In
NCAA athletics, an
unofficial statement of a future student/athlete's
intent to attend a particular
college or
university. Players make such statements in order to lessen the
recruiting pressure placed on them before the NCAA-set date on which they can actually sign a
letter of intent.
These "commitments" are broken at will. One of the most infamous in my area is Ronald Curry breaking his verbal with University of Virginia to go to University of North Carolina. UVa fans reacted extraordinarily badly to this, as mentioned in my Curry writeup. It just goes to show, don't count your chickens before they hatch. In this case, a verbal is no commitment.