According to trainer, Illinois has offered a 10-year-old
These days, it’s difficult to create a wave of surprise with an early scholarship offer. Middle school players now routinely receive them. Hawaii reportedly offered an fifth-grader recently. The shock value of such matters has long since worn off … for the most part.
Enter Illinois.
According to California-based trainer Mike Evans, who owns and operates Lacedfacts Training, the Fighting Illini recently offered 10-year-old Bunchie Young, who trains with Evans.
Evans announced the offer via Twitter on Thursday.
After tweeting the news, Evans confirmed that he does, in fact, train Young.
The question of what constitutes a “scholarship offer” brings a fuzzy response. The word “offer” gets tossed around and the meaning is shaky at best. The fact that children nowhere near developed mentally or physically are now receiving invites from major college programs has distorted it further.
There are offers. Then, there are committable offers. The terms have little tangible meaning these days, but extending invites to young players is certainly a way to grab headlines. Illinois has definitely done that here.
Because of NCAA bylaws prohibiting coaches from discussing recruitable athletes, no member of the Illinois staff can comment on the offer
