Legislation proposed to stop verbal offers by colleges

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Let the debate begin whether the practice by colleges of offering scholarships to athletes as early as their eighth-grade year should be banned.

The Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet is proposing legislation to prohibit early offers of financial aid to high school athletes in all sports until the summer prior to their senior year.

Since athletes are being identified earlier and earlier, it remains to be seen if NCAA schools would agree to the legislation. It also would be difficult to monitor schools.

Cabinet chair Petrina Long, senior associate athletics director at UCLA, told the NCAA News that the cabinet heard from coaches, prospects and their families. Some felt pressured to make decisions earlier without gaining the necessary information about academic qualifications.

If the legislation passes, it could take influence and power away from club coaches who try to market their athletes at an early age.

And most of all, what would happen to all the Internet recruiting services whose focus is on college recruiting?

-- Eric Sondheimer