This week's Recruiting Horror Story begins with Jenna*. Jenna was an impressive basketball player in high school and received attention from multiple Division I programs early on in her high school career. She was really excited because this all meant that she would be able to live out her dream of being a Division I college athlete.
There was one school that piqued Jenna's interest the most, so she went on an unofficial visit and met the team. This school was a Big Ten Conference school, so the facilities were amazing. Everyone, including the coach, was super nice and welcoming. The coach seemed really interested in Jenna, which was very reassuring for her.
Jenna and this coach kept in contact throughout her high school years. Eventually, they told her they would be giving her a very generous scholarship to play for them. Jenna was ecstatic and ended up verbally committing a few days later. She was super excited to be done with the recruiting process and be able to focus on her college applications.
However, the summer before her senior year, Jenna got a call from her college coach. They dropped the devastating news to Jenna that they had another high school athlete commit to the school and they would be offering Jenna's place on the team to the other athlete.
This all came out of nowhere for Jenna. All of a sudden, she had to scramble to find a team that had an open spot on such late notice. To go along with this, she had just been told that she wasn't good enough and now she had to find the confidence to keep looking for a school she could play at.
As luck would have it, Jenna's best friend was going on a recruiting visit to a Division I school across the country. Jenna asked if she could tag along and go meet the coach. Jenna ended up loving the school, team, and coach. The coach even told Jenna and her best friend that she had spots for both of them.
Thankfully, this Recruiting Horror Story has a good ending. Jenna ended up having the best four years playing with her childhood best friend. Even though the school she played at wasn't at the level of the original school, Jenna ended up getting way more playing time and having a bit less pressure to perform.
*Name changed for anonymity.