Last week the NCAA announced another extension to the current recruiting dead period for D1 colleges. The extension is set to expire December 31, 2002. Coaches are profited from in person evaluations as well as off-campus evaluations (watching games).
For D1 colleges, the current dead period has been in effect since March. Colleges at the D2 and lower levels lifted the Dead Period restrictions in September.
At this time, D1 coaches are limited to online evaluations, email, text and social media communication.
Because, many athletes and parents lack understanding of the contact rules and regulations many athletes are put at a disadvantage and ultimately miss out on recruiting opportunities. Serious athletes and their parents need to stay informed.
For example, did you know that during the December contact period it is permissible for an authorized athletic department staff member to have in person, off campus contacts with prospective student athletes. Who is included in the scope of authorized athletic department staff member?
Other misconceptions derive from not knowing what communication is permitted and what is prohibited during the regulated NCAA contact periods. These contacts, along with evaluations, are not only restricted but must also be counted by the coach as a contact, otherwise , it can lead to a recruiting violation.
Here is a quick summary of the recruiting periods.
A contact occurs any time a college coach says more than hello during a face-to-face contact with a college-bound student-athlete or his or her parents off the college’s campus.
During the contact period a college coach may have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, watch student-athletes compete and visit their high schools, and write or telephone student-athletes or their parents.
During the evaluation period a college coach may watch college-bound student-athletes compete, visit their high schools, and write or telephone student-athletes or their parents. However, a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents off the college’s campus during an evaluation period.
During the quiet period a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. Coaches may write or telephone college-bound student-athletes or their parents during this time.
During a dead period a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. Coaches may write and telephone student-athletes or their parents during a dead period.
So, athletes, what can you do to improve your recruiting situation right now?
Get your highlight reel looking tight. By now you should have a highlights from previous seasons on your Hudl page, plus some training video available online.
Broaden your reach with coaches you want to contact. Use more than one medium to contact coaches. Don’t just rely on twitter to blast out your Hudl link. Rely on email and text. And, if you’re brave enough, go old school, actually making a phone call to a college coach.
Stay focused! Lots of recruiting happens at this time of year. Keep in mind that the contact period is only open for 2 weeks, then its back to the quiet period until January. So be patient with the process.
Is recruiting is going the way you hoped it would? Have questions about the recruiting process? Comment below or DM me. I’m glad to help.
Last week the NCAA announced waivers requiring ACT or SAT test scores for athletic eligibility. While many student athletes celebrated a sigh of relief, despite the generous exception its time to start studying because it is still a good idea for student-athletes take the ACT or SAT.
To quickly review the recently exemption, last week the NCAA decided Division I or II athletes will not be required to take a standardized test to meet NCAA initial-eligibility requirements. This decision said is to “help ensure students have a fair opportunity to meet the initial-eligibility standard.” Why was this decision made?
Student athletes, stay the course, continue moving forward with the plan to take the ACT or SAT college entry exam. Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash
Again, the NCAA is concerned about “the continued disruption in secondary education due to the pandemic”. So, to meet eligibly requirements for athletic participation as well as to meet the criteria for academically eligibility for receive athletics scholarship, practice and completion in their first year the NCAA has made some concessions. Admission requirements are pretty low, 2.3 grade point average for Division 1 and 2.2 grade point average for Division II provided the NCAA approved 16 core courses are completed. But, lowering the standard and exempting student athletes from the standardized tests requirement leaves a few questions unanswered.
In total, omitting the ACT or SAT requirement does not specifically address university admissions requirements. Nor, does the exemption address how financial awards will be provided that usually are distributed as a result of high ACT or SAT scores?
So, put down the party hat and grab a chair. Its time to start studying because what isn’t addressed by the exemption is exactly why student-athletes should move forward with the plan to take the ACT or SAT.
