[BostonCard]

The upshot of early offers is that it encourages recruits to take the academic steps necessary to qualify.  The alternative is waiting until junior year, and having limited scope for guiding their academics.  That being said, I don't know about offering freshmen.  Stanford doesn't even count freshman year grades, I don't think, and as others point out, a lot can happen between freshman and junior years.  Maybe you do that only for high floor players; Betts kind of makes sense since her sister is a commit and at 6'3" already, you know she is not going to shrink.

BC

[BostonCard]

The upshot of early offers is that it encourages recruits to take the academic steps necessary to qualify.  The alternative is waiting until junior year, and having limited scope for guiding their academics.  That being said, I don't know about offering freshmen.  Stanford doesn't even count freshman year grades, I don't think, and as others point out, a lot can happen between freshman and junior years.  Maybe you do that only for high floor players; Betts kind of makes sense since her sister is a commit and at 6'3" already, you know she is not going to shrink.

BC