Coronavirus Pushes NCAA Dead Period to May 31
The NCAA on Wednesday extended its recruiting dead period in college football to May 31, due to the Coronavirus shutdown.
“The Division 1 Council Coordination Committee and the Division II Administrative Committee extended the recruiting dead period through May 31,” the NCAA said in a statement. “The committees will continue to be guided by experts to determine whether the date needs to be extended.”
Previously, the NCAA issued a dead period through April 15. College coaches may not host prospects on campus or visit recruits off campus.
All contact with prospective student-athletes since March 15 has been through phone calls or video conferencing. Choctaw defensive back Jordan Mukes told SI Sooners that he was offered by Alex Grinch and Lincoln Riley over a FaceTime video call and gave his verbal commitment the same way.
“It’s definitely different,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday. “We’re not doing anything we don’t normally do, but just the amount, you know, the amount of time that you have to invest in that right now is certainly different. I think the biggest difference is just not having these guys on campus right now. That’s the part you miss the most.
"I mean, especially for us, I believe we’ve had a lot of great visitors through the years that have come out and spent time with us in spring practice and then obviously, the spring game has become a big, big deal for us from a recruiting standpoint. We had probably as many prospects as we’ve ever had, if not more – probably more – lined up to be here this spring, whether it was unofficially for practice or officially for the spring game.
“And so yeah, you hate to miss that part, especially for the guys that had not been here yet. That part definitely feels different. But it has been fun to advantage the time and connect with a lot of these guys and their families, and I mean, obviously a lot of these guys are on a pretty open schedule too. So it’s just… yeah, it’s all day in front of a computer. Whether it’s our staff meetings, or meetings with the players, whether it’s film study or it’s recruiting, it’s … every waking hour I think is in front of a screen. So that’s just … it’s been the new normal.”
With the 2020 class already in tow, coaches have begun filling their 2021 scholarships. But this is the time of year evaluations on 2022 prospects heat up, and now coaches can’t do that in person.
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