Morgan Miller of Poquoson, Virginia has announced her verbal commitment to swim for Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the class of 2023. Miller is a junior at Poquoson High School and swims year-round for Coast Guard Blue Dolphins under Jack Bierie.
“I’m so honored to be the “First Commitment” for Virginia Tech Class of 2023! I felt instantly at home and welcomed by the coaches and team. I believe that Virginia Tech will provide me the environment to be successful in my academics and swimming. I want to thank my parents for always supporting me and to my coaches that have helped throughout my swimming process. Thank you to Coach Ned Skinner and Coach Josh Huger for an awesome recruiting experience and giving me an opportunity to be part of the momentum of this Hokie Family.”
Miller had a breakout sophomore year, clocking big improvements in both short-course and long-course seasons. She competed at Winter Juniors with South Eastern Virginia Aquatics, swimming right at her best times in the 200 free and 200 fly, and dropping 3 seconds in the 500 free. Swimming unattached with CGBD three months later at the 2017 Dolfin ISCA Junior Championship Cup, Miller finaled in the 200 fly (4th), 200 IM (8th), 500 free (9th), 100 fly (19th), and 200 free (10th), and took home new PBs in the 200 back, 100 fly, and 200 IM. She had an equally successful long-course season, swimming at Geneva Futures and notching best times in the 200 free, 200 back, 100/200 fly, and 200 IM. She had three top-8 finishes and earned her first qualifications for Summer Juniors and Winter Nationals.
Miller has not yet swum for her high school team, but plans to compete in her first high school swim season this year.
| Best times | SCY | LCM |
| 200 Free | 1:49.72 | 2:04.38 |
| 200 Back | 1:59.52 | 2:22.03 |
| 100 Fly | 56.36 | 1:02.95 |
| 200 Fly | 2:01.66 | 2:16.89 |
| 200 IM | 2:03.94 | 2:23.59 |
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
Here’s what i want to know-
What if these early commitments do not drop any more time or heaven forbid get an injury that affects their performance? Do the college’s have any obligation to keep these kids through the process?
This is not a direct comment toward this particular young lady but in general
Ned – no, the colleges have no more obligation to honor the verbal commitments than the swimmers do. Until the letter is signed, it’s all on a metaphorical handshake of intent, and either side can back out without any formal repercussions. There would of course be indirect repercussions for doing so, in terms of the reputation hit.
Depends on who the coach is. I know football isn’t swimming, but I do know one Big10 coach who doesn’t care if he pulls a verbal offer (although football players have been doing it for years, most coaches don’t pull offers). Remember this- http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-michigan-s-jim-harbaugh-showing-his-true-colors-and-they-re-ugly-20160121-column.html?
Being “so honored to be the first commitment of the class of 2023” really is not the right mindset to be in, but time will tell if she sticks to her commitment
she’s actually the third: emily weiss of indiana and an arizona state commit committed b4 her
The ASU commit is for 2024, which makes it even more scary
I think she means that she’s the first for VT but I could be wrong
Morgan was the first commit and was honored out of the thousands of girls across states, that she was chosen and asked to represent the Hokie Family in a sport that she loves and she is not peaked at in her training.
Guess what – she has stuck to her commitment….even with all the changes that have been going on with coaching staff. Should have more faith in some of the swimmers, sometimes they know what they want or need from the start.
These verbals are getting out of hand. I feel like its more of the kids wanting those all important twitter likes then anything else. They aren’t binding either, so its not really news. I could verbally commit to swim at Stanford right now (having no where near the times needed) and it would be just as effective.
Agree 100% This isn’t good for the sport. Transfers and unhappy swimmers will increase.
Agree with the sentiment New Fad. My question is, are the coaches having anything to do with this by pressuring these kids to make these commitments earlier and earlier? I understand that these aren’t binding and they can always change their mind, but when you’re going after scholarship money the coaches really have all the power in these situations. The coaches can tell a 16 or 17 year old that I’ll give you a full ride or a 50% scholarship is you verbally commit now, but if you wait I can’t guarantee that you’ll get that much.
New Fad, this commit was for her and no one else. As you can see, it has stood the test of over a year. I didn’t see any other you guys giving others a hard time about early commits. You don’t know her, so she isn’t a social media nerd. She made a huge decision and has stuck to her words, even through all the changes made in coaching staff. She looks forward to being a Hokie.