision and then maybe you miss out on other opportunities or you end up making you know, not the right decision for yourself. And so you can only buy yourself so much time. And I think, I think 99% of time, you know, people know in their head, in their gut that hey, this is, this is the right decision for me. But oftentimes time can kind of even that playing field a little bit more and make you see a little bit more clearly. And I think that's a huge asset aspect of it. So again, I think biggest thing, just communicate with the coach, be clear on where you're at in your process and what you want as far as a timeline. And you can kind of try to work with them on that. And also just I will say like, ultimately, if you feel like you found the right school for you, take that as soon as possible. There's no reason to leave it on the table. But if there's any uncertainty, I definitely recommend waiting around a little bit, getting yourself some more time. I think most of, like, to me, I'm a very logical guy. I'm very in numbers and pro cons and stuff like that. I think basing a school on the decision is probably the worst thing because the pros and cons that you're laying out aren't necessarily going to be true. The only things that stay static, that stay the same when you get on the campus 100% of the time is just the stuff about the school, as far as, you know, degrees that they offer and just overall feel about the campus somewhat. I mean, that's kind of going to degrade over time as you're on campus, more than novelty of it all. But as far as like coaching staff, playing time, all that stuff, like that stuff will change when you get on campus. Again, just because of how recruiting works. And as we all know, coaches don't necessarily always tell the truth or tell, you know, any promises. You have to take that with a grain of salt. Honestly, the coach is promising things you probably should, should not, should be wary of that. So with that, like, you shouldn't, you shouldn't really need to weigh things out. I think honestly, I mean, I've talked, I haven't talked to a ton of families about the decision making process as far as like what they've done in the past. Because obviously I talk to families that are still going through the process, but in my eyes, if you're, if you're making that kind of decision, you're having to make a split decision between two schools and it's just because of one pro, that one pro, and as well the other pros can be completely wrong and you just don't know until you really get on campus. So I think you should be basing a lot of it off of feel and what you get from the conversations you have and the experiences that you have with that school and that campus. And that will be a lot more indicative of, like, which direction you should go on rather than basing it off of, you know, things that you may think are true at the time. Then you just don't really realize because the grass is always greener on the other side. And so hopefully this. This kind of helps. I don't want to dive too deep on this because I could ramble about this forever. But again, I think biggest thing, don't make any decisions based off of fear. Have communication with the coach and also just recognize what you're feeling and what you're kind of recognizing as far as you go through the process and start to make that decision. So hopefully this helped out. If you got something from this, be sure to like and subscribe. See you in the next one. Peace.