Recruiting Horror Stories™ are posted every Tuesday to provide athletes' first-hand experiences of what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

Brase was in 8th grade when he first received a letter from a college basketball program. He vividly remembers opening the letter from the University of Virginia and realizing that it would soon be time to start thinking about his future.

The Offers Came Flooding In

On June 15th of his junior year, when most coaches are able to start reaching out to potential recruits, Brase remembers ten different college coaches reaching out to him in regards to a potential future with their school. 

Related school rating: University of Virginia

One of these schools was Loyola Marymount University. During that summer, he continued to stay in contact with the program. Brase's trainer was in connection with a staff member at LMU who invited him to their basketball camp. After the camp, Brase was given an offer from the head coach. 

Related school rating: Loyola Marymount University

Things Started to Go Downhill

During his junior season, the LMU coaches were consistently at his games. In November, Brase asked to attend one of LMU's games with his family. The coach was happy to have them attend and took down all of their information. When the day came, Brase went to the recruiting booth to pick up his tickets, but to his surprise, there were none in his name. A few days later, the coach found out about the incident and sent him a text to apologize about the miscommunication. After this incident, things started to go downhill.

Related: Athlete's Recruiting Ended When Coach and Assistant Coach Get Fired

COVID-19 Strikes Again

Although there was still communication between him and the coaches at LMU, they were not in contact nearly as much as they had been. Within a few months, COVID-19 hit, and the entire basketball coaching staff at LMU were let go. It goes without saying that Brase no longer had an offer to LMU.

It All Worked out in the End

Throughout the recruiting process, Brase explained that many programs and coaches would reach out and be in contact with him consistently for about two months and then nothing would come out of it.

It all worked out in the end, however; Brase is now playing basketball at Cal Poly Pomona and expects to have a big season with the Broncos!

Related school rating: Cal Poly Pomona

* Originally published on October 26, 2021, by Celeste Gutierrez