Good to see Kim get the #1 spot for the 2009 Class. I've seen her on several occasions and she is really good. I think that Amber Brooks (UNC commit) is also very good.

For those interested, most of the top recruits in the country will be in Houston, TX for the Texas Shootout on Friday, May 30 - Sunday, June 1. Most on the Top 100 list should be there with their club teams.

Hey Aggie Fan - I know it's a year before Kim joins the fold, but what should I expect from A&M THIS season?

Also - what does everybody think about the trend for top Girls players to commit as juniors?
I thought her comments in the article about this were interesting.

I think A&M will be pretty good in '08, but they will rely heavily on incoming freshmen for a few starters and depth. The large 12-member signing class is very solid, but whether or not they can come in and give us enough to win a 5th consecutive Big 12 title is up in the air. We know that Beth West and Bri Young will start for sure.

I had a chance to watch Kim this weekend at the Houston Shootout and she was clearly the most dangerous striker in the tourney. She reminds me a lot of Ashlee Pistorious, except she has great speed to get around or through defenders to score. She is going to be really, really good at A&M. That's why I think that next year in '09 A&M will have their best shot ever at winning the national title.

As far as recruiting 2-3 years in advance of actually signing a prospect, there's really no way of getting around it today. The cycle has sped up and coaches have no choice but to start evaluating Freshmen and Sophomores in high school in order to offer them during the summer before their Junior year. For example, most of the coaches that were at the Houston Shootout primarily watched the '92s and '93s games because those are the class of 2010 and 2011, most of whom are not committed anywhere yet. The class of 2009 is pretty much done for most schools at this point as most '91 girls teams were all committed somewhere already. So there really wasn't much point in watching too many of their games except to maybe evaluate the lesser players and backups on those teams.

Aggie Soccer...
Do you think that all players at these showcases get a good look even though its late in the recruiting season? (very late haha)

I dont think they recruit this late into the year. Generally i hear recruiting goes on from summer to the beginning of spring for that years class? Am i correct?? aggie soccer seems to know whats going on maybe they can help me out lol

I think that most players have been seen and evaluated many times over (especially if they play on one of the elite club teams) before their Junior year in high school. The coaches have to because other schools will gobble them up with commitments otherwise. There were some coaches watching the '91 teams this weekend, but most of them were from lesser known Div. I and II schools that try to sign the backups and role players on those teams. Players like Kim and Alyssa Rich, etc. are long gone by the time summertime comes around after their Junior years.

Right now the fight for 2010 commitments is ongoing as most of the top players will start committing this summer and will continue through about December/January. At that point the vast majority of top recruits will have committed. The last real chances for coaches to make final decisions on scholarship offers will be this summer through the Region and National championships in June/July. At that point, most top coaches have already decided on who they will offer and have their classes wrapped up by August/September.