Recruiting Tips: Types of “Offers”

The word “Offer” which used to mean scholarship offer is thrown around a lot when it comes to basketball recruiting.  They are simply not the same as they were 10-15 years ago.  There are so many variations to them and reasons.  A lot of them are not actual offers at all!  Many people don't realize that, and we wanted to break it down here in Recruiting Tips: Types of “Offers.”

Committable Full Scholarship Offer

This is the offer you want.  This is from a D1 or D2 program saying we are offering you a full scholarship where you do not have to pay for anything.  You can commit at any time.  These are not given out that often and with the transfer portal are almost only reserved for elite sophomores/juniors and prospects heading into their senior seasons.

Commit in the Fall or Its Gone Offer

There are two signing periods.  The early signing period in November and late one in the spring.  The majority of high school recruiting is done in the fall.  If a program has offered you a scholarship and you decide to “play your senior year out” and are not a top priority for them regardless of what happens down the road most likely it is going to be gone in the spring when it is portal season.

Whoever Takes It First Offer

This is the offer that might go out to two or three guys at a particular position in a class.  The school likes all three players.  They essentially say whoever says yes first gets it and we are only taking one.  This puts pressure on the players to take it or risk losing out to another prospect.

Keep Warm Offer

These days prospects don't even take schools seriously unless they have “offered”.  Well sometimes programs will just throw an offer out to stay in the mix.  Not knowing if they will need that position down the road or if they will be a priority, but especially if they are a younger prospect they don't want to miss out because they didn't throw out an offer early.

Favor for AAU Team Offer

Certain colleges are close with certain travel team programs.  They might be “offering” a player that they have absolutely no intention of ever recruiting just to do that program a solid so they might help them in the future.

AAU - Help My Player Might Leave/I'm Trying to Steal This Player Offer

This is one of my favorites.  A grassroots team is desperate to keep a player or steal a player from another team they have to prove they can get them an offer so they go to a buddy, former coach in their program, or even a former player who is now on a staff and get them an “offer” which is not real at all just to show the kid and his family they have juice.

Favor to Jump Start Recruitment

Once again this is often related to a grassroots or high school program where a coach has a good relationship.  They don't believe they will be getting the player because they are too high of a level or too low of a level for that prospect, but want to throw an offer out to help get the kid's name out there.

Bulk Offer

The bulk offer I like to refer to as when a player sees a particular high school or grassroots team and offers 3-5 guys the same day.  They might really want one, but throw out more to be in good graces of the coach or keep some of the younger prospects warm on their radar.  This also often happens during the high school live period in June and open gym season in September when colleges will go into a city or area for a few days and offer double digit players.  Most of the time these are not firm.

Promotional Offer

For someone in the business of getting players recruitments out there this might be the most annoying.  Some schools will offer 50-75 players in a class.  They aren't really recruiting that many.  They want to see their name on social media and it is free publicity for the school seeing it out there by recruiting analysts and the kids themselves.  These are DEFINITELY not real.

Preferred Walk On Offer

Each school has a few preferred walk on spots which are player they recruit to be on the team, but will not be on scholarship.  You know going into this you are a glorified practice player that might play in blowouts a couple times a year for a few minutes.  There are certain situations these players can earn scholarships, but with the portal era upon us that is becoming very rare.

Walk On for One, Scholarship for Three Offer

This one is a bit more complex.  It is when a school likes a player late and would take them, but doesn't have room on their scholarship chart.  They might ask them to walk on for a year with the intention of putting them on scholarship the next three years.  It isn't a guarantee though so be careful here knowing what you are getting into.

Completely Made Up by Player Offer

Yes this does happen.  More than you think.  Just because a player puts it out on social media they have an offer it doesn't mean they do.  There are multiple every year that completely fabricate an offer where I hear from a school saying who is _____.  We have never heard of him.  Tell him to take that down!  Some have even gone as far as “fake committing” to a school.  A lot of this is seeing others getting offers which as you see here is not always truly the case.

Partial Offer

A lot of times at the D2, JUCO, or small college level players will get partial offers.  This means they are getting a portion of their school paid for, but not all of it.  This can be structured in a number of ways.

Spot on A Team Offer

This is at a small college when they are not “offering a scholarship”.  They basically are saying if you come to school here you will have a spot on the team that next year.  Nothing beyond that is guaranteed.

JV Team Offer at Small College

Many small colleges have JV programs.  These teams are essentially a way for the admissions office to get more students in the door.  Sometimes the basketball program might get more money or leeway getting scholarship money for their “real” team if they can boost up the number of JV players paying to go to school.  These are your good high school players that don't really have much opportunity to play in college that are willing to do this.