Steve Holm, Illinois State head coach, has told me this more times than I can count, and tonight he told me again tonight: If a high school hitter cannot give the program fifty at-bats as a freshman, or a pitcher twenty-five innings, they do not recruit him. Not because the player is bad. Because there are thirty-four spots, more money per spot, and a transfer down the road who has already done it. So the question for your son is not "do they like me." It is "where would my fifty at-bats come from." A coach who answers with a position and a name is recruiting him. A coach who cannot is collecting him. More on this next Tuesday.