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It can go both ways now. Giving an early verbal commitment is just what it is…a verbal commitment. It doesn’t seem like that type of commitment is viewed like it used to be. You have coaching changes year-after-year, which is a major pivotal factor for the student athletes. Plus, now the NCAA allows college hopping via the transfer portal. So, the major, top end players have the behind the scenes borderline tampering conversations going on with their “personal consultants,” or “paid for, but amateur agents.” Just by watching the B1G Network and their hockey app, I noticed more than a few players who switched schools this past season. It’s not what it used to be. I mean, nobody knows what will be tried in the next few years with NCAA rules, player agents, transfer eligibility, outside tampering, scholarship eligibility, etc. On one hand it’s interesting to see what’s publicly happening in the major 2 NCAA sports (football/basketball), and then seeing some it even trickle down to the Olympic sports. On the other hand, (IMO) it’s decimating the fan bases by the decreased interest of following yearly player development, school pride, enthusiasm for each new season knowing who’s coming back and the strengths/weaknesses of each program. Frankly, it’s too difficult and time consuming for the layman fan to keep track of the comings and goings with recruiting. But, now you have to essentially do that with the rostered underclassmen, and even graduate students with eligibility remaining. Essentially, every college student athlete is a yearly free agent. Obviously, it’s mostly affecting football and basketball. But, hockey is not immune from the transfer portal and “Name Image and Likeness” (NIL) benefits that can directly influence players. You have to believe that there’s plenty of people out there (probably with law degrees or similar backgrounds) that are interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to earn new money from this new venture. Sorry for the long post, but I am just trying to bring to light the sudden and drastic changes that are starting to occur with NCAA sanctioned sports and how it’s affecting the players/families/coaches. Most student athletes will not be affected (especially in non-money generating athletics). But, there are people out there that are reading the fine print and are looking to financially benefit from their “representative athletes.”

Not sure where the Rebellion got players from but I can’t see how they udgraded. I am pretty sure Shaha players ended up at MT Lebo and Vengeance predominantly, with NP and Steel City maybe picking up a couple. Seems that the Rebellion lost several players from last years team to a few different teams and some of those were even out of state.