Northside’s Hall picks up early offer from Maryland
Northside defensive lineman Chance Hall, a 6-foot-6, 266-pound sophomore, has picked up an early scholarship offer from Maryland.
Hall was named The Roanoke Times Sizzlin’ Sophomore defensive player of the year after helping Northside to a share of the Blue Ridge District championship.
January 2, 2013 - 10:45 PM
Wow!!……………I’ve heard of juniors in H.S. getting early offers, but, I did not know that colleges can offer scholarships to sophomores????
Maybe, I am outdated, but, isn’t this a little early to put pressure on a kid, who is just getting his driver’s license and has not even gone to the junior/senior prom yet?????
I think it is ridiculous and where to we draw the line……….College coaches will soon be scouting the Pee Wee league and Recreation League games at your local park next!!!
I do NOT condone this and it setting a bad precedent……..
Agree with Jay
Even freshmen are being given DI offers now. A couple of years ago VA
Congrats to Chance; he is a quality kid with a ton of potential.
A couple of years ago VA Tech along with many other schools made offers to two freshmen defensive linemen from Virginia (they are now listed as the #1 and #4 juniors by Roanoke Times). The coaches don’t like having to recruit underclassmen but unfortunately they have to in order to keep up with the competition. I know of two 8th graders that received basketball offers this summer (8th graders are being ranked nationally by recruiting services). Freshmen and sophomores are on the radar of every top-tier DI head-count (full scholarship) sport; this applies to both men’s and women’s teams.
It’s not all that new, either, just accelerated. I remember when Indiana offered a basketball scholarship to Damon Bailey when he was in the eighth grade in the late 1980s. The team from North Carolina that’s playing in the Chance Harman benefit in Floyd on Saturday has a 6-7 freshman who is pretty close to an offer from Duke and North Carolina.
All that is fine, but, I call it dirty pool…………Ethically and morally, the practice belongs in a cesspole of deceit, lies, an disgust!!!!…………Where is society heading in terms of simply “doing the right thing” and having some resemblance of moral fiber??..
Again, I find it utterly disgusting and as a middle school teacher, I have some parents who do not actively participate in their child’s education, do not care about their son’s bad grades, suspensions and nasty attitude “BECAUSE”, according to them, their son is going to make millions in the NBA or NFL – the thinking is that this “BOY IN THE HOOD” or “HOMEY” will be the next Michael Vick or Allen Iverson!!!! –
Some of these kids, come to school with no supplies, (paper, pencils, notebooks, binders, etc), which we, the teachers, go in out own pocket to buy, they do not complete projects or assignments, turn in homework and are constanatly written up for behavioral issues, BUT, is okay because he is going to make milliions in a few years in the pros!!??………..Yeah, RIGHT!!..
And how about Iverson or Vick being your son’s role model??…………..No, there’s something to be proud of, huh??
DISGUSTING!!
I agree with you to an extent Jay but was kind of taken back with your comments on the “boys in the hood” & “homey” comment. You then followed up with a confirmation that you were directing this practice of scouting young primarily to african-american kids and gave a protrayal of these same ethinic kids are bad kids from an academic and social standpoint.
I find that offensive. This practice is done male and female and background, ethnicity, sex, or location do not matter. They look for talent. The same holds true in most sports. The demographic of students where you teach is what it is. I understand the faith in that parent that hopes the talent of their child would help the families economic status andI do think the focus needs to be more on the “Student” part of the Student-Athelete, however the same premise holds true to cases of caucasion players coming from a small towns and/or rural areas who are recruited and can barely read or write.
I ecnourage you to read about the prep school playing in the Floyd tournament. They recruit but do not take kids struggling in test scores or GPA.
OK Jay, you got your point across, now shut up. You don’t even know this young man and to say the things “Boy in the hood, or Homey” really paints you as a racist. Quit while you can or maybe send out a I’m Sorry to Chance. He takes pride in his team and having maryland look at him this early and want to offer him a full ride is exciting to him, let him enjoy it.
Oh, Jay. While your comments suggest you have no personal experience as to what’s entailed to receive an early offer from an institution, it’s abundantly clear you deserve the compassionate educator of the year award.
I agree with Mike T. Jay I don’t think you know too much about recruiting in today’s world. Also your comments sound racist. I am not sure if that is what you intended or not. I personally know Chance and his family and I can tell you he takes his academics very seriously. In today’s world of recruiting services like Rivals etc. Recruiting is being done earlier and earlier every year. My son was on the Roanoke Vipers 10 and under football team that won the largest youth football tournament in the USA. There was people from recruiting services there and we had a few players that they put on recruiting watch lists. They are 5th graders so there you go. Congratulations to Chance Hall! I think he will be getting plenty more offers before long. Maybe from SEC schools too.
“MIKE T”……………The fact that you cannot have an “INTELLIGENT” boad discussion and convey your sentiment without being so crass and asinine as to tell someone to “Shut Up”, says a lot about you doesn’t it…..
Do me a favor…….Since, you obviously, have put your special education diploma to good use and graduated from the “JIM BOB SCHOOL OF TRUCK DRIVING”, keep your uninformed, uneducated and IDIOTIC comments to yourself!!!!
MIKE T – WHAT A DAMN IDIOT!!!
BROOKE……………Are you a teacher??
BROOKE………..If you are “not” a teacher, you have nothing to say……
If you “are”, then come teach in a Title I (if you know what that means), public school and at the middle school level for 18 years, THEN lets talk……….Unless, this is the case, you have nothing to add…….
Thank you for your “non-compassionate” response…….
“Jay”-
It is because I’ve put on, laced up,and wore your shoes effectively that I was put off by your bitter sentiments (my entire career was at Title I schools). These feelings were compounded by knowledge that your gross generalizations in no way embody Chance, or his family. Besides, everyone knows that there are poor representatives from any subgroup (be it athletes with early offers or middle school teachers).
But, I digress, as the true purpose of this original post was to celebrate Chance–a bright, kind, hard-working athlete with loads of promise. Congratulations, Chance!
BROOKE…………YOU ARE “LYING”…….”LYING”………”LYING”……….
JUST BY YOUR LAST RESPONSE, AND YOU WOULD HAVE SAID THIS PREVIOUSLY IF YOU REALLY WERE, YOU ARE NOT A TEACHER……..
STOP LYING AT HOME COLLECTING FOOD STAMPS AND SECTION 8 AND GET OFF THE COMPUTER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY WITH NOTHING TO DO BUT CHANGE YOUR 10 KIDS DIAPERS!!!!!
YOU ARE UNEDUCATED, UNINFORMED AND SIMPLY DO NOT MATTER TO THE REST OF US HARD-WORKING AND “RELEVANT” PEOPLE!!
……….SO, “SHUT UP”……..PLEASE,!!!!