IN THEIR WORDS WYATT NAYLOR (CLASS OF 2016) AS TOLD TO MATT HAMILTON
I started playing with the Baltimore Breakers in eighth grade. The mindset and the expectation for a lot of the well- known clubs teams is that you make it to the next level. I always thought I’d be playing Division I lacrosse. I had the ability and the belief. I didn’t want to think about doing Division II or Division III. I focused on schools like Delaware and
Mercer. But when Delaware’s offensive coordinator left a couple days before I visited — he recruited me — nothing really came out of it.
In the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, my goalie, Jack Pezzula committed to North Carolina. That kind of scared me. People everywhere were getting picked up, to Hopkins and Virginia and UNC. You’re worried like, “Am I running out of time?” and “Why aren’t these colleges looking at me?” Once I got to my sophomore year, there were freshmen under me, kids who had never played lacrosse before at a high school level, committing. That was degrading. Schools will give them an ultimatum. “You have 48 hours and if you don’t commit, we are going to move on.” That’s real pressure.
I decided that I could either play for a low Division I or a high Division III team and make an impact. I started talking to schools between my sophomore and junior year, which is pretty late now. I looked at Salisbury, Cabrini, Lynchburg and Roanoke. They gave me much more to offer from a Division III perspective. It was just a better fi t for me. That’s not something a lot of kids will recognize. When you tell someone you are a Division III lacrosse player, they automatically assume that you’re less than a Division I lacrosse player, and that’s not true at all.
I wanted something more than lacrosse in my life. I love lacrosse and I love my team, but I also want a social aspect to my college. If the legislation passes, it would take the pressure off. It would give kids a chance to learn who they are and what they really want in the recruiting process.
Wyatt Naylor played lacrosse for Baltimore Breakers and Glenelg Country School. He is a freshman attackman at Roanoke College.
USlaxmagazine.com March 2017 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE 29
©PHOTO CREDIT
©PETE EMERSON
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