First, to get into a college the university admission requirements must be met to get into that college. Undoubtably, student-athletes with a qualifiable ACT or SAT score are sure to have better opportunities for entry. Conversely, student athletes without standardized test scores are more likely not to meet the requirements for colleges known for higher academic standards Lets be realistic, schools know for selecting students with higher academics standards will continue to maintain this standards. Furthermore, student-athletes may be put at a disadvantage to gain entry into colleges known for higher academic standards. Consequently, student athletes aspiring to attend such schools will be expected to meet admission requirements or look elsewhere.
Next, it is no secret that a college education is expensive. So, even without ACT or SAT scores, college tuition will still need to be paid. What the NCAA generous waiver does not explain how to fill the financial void that is usually filled by financial awards provided by high standardized test scores? Keep in mind, outside of D1 football, which is a full athletic and academic scholarship sport, schools in DIAA, DII, NAIA and DIII typically stack athletic scholarship with academic awards towards the cost of tuition. Somebody will have to pay and I don’t see colleges reducing the price of admission any time soon.
The question remains, in the coming months, will athletes be presented other opportunities be made available to fill this void and to gain financial awards? Or will the burden be placed on solely on the athlete and their family? Without the funding provided by the SAT or ACT score how can student-athletes earn the extra financial awards that decrease tuition costs?
Bottom line for student athletes, stay the course, continue moving forward with the plan to take the ACT or SAT college entry exam.
Source: NCAA Eligibility Center announces flexibility in initial eligibility for 2021-22 Changes address uncertainty caused by COVID-19 August 17, 2020 11:00amMichelle Brutlag Hosick
By now, it is likely that you are aware that the NCAA has once again extended the recruiting Dead Period. While the dead period does limit in person evaluation there are plenty of ways you can use the dead period to your advantage to get looks from coaches.
To quickly review from the newsletter last month the Dead Period extension means that college coaches and recruits are not permitted to have
in person evaluations
official campus visits
in person contact
So, even though coaches may not have in person contact, campus visits or personal evaluations college coaches can communicate with student-athletes and their parents.
Again, these are typical Dead Period restrictions. However, like any other Dead Period the recruiting calendar, the extension does not stop the recruiting process.
Generally, the purpose of the Dead Period is to give college coaches opportunity to digitally scout, research, and yes, recruit student athletes! However, relating to this extension the talk is that the reason for the recent extension is to allow coaches to focus on transitioning athletes back to camps and to allow time to acclimated. While, this reason may be more applicable to winter and spring sports more than fall, since many college fall sports programs began the transition process in June.
So, if anything this a promising sign that the college season is about to be underway. In turn, if the college season is underway, then the Dead Period will most surely be lifted.
Now here are some ideas that you can use to take advantage of the things athletes and coaches are allowed to do during the dead period.Ideas:
Make more game footage highlights
Make game recaps
Film hitting and fielding video
Film workouts video
Film training sessions (workouts, agility work, etc)
Film agility workouts
Attend online prospect days / virtual visits
Tag me on your post for social media (@michaelwoosley)
The goal here is to keep you recruiting moving forward by providing content for coaches to review. To do this, you have to be creative, stay focused and use the resources that you have available.
A really great interview and article about ways to use the Dead Period to your advantages is to take from Sports Illustrated from June 25, 2020
Process, Preparation & Performance podcast– these guys do a great job covering a wide array of topics related to high school football and high school recruiting.
In early May, I was a guest on theProcess, Preparation & Performance podcast, part of the Breakdown Sports network of coaches in the state of Missouri. Coach Duke and Coach JR are consummate professionals with a passion impact high school athletes. It was a blast talking football and high school recruiting. We talked a lot about the many kinds of recruiting programs, the recruiting process and even shared some fun stories along the way. I can’t wait to be on again!
Through the Process, Preparation & Performance podcast, both athletes and parents will discover how these guys do a great job covering a wide array of topics related to high school football and high school recruiting. On the podcast page you can find interesting interviews of high school administrators, high school referees, high school coaches, college coaches and pretty much everyone in between!
