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With the regular season in the rear-view mirror it’s time to focus on recruiting until the start of bowl season.
The next two months before signing day on Feb. 3, 2016 include a lot of important dates for all of your favorite teams and their recruiting classes. We’re here to explain when these dates are and exactly how they will impact your team in the 2016 recruiting cycle.
Some important information to know:
— Coaches are limited to six off-campus contacts per recruit and only one per week.
— During a contact period, coaches may only visit a recruit’s high school once per week.
Dec. 13: Quiet period for mid-year JuCo recrcuits
For one day, mid-year JuCo recruits who are enrolling in January will have to go through a quiet period. Per the NCAA’s definition of a quiet period, college coaches are not allowed to make any off-campus contact with a recruit. As long as the recruit is on-campus, coaches are able to interact with the recruits and evaluate them.
Dec. 14-Jan. 14: Dead period for all recruits
One of the biggest times during the recruiting cycle is the dead period in December. From Dec. 15 -Jan. 14, contact between college coaches and recruits is heavily restricted. The only form of contact coaches may have with prospective student-athletes is through written mail or a telephone call.
Because of the dead period’s proximity to national signing day, teams with new head coaches often make hires by early December in order to give their new head coaches as much time as possible to recruit for their new team before the dead period.
Dec. 16: Mid-year JuCo national signing day
The following Wednesday after the dead period is the National Signing Day for all mid-year JUCO recruits planning on transferring to a FBS school and enrolling in January. Although there’s only one JUCO National Signing Day, JUCO recruits have until Jan. 15, 2016, to officially sign.
Various dates in January, 2016: Early enrollees begin classes
Depending on when the universities begin second semester classes, the recruits who have chosen to be early enrolled will begin class in the beginning weeks of January and will be eligible to participate in spring practice.
Jan. 14-Jan. 30, 2016: Contact period
The dead period finally ends on Jan. 15, and with the bowl season officially over, college coaches are all over the place in the final two weeks of recruiting. This is when coaches will make their final pitches to recruits prior to National Signing Day, while some recruits squeeze in some final official or unofficial visits before making their decision.
Jan. 31, 2016: Quiet period
Coaches are forced to limit interaction with recruits to only when they are on-campus.
Feb. 1-4, 2016: Dead period
The NCAA gives recruits a few days to finalize their decisions on where they’ll attend college without being hounded by college coaches.
Feb. 3, 2016: National signing day
This is the day recruiting fans wait all year for. Always falling on the first Wednesday in February, National Signing Day is where many recruiting classes are built as highly-regard recruits from all over the country make announce their college decisions. NSD is always good for some very creative announcements as well. And while NSD is the first day recruits that plan to enroll in the summer can sign their national letters of intent they can hold off signing until April 1.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
