Tom Allen Talks Challenges of Recruiting Dead Period Extension

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The recruiting dead period has been extended once again.

The NCAA announced Wednesday that it will be through at least April 15 now.

On Thursday, Indiana head coach Tom Allen gave his thoughts on it being extended and what challenges it has created for programs to recruit.

"It is uncharted territory when that came out. We saw it coming when we were talking to the compliance staff, they really felt that it was going to be the direction this was going to go," Allen said. "It is a unique situation. I would have never thought something like this could happen. There will be a chance we are signing guys that we have never physically met in person or have not physically been to campus."

The good thing for Indiana is that it has most of its 2021 class filled already.

The Hoosiers have 13 commits in the class and one transfer. Their 2021 class is currently ranked No. 62 in the nation and 12th in the Big Ten.

With how young Indiana's team currently is, they don't need a huge recruiting class.

"We do not have very many seniors, so we only have to replace what we lose. It will be a small class for that reason," Allen said. "That is probably a positive thing because a majority of the guys that we have in this class have already been on campus. That is a great thing. They came before the pandemic hit. That is a huge plus for us."

Even though Allen can't specifically name the players in the class of 2021 yet, he said they have all become pretty close from social media and talking to one another virtually.

"They've really bonded well," Allen said. "It's been neat to see them connect with each other."

Allen said that he believes about half of them will be enrolling midyear, which means they will be joining the program at the end of December and early January.

That means if Indiana is playing in a bowl game around that time, those players will be able to participate in some of those practices, but they won't be able to play in the game.

But even just getting those reps in at a bowl-prep practice will be huge for development.

"I plan to take full advantage of getting to know them better," Allen said. "It's all about relationships. You can't build that trust if you don't spend time together."

Even though Indiana is nearly set for the 2021 class, with the recruiting period extended until April, this is going to affect recruiting for the class of 2022.

Indiana has sent out a slew of offers for the class of 2022 so far, and Allen and his staff are going to have to find creative ways to build those important relationships.

"It is definitely going to affect the 2022 class and the guys that are currently juniors that we are working hard on," Allen said. "I am sure they are going to make adjustments to that. We will make some adjustments to create more virtual opportunities for them to be able to get around our staff and us to be able to be around them. It is a challenging time, for sure. That will definitely create for some unique things in the future."

Related Stories: