BLOG: What is a verbal commit from a 13/14 year-old worth?

By the time yesterday's two young verbal commits play for the Gophers, if all goes to plan, none of the current players on the roster will be playing at the University of Minnesota.

And that's if all goes to plan. A half decade can be a lifetime when teenagers choose their college choice before choosing a high school. If history tells us anything, it's far easier for players taking the path that Chaz and Cruz Lucius did - committing at 13 and 14 - to go on another rather than stick with their original.

Without delving into the good, bad and ugly of recruiting itself (a subject for another day), or recruiting getting younger, I wanted to look at whether past early commitments by 13 and 14 year-olds panned out for players and teams. What is a verbal commitment worth? Do star players remain stars? How much do plans change?

The answer is complicated.