Marc Narducci: Shawnee's Borbi made his pick early

A few days after Shawnee sophomore Kyle Borbi made an oral commitment to attend Notre Dame on a lacrosse scholarship, the enormity of the moment hit him. And then he came to an unusual realization.

"It was exciting for a few days after I committed, but I realized I haven't played my sophomore season yet," Borbi said.

Welcome to the new world of recruiting.

Actually, Borbi is downright late in making his decision compared to David Sills, the quarterback from Delaware's Red Lion Christian. Sills, now a freshman, made an oral commitment to USC while still in seventh grade.

Borbi, a first-team all-conference performer as a freshman for Shawnee, also competes for Tri-State Lacrosse, a haven for college recruiters. He has been seen by all the top college lacrosse programs, including Notre Dame.

So this wasn't a knee-jerk reaction.

In fact, Borbi, who also is a running back and return man in football, took recruiting very seriously. He made five unofficial visits. Besides Notre Dame, he traveled to Ohio State, Harvard, Duke, and North Carolina.

He had a 4.0 grade-point average during his freshman year at Shawnee, and the combination of Notre Dame's academics, strong lacrosse program, and atmosphere persuaded Borbi that there was no reason to prolong his decision.

He insists that neither Notre Dame nor any of the other schools put the squeeze on him to make a commitment.

Frequently in boys' lacrosse, colleges divide up scholarships instead of offering a full ride. That is what happened in this case, but John Borbi, Kyle's father, said Notre Dame made an impressive offer.

So then the question came - why wait?

Still, John Borbi; his wife, Charlotte; and Kyle sat down and weighed the merits of an early decision.

"Some think early recruiting is detrimental and it's too young too early to make it [now]," John Borbi said. "Others think if it is a top school that the recruit likes, why not?"

And that was the case with Kyle.

He said Notre Dame was at the top of his list from the start, but he wanted to do his homework and visit the others. It was a process that took considerable time and expense, since a college doesn't pay for an unofficial recruiting visit.

While the colleges weren't demanding a decision, recruiting carries an inherent type of pressure.

"Each class, a school recruits only eight or nine kids, so you can't be too patient," John Borbi said.