In February, various Andover athletes celebrated finalizing their commitments to compete in college athletics: this group includes Julian Rios ’26, committed to Stanford University for wrestling, and Zorah Williams ’26, committed to Trinity College for golf. Although they both ended up committing to college for athletics, the process is highly overlooked and is often more challenging than it seems. These processes usually begin in the summer of an athlete’s Lower year, which is too early. This initial date for teenagers to begin contacting schools blurs a line between teens playing a sport they enjoy and teens competing for a college spot.
Rios began wrestling at six years old, training with the Doughboy Wrestling Club in Massachusetts. By the time he was ten years old, he decided he wanted to compete collegiately. Rios described his childhood that fueled his passion for wrestling.
“I started wanting to wrestle in college when I realized I was really good at it and that it was something that I wanted to keep pursuing all the way through high school and college, which was when I was around 10. I would watch it on TV, like on ESPN, and it was just something I wanted to do ever since I was really young,” said Rios.
In wrestling, recruitment is mostly performance-based: college programs send recruiters to major tournaments where athletes are directly evaluated. Rios described his recruiting process, as well as how Andover and other people have helped him throughout the process.
“The recruitment process for wrestling started after my sophomore year in the summer in June, which is when colleges were allowed to start talking to you. I remember, on that day, I ended up getting a few phone calls from colleges. Andover provides the spotlight, and they give me the ability to perform and show my talents, and if it wasn’t for [Andover], I wouldn’t have done so well. Academically too, [Andover has] helped me so much to show that I’m capable of wrestling and doing academics at a high level,” said Rios.
What surprised me about Rios’s story is how much of the recruitment process happens before Senior year and behind the scenes — from the phone calls in the summer to years of tournaments watched by college coaches and scouts. This process is a grind that begins far earlier than it really should, blurring a line between high schoolers playing a sport for fun and being pressured to compete for spots on college teams. This places stress for teenagers to have their future planned out long before Senior year, an excessive ask for high schoolers.
Similarly, by the age of 15, Williams was already considering whether golf might have a place in her college plans. However, an injury during high school before attending Andover derailed her original plans to play in college. Williams reflected on her journey at Andover where she received support to change that, allowing her to connect with college coaches and re-enter the recruiting process.
“Coming to Andover gave me an opportunity to reach out to coaches again. Without Andover, there’s no shot. I would be at a totally different school, and I wouldn’t be playing. [Head] Coach [Brian] Faulk [’00] has been great, and he’s helped me email some of the coaches I’ve talked to,” said Williams.
The college commitment process can thrive even starting in Senior year, possibly even working better with more maturity. It took an injury, school transfer, and uncertainty about playing college golf for Williams to end up at Trinity College, where she now describes as one of the only schools she believes would be a good fit.
These two stories are just examples within a much larger class of Andover athletes navigating the same process. This year, over forty Seniors across a variety of sports committed to compete at the collegiate level, each process with their own timeline and obstacles. It is worth recognizing that behind every commitment announcement is a process that is often longer, harder, and more uncertain than it looks from the outside. The recruiting system puts an unreasonable amount of pressure on young athletes, demanding that teenagers make life-defining decisions on someone else’s timeline, with little room for injury, setbacks, or simply needing more time, which is something that needs to change. As the Class of 2026 moves on from Andover, their commitments reflect not only athletic achievement, but the resilience and years of dedication that made them possible.
