INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Starting with the next school year, most prospective student-athletes will follow a recruiting model that resembles the schedule other students follow when choosing where to go to college. The Division I Council made the decision when it met in Indianapolis.
The new recruiting model allows potential student-athletes more time to make thoughtful decisions about their next steps after high school. The shift was supported by the national Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
“These changes will improve the recruiting experience for prospective student-athletes and coaches and lead to better decision-making,” said Blake James, Council chair and Miami (Florida) director of athletics. “Ultimately, a better recruiting process will improve the college experience for Division I student-athletes.”
The changes will affect several aspects of the recruiting model. For student-athletes in sports other than football and basketball, official visits now can begin September 1 of a prospect’s junior year in high school instead of the first day of classes for senior year.
Additionally, athletics departments can’t participate in a recruit’s unofficial visit until September 1 of the recruit’s junior year in high school, and recruiting conversations during a school’s camp or clinic can’t happen before September 1 of the junior year. Both rules apply to all sports but football and basketball, which have their own rules.
The changes are based on the work of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Student-Athlete Experience Committee, and guided by feedback from student-athletes, coaches, athletics directors and compliance administrators. They are considered a first step toward regulating a recruiting process that can begin in middle school — and sometimes earlier. The Student-Athlete Experience Committee will continue to examine the recruiting environment, with communications (telephone, email, text), verbal and written offers, and off-campus contacts on the agenda for the next phase.
Release courtesy National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
