The University of Alabama offered a verbal scholarship to class of 2020 linebacker prospect Jesus Machad. Wow, the recruiting game is on. It reminds me of how hospitals offered early exploding offers in order to secure future doctors. This practice of extreme early recruiting was both detrimental to the hospital and the medical student. Both suffered the uncertainty from lack of information. Fortunately, the hospitals decided that this insanity/ inefficiency had to go and matching was born. In matching, hospitals and medical students rank their preferences and the matching is done based on these preferences, satisfying both the hospitals and the doctors. To learn more about the matching process see the book, Who Gets What.

University of Alabama’s offer seems quite irrational and risky given many things can happen in four years. The student can injure himself or decide not to pursue football at all. After all, many great athletes seem to have changed sports in some time in their youth. Anyhow, this would be a good research topic, specially in sports economics.

 

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