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UW men's hockey: Badgers get verbal commitment from 14-year-old

Todd D. Milewski  —  8/20/2008 6:29 am

Before he starts playing for a midget minor hockey team, before he even starts his first class at Verona Area High School, Jordan Schmaltz has a college hockey destination planned.

Schmaltz, a 14-year-old defenseman, gave University of Wisconsin coaches a verbal commitment last week, accepting an offer of a full scholarship more than four years before he can even start using it.

"I don't think there's too many other kids that have had a scholarship offered to them (that young)," said Schmaltz's father, Mike. "It's kind of surreal, actually, that he's that young and coach (Mike) Eaves made him an offer."

Jordan Schmaltz, an offensive defenseman who is set to move up to the second-highest level of the Chicago Mission junior program this season, said he took the offer because he liked the UW campus and the coaching staff.

Verbal commitments are nonbinding, so there is no NCAA legislation governing them. The national collegiate sports body doesn't allow college hockey coaches to contact recruits until June 15 between their sophomore and junior years in high school, but that doesn't preclude athletes from starting lines of communication on their own earlier.

To illustrate how rare it is, however, for someone who hasn't even started his freshman year of high school to be this far along in the recruiting game, the NCAA guide for college-bound student-athletes starts listing its recruiting rules with high school sophomores.

There have recently been a few notable verbal commitments in men's basketball before the athlete started ninth grade, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches has asked its members neither to offer scholarships nor to accept commitments from athletes until after their sophomore year.

Early recruiting also has been a topic of discussion in men's hockey, but with no apparent directives from the coaches' association.

Mike Schmaltz said he's not concerned that his son was recruited too early.

"He's been to quite a few different colleges, and he's been lucky to take a tour of hockey across the U.S. and Canada," he said. "He's probably not your typical 14-, almost 15-year-old kid."

Jordan Schmaltz could be part of the incoming UW freshman class in the fall of 2012 if he joins the Badgers directly after graduating high school.

A lifelong Madison-area resident, he grew up watching UW. Jordan Schmaltz has also been to hockey camps in North Dakota, where his father played college football and where his grandfather still lives, so the Badgers' Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival there was another possibility. He also talked to Notre Dame coaches.

But he apparently piqued the Badgers' interest this summer at a camp at Capitol Ice Arena, and he made an unofficial visit to the team last Wednesday.

Two days later, he called to accept the scholarship offer.

Jordan Schmaltz is returning to the Chicago Mission AAA program this season, where he'll play on the midget minor team. In the past, he has proven to be an adept offensive force with good skating ability, his father said, but over the next few years, the focus will be on building strength.

"I'm just going to try to progress in the physical part of the game," said Jordan Schmaltz, who checks in at 6-foot-1 and around 160 pounds.

Chicago Mission coach Mike McPartlin called Schmaltz "an extraordinary player."

"On the ice you immediately notice what a smooth, strong skater he is, but it's his hockey IQ and his phenomenal passing skills that ultimately set him apart," McPartlin said on the team's Web site. "And although he's definitely gifted athletically, there's a lot more to him than just that. Jordy also has that burning passion to compete and be the best. All these qualities make him one of those rare players who makes the players around him better."

Eaves and the UW coaching staff are not allowed to comment on recruits who have not signed a national letter of intent.

Todd D. Milewski  —  8/20/2008 6:29 am