I encourage you to make time to check out this quality podcast!
Now that the powers that be are deciding to loosen the stay-at-home restrictions soon practices and games will resume. This is very exciting news. Recently, many of my conversations with coaches and athletes suggest that teams are starting to come together at the end of June and first week of July. However, there will definitely be some modifications.
Here’s what we know.
Sport will look like sport but it will be different
there will be weird restrictions and over cautious regulations (no spiting in baseball????)
there will be fewer fans in the stands
What we can be sure of
sports are back
athletes will compete
recruting will continue to move forward
What will soon be known
those that put in the work will succeed
those that didn’t will fail
those that stopped their recruiting will surely be behind.
As I have written before, high performing athletes have no off season. Their goals won’t allow them to take time off. Instead, those goals are like a magnet drawing them in.
But for those who decided to slack off, or who were convinced that recruiting wasn’t happing during the Dead Period, here are a few things to do immediately.
Get off your a*s and get to work! There is nothing more to say about that .
Get some help, right away. Find someone who has the contacts necessary to get your name out there. Exposure is key to the recruiting game. Get it right away.
Invest in yourself. It will cost you time, sweat, and money to get recruited. Nothing worthwhile is free but things that are worthwhile come at a cost. Truthfully, it will cost you now or cost you in the future, so you can invest in yourself now or pay the price in the future.
Many student athletes and parents should be aware what the extension means and how it impacts recruiting. for their student athlete. The goal of this blog is to answer those questions.
To begin, the Dead Period extension means that college coaches and recruits are not permitted to have
in person evaluations
official campus visits
in person contacts
These are typical Dead Period restrictions. However, like any other Dead Period throughout the recruiting calendar, the extension does not stop the recruiting process.
Even during the extended Dead Period college coaches are still recruiting. Homepage screenshot: ESPN football recruiting May 19, 2020
So, let’s break down the Dead Period. At the core, the Dead Period is designed to give college coaches opportunity to digitally scout, research, and yes, recruit student athletes! It’s somewhat of a respite for college coaches. The Dead Period provides coaches the time and space to recruit players without interruptions.
The NCAA defines the Dead Period as, “a period a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. Coaches may write and telephone student-athletes or their parents during a dead period.”
Again, coaches may not have in person contact, campus visits or personal evaluations. They can, however, communicate with student-athletes and their parents.
Since this is the time of year for athletes to visit college campuses I thought it good to share a few helpful tips about official visits and unofficial visit. In most recruiting situations the official visit often follow one or more unofficial visits. Frequently, college coaches reserve official visits to make offers, but it is not uncommon to get a verbal offer outside of an official visit.
By definition, an official visit is any visit to a college campus by a college-bound prospective student-athlete and his or her parents that is paid for by the college. This includes transportation, lodging, entertainment, food and as many as 3 tickets to a game. Conversely, campus visits paid for by the parents of the student-athlete is deemed and unofficial visit.
In total, student-athletes are permitted up to 5 official visits for D1 and D2 schools. However, only 1 official visit per school is allowed. Photo by Travis Essinger on Unsplash
Traditionally, official visits have been reserved for Seniors only. However, since April 2018 new recruiting regulations have been implemented for sports such as baseball and softball, allowing Junior and Senior student-athletes to take official visits after September 1st. In contrast, in many other sports, such as football, only Senior student-athletes are permitted to take official visits.
In total, student-athletes are permitted up to 5 official visits for D1 and D2 schools. However, only 1 official visit per school is allowed. Parents and athletes should know that D3 and NAIA schools have no limit on official visits a student-athlete can take. Additionally, D3 and NAIA regulations are similar to those outlining the recruiting process of D1 and D2 schools where the prospective student-athlete is allowed 1 official visit per school.
