The Malvern community responds to one of its members making history.

Last February, Malvern Prep’s Eric Spanos ‘21 became the youngest player to ever commit to college for lacrosse.

Spanos, originally from Howard County, Maryland, is 14 years old and starting his freshman year at Malvern Prep. His parents are Jamie and Jason Spanos. They now reside in Pottstown, PA. Spanos plays for the Malvern Prep lacrosse team as well as his club team, Rising Sons.

It is not common for a player this young to already be looking at colleges but Spanos feels he has made the right decision.

“Originally my coach asked me to make a list of the schools I wanted to go to,” Spanos said. “Maryland was always that top school for me and I was presented with the opportunity to go there so I just took it.”

Since Spanos was so young, the recruiting process and communication was complicated.

“They reached out to my coach and every time they wanted to talk to me I had to call them,” he said. “We would talk about how school is going, how lacrosse is going,we planned visits and stuff like that. That’s also how I committed.”

Spanos’ family, especially his parents, was very supportive of him. “My family was all for it,” he said. “My mom and dad helped me through the process. They would be in the room helping me through it and just like guiding me.”

“[Eric] fell in love with everything there, our family is UMD legacy, Jason [Eric’s dad] went there,” Mrs. Spanos said. “The culture of the school and the lacrosse program is just what he is looking for. In spending time getting to know the coaches, especially John Tillman, Eric knew without a doubt this was the place for him.”

Mr. Alex Haynie, a middle school lacrosse coach and teacher at Malvern, was surprised to have a college commit on his middle school team last year. “I was obviously surprised, most people were,” Haynie said. “It seemed like a very early stage to commit. I was very happy for Eric. I didn’t even know him at the time, I met him a couple weeks later when we started the season.”

Haynie, a former college lacrosse player at Princeton University, said that being the coach of a college commit didn’t affect his coaching style. “He was a middle school lacrosse player just like everyone else out there,” he said. “We were going to ask everybody to work hard and give it their all to try and win games and have a good time doing it.”

Shortly after Spanos’ commitment, a new rule was put in place by the NCAA preventing commitments and communication until September 1 of a player’s junior year of high school. The rule states:

In lacrosse, to specify that: (1) off-campus recruiting contacts shall not be made with an individual (or his or her relatives or legal guardians) before September 1 at the beginning of his or her junior year in high school and that contacts that occur during a prospective student-athlete’s junior year may occur only at the prospective student-athlete’s educational institution or residence (NCAA).

Though this rule now prevents Eric from almost all communication with the Maryland coaches, his commitment is still valid. He can not call or email them but he can still talk to them in person.

Senior lacrosse player Quinn McCahon, who has committed to play at the University of Notre Dame, was previously committed to the University of Pennsylvania, a decision he made freshman year. McCahon decommitted from Penn last summer because he felt he rushed into his decision.

“I visited a couple of colleges but I feel like I was so young looking back at it,” McCahon said. “I kind of hopped in on one choice thinking, ‘Oh it’s Penn, it’s an Ivy League school, it’s a great program’ and not really knowing what life would be like there.”

McCahon believes early commitments were caused by pressure from coaches.

“I know a lot of college coaches put pressure on kids, especially freshman year, because they will give you a deadline,” McCahon said. “‘Alright you have five days to give me an answer, yes or no.’ I feel like that is really hard on kids, especially for an amazing academic and lacrosse school. That pressure makes a lot of kids commit early. I’ve heard that happen to a lot of kids.”

McCahon is in favor of the new NCAA rule because it takes away from that pressure.

“I think it’s great for the game because kids are so young freshman year,” he said. “So you’re not really mature enough to make that decision because college is such a huge part of your life that you need to wait, I mean I don’t think you are even ready junior year, I really think you’re ready senior year knowing where you want to go.”

Head Varsity Lacrosse Coach Mr. John McEvoy said the new NCAA rule is really not new.

“This is an old rule and they are just trying to enforce it now. It closes the loopholes [in recruiting],” he said. “When they mean no contact, they mean no contact…it makes it more of an even playing field and alleviates the pressure and anxiety.”

According to McEvoy, there has been a previous balance between the top Division 1 schools getting their recruits early and the “mid-level” Division 1 teams waiting later in high school for their recruits. This balance is now affected by the new rule.

“The bad is that ‘mid-level’ Division 1 teams that have been fishing out of a pool of late bloomers are now competing directly with the top Division 1 teams,” McEvoy said.

Spanos’ decision has not come without criticism. The Baltimore Sun reported on Spanos’ commitment, including tweets that said:

Sorry this is ridiculous. @CoachTillman1 should be embarrassed. @TerpsMLax should be embarrassed. #LostRespect

— WNY Lax (@WNYLax) March 8, 2017

https://twitter.com/realTrumpLax/status/841377354106720256

As the earliest lacrosse commit ever, Spanos knows there will be a lot of pressure on him.

“I’m just going to have to step up my game,” he said. “I’m going to have to work a lot harder because people are going to expect a lot more from me. I think it’s on me to just to fulfill those expectations and work hard.”