Recruiting buzz comes in waves, but July represents a particularly high peak on the girls basketball scene.
Offers are flying. Two live periods mean players have multiple big opportunities to impress college coaches at grassroots championships around the country. And the first big batch of college commitment decisions have begun.
I've been using our 2027 commitments database to track every public announcement in New England. We've also reached a point in the cycle where I can draw some broader observations. What makes this recruiting go-round different from years past, and what can it tell us about the way recruiting works today?
Here are four takeaways I have from recent activity around the region.
Division 1 players are committing earlier
It feels like decisions are coming faster for many of the top 2027 prospects. Three years of data back up the sentiment.
As of Monday, July 20, 19 players who are either from New England or play at a New England-based school have verbally committed to a Division 1 college. Only 11 Div. 1 players had committed by this time last year and 13 players in the 2025 cycle. Last year, our region's 19th Div. 1 commitment didn't occur until late September.
It's not massive change, but it's significant enough to make me wonder if this is signaling a new trend in recruiting. We know that the musical chairs game in the NCAA transfer portal has made roster spots more selective than ever for high school prospects. People may also be coming to terms with the reality of a verbal offer's intangible nature. This was something I first learned from Olivia Rodrigues when she committed to Providence in summer 2024. Rodrigues moved up her commitment timeline as she saw available roster spots were dwindling.
Anna Moser also gave me an interesting insight when she broke down her recent commitment to Florida. Moser said she didn't think a coach who offered her in late July would have a chance to build a strong relationship so late in her recruiting process. So why wait for those offers? Though this doesn't have to be the mentality for every recruit, Moser does give us a peek into how relationship-building matters for today's prospects.
Extra challenges for the 2027 class?
The 2027 class is the next group to feel direct ripple effects from NCAA decision-making. The 5-in-5 eligibility model recently passed by the NCAA is designed to make clear the boundaries for college athlete eligibility, and after late changes in the model, it seems to keep prep schools' postgraduate season value in place.
But the story doesn't end there. Multiple collections of NCAA basketball players who had recently ended their college careers are part of new lawsuits against the NCAA, all claiming they've been unfairly excluded from a potential fifth year of play and NIL compensation. These lawsuits could gain traction, and if the NCAA is forced to grant another year of eligibility, that opens the floodgates for 2026 collegiate seniors to re-enter the transfer portal for one more shot.
That means the 2027 high school class could have even fewer scholarship spots on the table.
Bob Corwin, one of the longtime evaluators in girls basketball, alluded to this during his recent dispatch from Under Amour play. He writes point blank: "Needless to say, this puts the 2027 high school seniors in a terrible bind as college eligibility clock starts by the time you turn 19. I look for a downslide in talent with borderline Power 4 prospects slipping into the mid-majors and cycling down. If so, this will result in a better level of player below the Power 4 and sadly, a significant chunk of prospects no longer getting a Division 1 scholarship."
After a star-studded 2025 New England recruiting class and a 2026 class with even more Division 1 mid-major talent, I predict we'll see a decrease in Div. 1 commits in the local 2027 class. That's primarily for the above reason. The 2026 class was also filled with depth at valuable post player and forward positions; this 2027 class is guard-heavy. I'd expect about 30 Division 1 commits in this class in contrast to the 35-40 commits of the prior two years. This is less a commentary on the talent in the class, which I still think is strong, and more a reflection of the difficult circumstances these rising seniors face.
The silver lining: Division 2 and 3 programs should be ecstatic to find possible Division 1-caliber talent available for them to recruit. I think this 2027 class is loaded with impact Div. 2 and 3 players and will be a memorable group to track in college.
Best available seniors
As of Monday, 12 of the top 20 players in our spring Best of New England rankings have committed and two others have reclassified to 2028.
Among the remaining six include our top two prospects. Bella Owumi (Lynn, Mass.) of Tilton and MCW Starz has official visits scheduled with Florida, Florida State, UCF and Duke, per Dushawn London of 247 Sports. Tabor forward Corinne Lomax (Watertown, Conn.) continues to add offers on the Adidas circuit with Mass Rivals, most recently picking up Georgia last week.
Tilton/New Jersey Gemz center Ava Bryant (No. 4), St. Luke's/iBelieve Elite guard Kendra Foy (No. 6) and Sacred Heart/Mass Rivals wing Lucianna Parrotta (No. 8) are all undecided in our top 10 of the rankings. Though I had Paola Kanoute ranked No. 17 in March, she will fly up the list when we update it (soon!). She picked up her first five offers this spring with iBelieve.
When are younger classes getting their first Div. 1 offers?
As the grassroots season moves along, we start to see coaches at the highest level turn their attention to the younger classes. But at what age do scholarships come on the radar?
Approaching sophomore year (or this 2029 class) is when the elite talents may see their first offers trickle in. We've noticed it with a couple of players this season. Mollie Puffer (Sanford, Maine) has made a huge splash with the Bay State Jaguars and Phillips Exeter as a reclassified 2029 guard, scoring her first offers from Mercyhurst, Boston University, Providence and UNH. Saige DeJesus (Brockton, Mass.), point guard standout for New Hampton and Mass Rivals, has picked up her first five offers this season, most recently from BU, Iona and Harvard. She also reclassified in the spring.
Jali Eason (Governor's/New England Storm), Olivia Macklin (Wilbraham & Monson/MCW Starz) and Nahla Perkins (Nobles/Shooting Touch) landed their first Div. 1 offers in the last month as well, while others have added to their lists of interest. Roughly 12 players total in New England's 2029 class have officially announced a Division 1 offer. Compare that to the 2030 class of incoming freshmen, where I only count three players.
Don't read too much into this timeline. Some of my favorite players to watch in the 2027 and 2028 classes, who I firmly believe are Division 1 talents, have yet to receive an offer. Players develop at different rates, and especially early on, a lot of circumstance plays into impressing the right college coach at the right time. It's more interesting to understand when colleges feel confident enough in an age group to start sending out offers — and which schools decide to do so early.