Lastly, always keep this in mind that recruiting is a process. Many student-athletes and parents let their minds run wild with negative assumptions, especially when an official visit is not offered right away. To reiterate, recruiting is a process and every coach has his or her method, budget and preference for recruiting. So, with this in mind I recommend to keep a clear head and a positive attitude. Try to relax, stay calm, and enjoy the process.
Finally, I would love to hear from athletes attending official or unofficial visits. Athletes can also tag me on twitter when posting about visits (@michaelwoosley). Also, if you need help preparing for a visit, I’m glad to schedule some time to help with preparations. Just send me an email at mwoosley@csaprepstar.com.
Is your inbox full of invites to camps, showcases, combines and other “recruiting events”? Have you become frustrated by the promise of exposure only to pay a bunch of money then see your kid get minimal reps and very little exposure?
Frustrating isn’t it? Most athletes and parents are.
So, when is the best time to start the recruiting process? Thats the topic for today.
Did you know that most prospects are identified before end of the sophomore year? (Thats the current class of 2022!) However, many parents are told by high school and club to wait. That’s not good advice. Here’s why.
1. Waiting significantly reduces the amount of time for college coaches can properly evaluate players.
2. College coaches can only recruit players they know about. (So if they don’t know about a you they can’t recruit you!)
3. For many sports, student-athletes can take official visits, recieve phone calls and even get offers starting September 1 Junior year.
Bottomline, there isn’t as much recruiting time as you think. Thats why its best to start as early as possible. Read my article, Checkpoints along the recruiting journey for year by year outline.
It is certain, families that start the process early always have better recruiting results! Why? Staring early allows time to work through the process. Plus, the extra time allows your family to be more strategic about recruiting events and will save thousands of dollars along the way!
If you want to know how to get started, text “Gameplan” to (480) 605-4050 free recruiting assessment to outline the recruiting process for you.
Often, I compare the recruiting process to a roller-coaster. The speed of the cart is determined by the track. How the track is designed involves many twists and turns as well as places where the pace becomes so slow that it seems to stop. Like a roller-coaster, and depending on the sport, recruiting in the Fall can simultaneously cause both excitement and anxiety so here a few tips to as you buckle-in for the ride.
During the Fall, and after the window of the contact period closes, it is very important to know what contact period of your sport and the communication regulations that accompany them. This information is easy to locate within the NCAA and NAIA regulations on their respective websites. This information can also be accessed in your Prepstar profile.Now, be aware that all divisions (D1, D2, D3, etc) have similar, but different, communication rules. For example, D2 coaches have much more leniency with communications in comparison to D1 coaches. Additionally, in football, FBS schools (those that go to bowl games) have similar contact periods but different number of evaluation opportunities.
The key to communicating in the Fall is to be proactive! Throughout the year, and at any time, athletes are permitted to contact coaches. This means that to communicate with college coach outside of designated contact periods, student-athletes have to be the one to initiate contact. Additionally, this rule also applies to underclassmen (Freshman and Sophomores). Again, no matter what time of year and no matter the contact period, college coaches are permitted to talk with prospects as long as the prospect makes the first move to contact them.
So, I highly recommend that student-athletes take the initiative to reach out to coaches with emails, texts and voicemails. Don’t ever wait for them to call, instead call them.
To wrap up, it is an understatement to say that recruiting is a year round process. There is no downtime because college coaches are always recruiting. So use the latter part of year to your advantage. For Fall sports this is a great time of year to get aquatinted with coaches, take visits and build that ever important recruiting relationship. Likewise, student-athletes that play winter or spring sports can use the Fall to as a great opportunity to get on the radar and generate interest from coaches for the upcoming seasons. Good luck!
Coach Mike oversees the the recruiting of talented next-level athletes to develop a recruiting strategy to get seen, scouted and recruited. As a coach with over 20 years of experience, and a as former college athlete, Mike now mentors families through the academic, athletic and financial aspects of college recruiting.
Coach Mike – Email: mwoosley@csaprepstar.com Office: 805-622-STAR
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