Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy takes a look the decision by the Wisconsin Badgers to accept a non-binding verbal agreement from a 14 year old defender, just entering his freshman year of high school.
Besides being blessed with a name perfect for sports headlines, Jordan Schmaltz is an incoming freshman at Verona High School in Madison, WI and a 6-foot-1, 150 pound defenseman that recently made a non-binding oral commitment to attend the University of Wisconsin on a hockey scholarship. (I know: You usually find the uncomfortable commoditization of athletes in puberty over on Rivals. Consider this the exception.)
Though the decision seems odd now, it will become more prevalent as kids are identified at younger ages. However, watch for a good chunk of these agreements to be ignored as the kids either succumb to the pressure or peak at 15 and don’t get any better.
