Breaking down the Class of 2017 college commitments by sport and by school
Which sport is the most effective at sending players to the next level? Which schools lead the state?
We broke down the 2017 commitment database from a few different angles, including looking at recruiting by sport and by school.
Note that this data is not complete, only what has been reported to us, but it is the most complete dataset that exists when it comes to college athletics signees from Colorado’s high schools.
Athletes heading to play college sports after high school is incredibly rare. As 9News detailed last month after breaking down CHSAANow.com’s data, just 3.4 percent of local athletes move on to the next level.
By sport
Football leads all sports with the most athletes (277) headed to play college sports, something that could be expected due to the number of athletes participating — 16,686 played in 2016, more than any other sport.
Baseball will send 159 to college, the second-most of any sport, closely followed by girls soccer (150). Softball (105) and volleyball (94) round out the top five.
It’s girls soccer which continues to churn out the most Division I talent of any sport. This season, 70 will head to the top level in college athletics. Last season, 69 girls soccer players went D-I.
Football is second with 45 Division I players, and boys lacrosse (31) is next.
We’ve broken down the 2017 class by division and Division I:
| All Divisions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Sport | Number | Last Year’s Rank |
| 1 | Football | 277 | 1 |
| 2 | Baseball | 159 | 3 |
| 3 | Girls Soccer | 150 | 2 |
| 4 | Softball | 105 | 4 |
| 5 | Volleyball | 94 | 5 |
| 6 | Boys Lacrosse | 61 | 7 |
| 7 | Boys Soccer | 52 | 12 |
| T8 | Girls Basketball | 49 | 9 |
| T8 | Girls Track/Cross Country | 49 | 6 |
| 10 | Wrestling | 35 | 8 |
| Division I | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Sport | Number | Last Year’s Rank |
| 1 | Girls Soccer | 70 | 1 |
| 2 | Football | 45 | 2 |
| 3 | Boys Lacrosse | 31 | 6 |
| 4 | Volleyball | 27 | 5 |
| 5 | Baseball | 26 | 3 |
| 6 | Boys Soccer | 20 | 12 |
| T7 | Girls Track/Cross Country | 17 | 4 |
| T7 | Softball | 17 | 11 |
| 9 | Boys Track/Cross Country | 15 | 8 |
| 10 | Wrestling | 12 | 13 |
By School
We also broke down college commitments by school, including all divisions, Division I, and a per capita figure, which looks at the number of college athletes a school produces compared to its enrollment.
| By School (All Divisions) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | School | Number | Last Year’s Rank |
| 1 | Valor Christian | 41 | 3 |
| 2 | Cherry Creek | 35 | 1 |
| T3 | Mountain Vista | 30 | 8 |
| T3 | Ralston Valley | 30 | 6 |
| T5 | Pine Creek | 28 | 12 |
| T5 | Rock Canyon | 28 | 19 |
| 7 | Cherokee Trail | 27 | 28 |
| 8 | Regis Jesuit | 26 | 4 |
| T9 | Broomfield | 25 | 39 |
| T9 | Eaglecrest | 25 | 46 |
| By School (Division I) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | School | Number | Last Year’s Rank |
| 1 | Valor Christian | 20 | 3 |
| 2 | Regis Jesuit | 18 | 2 |
| 3 | Mountain Vista | 17 | 6 |
| 4 | Cherry Creek | 16 | 1 |
| 5 | Broomfield | 13 | 20 |
| 6 | Rock Canyon | 11 | 26 |
| T7 | Mullen | 10 | 18 |
| T7 | Pine Creek | 10 | 13 |
| T7 | Ralston Valley | 10 | 25 |
| 10 | Lewis-Palmer | 8 | 33 |
| By School (Per capita) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | School | Number | Enrollment |
| 1 | Valor Christian | 41 | 934 |
| 2 | Fleming | 2 | 56 |
| 3 | Heritage Christian | 3 | 87 |
| 4 | Mullen | 24 | 802 |
| 5 | Lake City Commuity | 1 | 40 |
| 6 | Hoehne | 2 | 105 |
| 7 | Pine Creek | 28 | 1,481 |
| 8 | Lyons | 4 | 231 |
| 9 | Lewis-Palmer | 17 | 996 |
| 10 | Ralston Valley | 30 | 1,828 |
Looking at football
This season, 277 athletes are headed to play college football after completing their high school careers in Colorado. This is the most in the four-year history of the CHSAANow recruiting database, something that can most likely be attributed to the fact that we get better at gathering data each year. (The total has risen each year.)
Included in that total is 57 athletes headed to play Division I football, 45 on scholarship and 12 as walk-ons. The largest group is headed to play Division II (156, including four walk-ons), with 16 going D-III, 39 to the NAIA and nine to junior colleges.
We have data on Division I players which dates back to 2008, and the most that have ever gone D-I was 51. The 45 scholarship players from the 2017 class are the third-most in that time period.
Here is the complete dataset from this year’s group of football seniors:
| Football (2017 class) | |
|---|---|
| Division | Number |
| FBS | 20 |
| FBS (walk-on) | 12 |
| FCS | 25 |
| FCS (walk-on) | 0 |
| D-I total | 45 |
| D-I total (including walk-ons) | 57 |
| D-II | 152 |
| D-II (walk-on) | 4 |
| D-III | 16 |
| NAIA | 39 |
| JC | 9 |
| Total | 261 |
| Total (including walk-ons) | 277 |
