To most college football fans, the recruiting cycle ends on the first Wednesday in February, National Signing Day. This year’s recruiting calendar actually called for a Division I football signing period from Feb. 5 to April 1, 2020. With football recruiting officially on hold due to the coronavirus outbreak, that calendar has changed.

The NLI official social media page released a statement Sunday via its Twitter account:

“On Friday, March 13, 2020, the NCAA adopted emergency legislation to establish a temporary recruiting dead period for all NCAA Division I and II sports, effective immediately, and in effect until at least April 15, 2020. Accordingly, the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) has suspended all National Letter of Intent (NLI) signings until at least April 15, 2020. This suspension will be re-evaluated on or before April 15, 2020. The NLI suspension applies to both Division I and II NLI member institutions. As such, NLI’s cannot be issued to Division I and II prospective student-athletes effective March 16, 2020 through at least April 15, 2020. NLI’s issued and signed by prospective student-athletes before March 16, 2020 should still be managed through the normal validation process with the conference office.

“Once the NLI signing period resumes, the Division I football signing period (February 5 – April 1, 2020) will be extended by 30 days.

“The CCA will evaluate the basketball signing period on or before April 15, 2020. (NOTE: This is necessary because the Division I men’s and women’s basketball signing starts April 15, 2020 and ends May 20, 2020).

“NOTE: Athletic aid agreements issued without an NLU are subject to NCAA legislation. Further information will be forthcoming from each division regarding the NCAA application of issuing athletic aid agreements, if not accompanied by an NLI, during the recruiting dead period.”

The SEC football community largely moved onto the 2021 cycle after Feb. 5. Two of the high-profile remaining unsigned class of 2020 recruits are 5-star running back Zach Evans and 4-star wide receiver Leonard Manuel. Evans will not be signing another Letter of Intent since he was released from his original LOI submitted to Georgia during the December Early Signing Period. Manuel is verbally committed to Florida but said he will not be signing with either UF or Ole Miss until spring.