FORGING FORWARD
A big win in effort to end early recruiting Early recruiting legislation proposed by college lacrosse coaches
achieved a major milestone June 29, when the NCAA Division I Council recommended it for the 2016-17 NCAA legislative cycle. The proposal, which aims to curb a trend that has advanced to the point of eighth-graders verbally committing to colleges, would ban all contact with prospective student-athletes before Sept. 1 of their junior year of high school. The IWLCA drafted the legislation in September 2015, with the IMLCA voting to support it three months later. US Lacrosse endorsed the joint initiative and produced supporting articles and videos.
Lobbying efforts suffered a setback when the NCAA’s Student- Athlete Experience Committee removed the restriction of phone calls from the proposal. But thanks to “a lot of old-fashioned politicking,” according to Duke women’s coach and IWLCA Recruiting Issues Committee co-chair Kerstin Kimel, the DI Council reinserted the clause.
“Who all knew someone on the DI Council? We wanted personal communication, not just a cold call,” said Limestone men’s coach J.B. Clarke, president of the IMLCA. “We used emails and calls. It kind of became a phone tree.” If the proposal passes next April, it would go into effect Aug. 1, 2017.
In the meantime, the recruiting rush continued. On July 7, Chase LaDrido, a 14-year-old from San Diego, verbally committed to Johns Hopkins — becoming the 17th player from the Class of 2020 to make such a decision, according to Recruiting Rundown.
MLL MLL
STRETCH The MLL
championship game is Aug. 20 at Kennesaw State outside Atlanta.
Seven teams separated by just two games were vying for four MLL playoff spots when this edition of Lacrosse Magazine
went to press. Three notable developments in 2016:
12 LACROSSE MAGAZINE
INTERNAL COMBUSTION
It was a rough fi rst season for the Atlanta Blaze, who dealt No. 1 overall draft pick Myles Jones to Chesapeake for Matt Mackrides, only to lose Mackrides for the rest of the season after he suffered a spinal injury in a scary head-fi rst collision with Charlotte’s Michael Ehrhardt in a game July 1. The next week, Kevin Rice, the MLL’s leading scorer at the time, suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice. Then on July 21, the Blaze fi red head coach and general manager John Tucker.
» September/October 2016 #OILUP
The Ohio Machine have been knocking on the door in recent seasons and went all-in at the MLL trade deadline June 28, acquiring two-time MLL MVP and fi ve-time champion John Grant Jr. from the Denver Outlaws. The Chesapeake Bayhawks also were very active, dealing Drew Westervelt and Kyle Sweeney, while picking up Mike Poppleton and Kevin Cooper in four separate trades.
STARS OVERDUE
If Chesapeake wins its sixth MLL title, it will be the fi rst for veteran attackmen Brendan Mundorf and Matt Danowski — both of whom have found new life with the Bayhawks. Meanwhile, Ohio goalie Scott Rodgers, a career backup despite being a second-round pick out of Notre Dame six years ago, emerged as a starter and was the MLL All- Star Game MVP.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©GARY LADRIDO; ©PRETTY INSTANT
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