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Upcoming recruiting calendar to National Signing Day and beyond
By Corey Long
Published:
National Signing Day is just days away, but the recruiting calendar between now and then is a more complicated than it seems.
Let’s take a look at how the coming week is going to shake out as the biggest recruiting day of the year draws near:
Monday, Feb, 1 – Thursday, Feb. 4 — Dead period: The recruiting process goes back into a dead period the week of signing day, and the same rules apply to this dead period as the one that spanned from mid-December to mid-January during the bowl season.
In case you need a reminder, a dead period prohibits players and coaches from contacting one another in person, although electronic communication is still allowed. This prohibits schools from inviting players to campus on the eve of, or the day of, national signing day.
Wednesday, Feb. 3 — National Signing Day: The big day is Wednesday, marking the first day non-early-enrollee prospects can sign letters of intent with their schools of choice, finalizing their decisions once and for all. To clarify, players don’t have to sign on this day, but they cannot sign before national signing day unless they’re enrolling early in school (and that phase in the recruiting process has already passed). Some players, however, have completed grant-in aid paperwork with the school of their choice or select schools thus allowing those coaches to talk about the players by name.
Recruits will have until April 1 to officially sign a letter of intent to accept a scholarship offer.
Friday, Feb. 5 – Thursday, April 14 — Quiet period: The NCAA enters another quiet period following the dead period that encompasses national signing day. This quiet period will extend for most of the remainder of the academic year, prohibiting coaches from making house visits in the immediate aftermath of National Signing Day while some players still make up their minds.
This also keeps coaches with an edge in resources and national outreach from getting a head start on visits to the top players in the 2016 class all over the country.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
